Derek

The quiet and relative calm of the evening is shattered by an all too familiar howl.

Isaac, Avery, Erica, and Boyd all look to me with golden eyes, just waiting for my reaction. Isaac quickly regains himself, but the other three remain on the verge of shifting.

I motion Isaac over as I stand from my spot on the steps. The sun is setting now, and it seems the alpha is wasting no time.

Isaac comes to my side, "Get them all locked up," I say as he listens.

"You're not going after him alone-"

"When you're done with that, see if you can catch up." I say before turning my back and heading up into the streets above. I breathe in deeply, and catch the faintest trace of his scent on the breeze coming from the outskirts of town.

Isaac

"Alright," I say, looking around the room. Avery sits with a small curve of her lip staring over at Erica, who is intent on avoiding looking back at her. Boyd is sitting with his head in his hands, practically trembling. "Boyd?" I ask, trying to gauge his control.

He barely moves, "We need to hurry." He slowly stands up and begins walking towards the room we use for lock up.

"Yeah, let's get you set up." I say, following close behind him. Before I step into the darkened tunnels, I turn and point to both Avery and Erica, "I'll be right back for both of you, just stay here," Erica rolls her eyes, and Avery gives a quick laugh.

I turn back to Boyd, "It's alright Boyd; we'll have you all set in a minute."

Erica

I dig my claws into the hood of the train car as I watch Avery stand and walk towards the staircase. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" I ask, my annoyance clear in my voice. Avery stops when she reaches the base of the first step. I jump off of the train car and land easily on my feet. "We were told to stay here." My sight fades in red.

"Do you hear that?" she asks in a quiet voice.

"Hear what?" I ask, keeping the acid in my voice. I strain my hearing to pick up any sounds.

"Oh nothing, it's just you bitching again." She says with a laugh. She raises her leg to begin climbing the stairs but before she can even put her boot down, I've already grabbed her by her shoulders and thrown her at a nearby brick wall.

Not only does she go flying into the wall, but the force carries her clean through it. I can't help but crack up in laughter. "Never turn your back on me, bitch." I say as a few loose bricks fall into the darkened hole that Avery's body created.

As I watch the cloud of dirt and dust settle, two golden eyes stare back at me eerily from the darkness as they rise from the ground. I ready my claws and take a fighting stance when her growl echoes through the station. "Noted." Is all I hear before I'm on the ground, skidding across the floor with Avery on top of me, her teeth shining in the light.

Isaac

"AVERY, STOP!" I scream as I make it back to the entrance of the station. Avery hesitates, glancing back at me with a snarl on her face, giving Erica the distraction she was obviously hoping for.

I sprint toward the two just as Erica manages to roll them and pins Avery to the floor. She raises a clawed hand up above her head and prepares to drag it across Avery's body. "NO!"

I scream, just before Erica is hauled backwards by her hair and is thrown back in the hole in the wall Avery was just thrown through. Derek looks down at Avery with a snarl on his fully shifted face, which does nothing but make her smile up at him. "Get the fuck up," he says, turning away from her and turning to Erica, who has begun climbing out of the hole.

Derek gabs her by the arm and pushes her over towards me, "Lock her up, will you?" he asks with an acidic voice. I catch Erica and tug her along.

"Yeah..." I say, leading her towards her room. My heart is beating frantically with panic. Sometimes I wonder how Derek keeps his cool all the time.

Derek

Avery slowly gets to her feet and flips her hair, "Hey, baby," she says in a near purr.

I grab her arm and pull her along with me as I walk towards the opposite tunnel. "Cut the shit Avery, I gave up the hunt to come save your ass," I don't even try to hide my annoyance, even if I did, it probably wouldn't do much good.

"Ooohh, what are we hunting?"

"We aren't hunting anything." We round the corner and I open the door to the second lock room. I bring her into the room, let go of her arm, and flip on the lights. She stops, stares at the chains on the wall, and shakes her head.

"Well, unless you're the kinky type something tells me tonight isn't going to be as fun as I thought." Her voice is a pout in itself, and I smirk.

"Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."

She turns around quickly, sending her long brown hair flying over her shoulder and spilling across her chest. Her eyes are gold again, but her expression is confused, "Derek, hurry." Her voice is different; more like the Avery I know; I catch a glimpse of her canines and see she's shaking.

Just two steps and she's right in front of me, I lead her to the wall. I can already hear Boyd's growl echoing through the tunnels.

It only takes a couple minutes to get Avery locked in. As I turn to leave, she laughs and slowly slips down the wall. "See you in the morning." I say before shutting the heavy door behind me and sliding the lever in place and locking her in.

"Derek!" Isaac calls out from the station entrance. I run through the halls to find him standing in the middle of the room with his hand running through his hair and his phone clutched to his ear, "Alright man just calm down," when he spots me he walks over quickly, "okay, okay listen, I'm putting Derek on."

He hands me the phone and I turn away, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Derek," Scott breathes heavily on the other end, "we've got a problem,"

I sigh and rub my eyes, "Not another one," I mumble, putting the receiver away from my mouth.

Scott continues, "Lydia was out at a movie with Jackson tonight," he takes a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing, "he turned in the middle of the theatre; he's gone Derek, he's loose in Beacon."

I cuss under my breath, "Where, Scott? Where was he last seen?"

"I just told you he was in the theatre,"

"Has anyone else seen him?"

"I don't know! I'm trying to find him now but you need to get out here," his voice steadily gets more serious, "now, Derek."

"Scott, I know. I'll be there soon, I'm close by." I hang up the phone and toss it back to Isaac. "The alpha's gonna have to wait I guess," I say.

"Tonight's one of the only clear night's we've had in a while," he says, finding his own jacket and throwing it on, "we would've been able to track his scent for once."

"Yeah, I know," I say, "and I don't like leaving them here alone."

Isaac looks toward Boyd's room, his roar is echoing through the tunnels clear as day. "They've been in there twice before, they haven't broken free yet. They'll be fine and besides, we won't be out long. I doubt Jackson's a very good werewolf," he breaks off into a laugh as we begin climbing the stairs, "frankly, I'd be more worried about Lydia tearing us apart after we tell her what her boyfriend is."

I let out a huff of a laugh, "Yeah, I guess," his phone rings and he quickly flips it out of his pocket.

"It's Scott," he says, looking back at me.

"Give it here," he places the phone in my palm and I answer it, "What now?"

"Please tell me you were just on Main street and had Isaac with you," Isaac looks at me and mouths 'what?'

"No," I say to Scott, "why?"

"Then we have another problem."

Stiles

"Lydia, listen to me, everything's okay now, alright?" she just keeps shivering and staring off into nothing from her spot in the passenger seat of my Jeep.

Lydia called me from the bathroom of the movie theater, crying about Jackson turning into a monster and running out of the place. I came right away with Scott, but he went off to try and hunt Jackson down. The theater parking lot is all but deserted, which is probably a good thing for us.

Scott and I already went over the whole werewolf thing, but it was pretty much just flatly dropped on her so she's still in shock.

She's sitting with her feet dangling out of the car, with me leaning in the doorway, my hands outstretched and resting on the frame of the old Jeep. "H-his eyes," she finally says, tears falling from her hazel eyes, "and his teeth," she covers her mouth and looks down at her lap.

"Look, I know it's not easy seeing people you care about turn into…monsters," I lick my lips, trying to find something to say. I think back to Scott's full moon, when he was a complete ass the entire day and then completely wolfed out.

I can't help but think of Avery, attacking Scott and throwing him onto the hood of her car.

And she almost didn't stop there. "I, uh," I clear my throat, "I know it's not an easy thing to get over; I know you'll never quite trust them again," I shake my head, "I mean, you'll trust him, Jackson, but you'll always be on edge, wondering if tonight will be the night he loses control and-"

She looks up at me in absolute horror, "No, I mean, damn it," I sigh and look away. I focus on a street sign, finding it easier to look at than the girl I've loved since we were kids, "it's hard, Lydia, I'm not going to lie." I take a deep breath and look back at her, and almost instantly lose the breath I just took simply by looking at her.

"Stiles?" she urges me on when I say nothing.

"It's hard," I continue, "you'll be scared sometimes, that comes with the whole werewolf territory. Sometimes you'll wonder if it's worth it, but, if you really care, Lydia, if you really love him, that answer will always be yes." Her eyes well up again as tears spill over.

She looks down at her lap again and she shakes her head. "I don't think I can," she breaks down into sobs, "Stiles you should've seen him, how can I….?" her voice trails off and breaks.

"Lydia, you're one of the strongest people I know," I suck in a breath, "you're insanely smart and-and beautiful," her sobs stop and she once again looks back up to me and I can't help but smile down at her.

"What?" she snaps defensively.

"Nothing, nothing, you've just got-" her mascara is running all down her face in heavy black streaks.

"Well, get it!" she practically squeaks.

I hesitate, and she shoots her eyebrows up in annoyance. I sigh and bring my hand up. She closes her eyes as I brush her tears away, but the black stains remain. I rub her cheek a bit harder, pulling her skin. I can't help but laugh when her brow furrows.

Her eyes fly open and she looks at me angrily. She turns in her seat and flips down the personal mirror. She pouts and mumbles, "Not so 'beautiful' now," she says as she licks her thumb and tries to scrub away the black stains.

"What?" she doesn't even hear me as she continues trying to finish washing the makeup away. I bite my lip, and, not for the first time, question if it's worth the likely pain for the nearly impossible joy.

It is.

It always has been with Lydia.

I reach out, shut the personal mirror and she reaches up to flip it back down, a protest on the tip of her tongue. I cup her cheek and turn her head back to me. "Lydia, you're gorgeous." Her eyes widen and look between mine, not knowing which one to focus on. "You always have been, no matter how much makeup you have on or where it ends up on your face," I say, gently brushing a red mark she made on her face by scrubbing too hard.

She gives me a small smile and I drop my hand.

There's nothing I want more to do right now than lean in and finally kiss the girl I've been dreaming about for so many years.

But then again, her boyfriend just wolfed out on her like an hour ago.

So maybe the timing isn't quite right. But it never really is. And, it probably never will be.

I stand up straight and ask, "Do you want me to give you a ride home?"

She closes her eyes and nods before settling back in her seat as I close the Jeep door. I walk around the back and run my hand through my hair as I breathe in the cool night air.

"So worth it," I say as I look down at the mascara marks on my palm and thumb.

Derek

"You said he had a beta with him?" I ask Scott.

He nods his head adamantly, "He ran out of that alley," Scott points across the empty street, "and a beta met up with him before they took off towards the woods over there." He points again but that's a secondary concern.

"And you're sure it wasn't Jackson?" Isaac asks, folding his arms over his chest in thought.

Scott shakes his head, "I'm like 99% sure it wasn't him,"

"Scott, listen to me," I say, looking him dead in the eye, "I need you to be 100% sure," he stares back angrily; he doesn't like being questioned but he's going to have to deal with it, "because if that wasn't Jackson that means that there's a loose beta without an alpha in Beacon and possibly a pack making a move on Beacon tonight," he relaxes, seeing my point, "you can't blame me for not wanting to believe you."

He takes a deep breath, looks at the pavement of the parking lot and relaxes, "I get it," he looks back up to me, "but I'm 100% sure; it wasn't Jackson I saw. He was leaner than Jackson. He didn't smell familiar, either."

I turn away from both of them and look out over the empty parking lot of the nearby stores. "Fuck!" the curse comes out as a half yell, half roar.

"How do you want to handle this, Derek?" Isaac asks. I run through our options in my head.

"Jackson's scent must still in the air, go back to the theatre, pick up on it and track him down, both of you."

"What?" Isaac asks, "But what about the alpha and beta? You can't deal with them alone, it could be a trap, maybe they're trying to lure you out into the woods; there could be more of them out there-"

"Isaac," I say, turning back to them, "don't you think I've already thought about that?" he's visibly taken back by my tone, and I try to calm myself, "I have a plan, at least, I think I do." Scott and Isaac look at me with curious eyes. "There's this kind of rumor that an alpha can control betas by exchanging blood. It's worth a try at least. I'll head back to the station and pick up Boyd, if it works, we'll go after the alpha."

The two nod in agreement, "We'll put Jackson up in Boyd's room in that case, then we'll come and back you up." Isaac says. I nod and then turn and take off running towards the station.

Stiles

I pull into Lydia's driveway and put it in park. "I don't think I can do it," she whispers, "I don't think I can stay with him." I try to keep from bursting out in song.

"I thought you loved him?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "Maybe before, but things haven't been good between us in a long time. And now?" she throws her head back against the headrest, "Now he's that, and I just don't think I could." She looks towards me, "Are you sure Scott and Derek can find him?" I nod.

"And you'll let me know when they do?"

"I'll call you the moment I hear from them," she bites her lower lip and unclips her seatbelt. I look forward in disappointment, only to have her lean in and kiss my cheek.

"Thank you Stiles," she whispers, I turn to look at her with probably the stupidest expression on my face, "for everything." She says before disappearing and shutting the door behind her.

Always worth it.

Scott

"He got out through the back exit and came down the alley," Scott says, taking a deep breath in and immediately picking up Jackson's scent. Isaac and I lock eyes, both sets of which are gold.

"Well, let's see what we can do," we both test the air in each direction before we take off the way the scent is strongest.

Derek

As soon as I step foot in the station, I already know that my plan is a no-go. I can hear Boyd roaring uncontrollably from here. I can hear the rage behind it, and stepping foot in his room will only make things even worse.

I walk down to Erica's room and listen closely, hearing nothing but short growls inside. I swing the door open and see her standing up, looking straight at the door. I'd say she looked like a zombie, if I didn't know better. Her golden eyes flare up dangerously at me, and I get a bad feeling already.

I take one step in the room, and she goes off.

A roar rips from her throat and all of a sudden she begins thrashing wildly at her chains, trying desperately to rip them from the wall. I try to focus in on her and calm her down, but that only infuriates her more.

I would roar if I thought that would help, but it wouldn't and I know it. It would only succeed in pissing Boyd off more and maybe setting Avery off.

I step out of the room and shut the door behind me.

I walk back to the entrance and then just keep going down the opposite tunnel.

If Boyd wasn't going absolutely fucking insane right now, he'd be my first choice. If Erica wasn't such a psychotic bitch, she'd be my second.

I unlatch the door and swing it open.

But no, all I have is a werewolf with absolutely no training and who has never been awake for a full moon.

Avery looks up at me from her spot on the floor. She's fully changed; her eyes are blazing, her teeth fully out as well as her claws, her ears are pointed and her nose is wider with the shift.

I take a step into the room, and she hardly moves. She lifts her head a bit more and watches closely as I draw closer. I take my jacket off and toss it on the ground behind me. Her eyes lock onto the jacket as it falls with a dangerous focus.

I get just close enough, and reach my hand out to her.

In the blink of an eye, she latches her arm onto mine, digging her claws into the skin of my forearm with a growl. I encircle her arm with my hand and dig my own claws into her flesh. Her growling ceases as I bring her back from the full shift through the bloody handshake.

Scott

"I don't get it," I say as we come to a dead end alleyway, "his scent just stops here." We both frantically test the air, looking for some sign of where Jackson could've gone.

"Umm, Scott?" Isaac says unsurely. I look over to him and he points up above us. There, perched on top of the roof looking down at us is Jackson, fully shifted and clearly agitated. He gives us a long, low warning growl before taking off across the rooftop.

Isaac and I just look at each other before we run towards the alley wall and use our claws to climb it quickly. We catch just a glimpse of Jackson's sprinting form before he jumps back down into the streets. "This is getting old," I say as we take off after him.

Derek

Avery reverts back to her human self, mostly. But I leave the chains on just to make sure.

I look down at my arm from my spot leaning in the doorway, and stare at the crescent-shaped claw marks she left there. Normally by now, it would have healed by now, but it's not really a normal wound. Blood is smeared all along my arm, both hers and mine.

I had a suspicion that the blood connection was real, but I never thought it would be this strong.

"You know, you can stand there all night or you can cut me loose and I can help you." She says in a semi-serious voice.

Thing is, I never told her what was happening. Or that I needed her help.

"Derek," she says as she stands up, "I'm fine, really." Her heartbeat is steady; she's telling the truth.

I nod and pull the key out from my back pocket. I walk over and she holds out her chained hands and I quickly unlock the shackles from her wrists. The chains fall to the floor in a loud clatter. She rubs her wrists as I turn away and begin walking to the entrance.

"So what's our first move?" she asks, appearing by my side as I head up the stairs with my jacket in hand.

"Now we go after them. We do our best to avoid a confrontation and just run them out of town. We can't afford a fight with all these distractions. Plus you don't even know how to fight." As soon as we step out into the moonlight I feel her muscles tense. I look over to her and find her head twitch to the side. I clench my fist, tightening my hold on the blood bond and keeping her leveled.

It works; she relaxes and clears her throat. "This is gonna wear us both out, isn't it?" she asks, her gold eyes shimmering.

"Just stay close to me and try to stay focused. And do not go after anything alone." She just nods, and I can sense both anxiety and excitement in her. "Avery," I say sternly, "this isn't a game."

There are several dozen reasons to not like new werewolves, the main one being that they're generally just pains in the ass. They're moody and sporadic, completely unpredictable. Even with the blood bond acting as a virtual leash, this could go very wrong.

"Then why does it feel fun?" she asks, arching an eyebrow and biting her lip as she begins backing away in the direction of the alpha's scent. It's not Avery now, not really. She gives a quick wink before turning and sprinting toward the end of the street, and from there, to where the forest begins.

The thing about a leash is that it works both ways.

Put a Chihuahua on a leash, then you become its anchor. Put a wolf on a leash, then you'd better damn well be an anchor.

Otherwise, you'll both get swept away.