Derek and Cora were waiting outside the loft building when the pack pulled up. A look of surprise crossed the older werewolf's face when Isaac exited his gray sedan (a gift from Chris when he left France). But the two still managed to engage in a gruff and manly hug. Stiles cooed mockingly, and the sound was met with one of Derek's patented scowls.
"I forgot how ridiculous you all are," Isaac stated, bumping fists with Cora. The two weren't Scott-and-Stiles close, but they had bonded over their mutual enjoyment of mocking Derek and Peter behind their backs. They'd exchanged numbers when Cora returned to South America (after he'd convinced her to actually purchase a cell phone), and she'd told him the news almost immediately after she and Derek had decided to return to town.
"Can we get inside?" Derek grumbled, ignoring his ex-Beta's comment. He sniffed the air and his perpetual-frown deepened. "There's something out here."
Stiles scoffed, but he cut the sound off when Scott nodded his head in agreement. "Derek's right. There's something in the woods." The observation was soon confirmed by the other weres, and the group started to troop inside.
Derek led the group, so when he stopped short upon entering the building, it was only the supernatural reflexes of the others that prevented a massive pile-up. Stiles opened his mouth to make a comment but shut it as Derek spun around, eyes blazing gold. "Someone's here."
"Seriously?" Stiles groaned. "Does every supernatural creature on the West Coast know about this frickin' place?"
He was answered by the sound of a distant slamming door, echoing through the metal that traversed the building. Scott pushed through to stand at Derek's side, red eyes at full force as he growled.
"What is it?" Kira asked, sweetly placing her hand on Scott's shoulder. The touch calmed him somewhat, allowing him to use his senses to identify the threat.
"Campfire smoke and cinnamon and lavender..." Scott answered after releasing a heavy breath. "It's that girl from the school."
"What would she be doing here?" Stiles rolled his eyes at Mason's question as the rest of the pack turned a judgmental gaze towards him. "Hey! I'm new to this!" Mason protested, raising his hands in the air.
"Derek, any idea of what she could be?" Lydia was all business as she made her way to the older man. Derek shrugged, confusion touching his scowl.
Cora let out a sigh that none of them could really place. "She's definitely supernatural. Born, not turned. She's been touched by magic," she droned. She lifted a hand to her face to inspect her nails as the rest of the group gaped at her, much like they had with Lydia earlier.
Derek considered it and then nodded his head. "She's right."
"Care to share with the class?" Stiles looked impatient, as he tended to when he felt left out of something.
"It's the cinnamon and lavender. Either by itself could just be a natural scent. But the two together..."
"She's a witch," Isaac cut in, "I should've known."
"Seriously? Where are you guys getting all this information?" Stiles whined, crossing his arms over his chest. He was definitely pouting. Isaac snickered at the image before returning to the matter at hand.
"Chris and I ran into a coven of them when we first arrived in France. I'd forgotten about it since it wasn't much of an issue," Isaac explained, speaking to Scott rather than the Alpha's best friend.
"Cinnamon and lavender are often used in clairvoyance spells," Cora added, "There was a coven nearby where I lived in South America. For the right price, they'd cast a spell for my pack. Useful during territory wars."
Scott made a face, and Stiles pat him on the back. "Gas, buddy?"
Someone snorted as Scott shook his friend off. "No. I'm just thinking...shouldn't she have made her presence known to the local Alpha when she moved in?"
Derek nodded at his protege. "That is the protocol when entering the claimed territory of a werewolf pack."
"So you're saying we should grab her and drag her back here?" Malia piped up, a devious grin crowning her face. Cora had a similar look on her face, and in that moment it was easy to see that the two were cousins.
"We should never have introduced those two," Stiles whispered in Lydia's ear. The rest of the pack chuckled as the female cousins growled.
"Focus!" Scott commanded, and the weres shut up. "No dragging. Maybe she didn't know that there was a pack here."
"What kind of witch moves somewhere and doesn't check out the supernatural scene beforehand?"
"A dumb one," Isaac commented, but he was ignored.
"If she didn't know before, she definitely knows now." Derek looked back into the hallway. "Unless she was new at magic, she would have been able to tell that werewolves lived in this building as soon as she stepped inside."
"So what do we do?" Scott asked the older man. Alpha though he may be, Scott knew that Derek's supernatural knowledge far surpassed his own. So he would defer to the born-werewolf when he could, such as in instances like this.
"It's up to you," Derek replied, "But I think we should give her some time. She could be harmless."
Scott contemplated the suggestion before addressing his pack. "For now, we'll wait. Lydia and Kira can make contact with her, see if there's anything dangerous about her. We'll give her a week to make herself known. If she doesn't..." He let the thought dangle, a threat unspoken but very much present.
The others agreed. It seemed like a sensible plan, after all.
"Now that that's taken care of, can we go inside? I'm starving!" A majority of the assembled group groaned at another Stiles comment, but Scott chuckled as he slung his arm over his best friend's shoulder.
"Yeah. Let's get inside and get this pack meeting officially started."
A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since I updated. Sorry about that! I had so much going on with school and my job, and I had a nasty case of writer's block. But I'm back (hopefully)! I've already written the next chapter but I won't post it until I get at least another chapter ahead. Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment/review!