"A choice?" Aria asks lowly, taking a step towards him, "A choice whether to be a werewolf or a human?" She clarifies. "What would make you think I'd even consider your offer?"
Deucalion takes a step towards Aria and she stands her ground, "You like the power, I see it in you, Aria. I can feel it - the True Alpha in you seeping through, drowning everyone around you. Being human was never meant for you."
"Are you going to tell me it's my fate to be one of you? That's cliché and overused so you might want to try something else." Aria folds her arms over her chest, "I was born human, I'll die human."
"Fine with me." Kali snarls by the door, her fingernails impatiently clicking against her wood floor. "Deucalion, we're wasting our time. He's coming."
Deucalion keeps staring at Aria even though he's talking to Kali, "Are you afraid of Derek Hale?"
Kali scoffs, "Scared of Derek? Derek Hale? You were a comedian before you got this gig, weren't you?"
"Consider my offer, Aria, it's generous. I won't say it's your fate, I'll tell you there's no way around it. Derek will bite you if I don't, or worse, you'll be attacked by some random wolf who can't offer any wisdom, I can do that. I can teach you things Derek Hale has only dreamed about." Deucalion takes another step towards Aria, "There's a whole world out there for the taking, Aria."
Aria swallows hard, looking at Deucalion defiantly, "As kind as your offer is, I like my perfectly boring human life, and I wouldn't change it for anything."
Kali snickers from her doorway, "I told you so, Deucalion. Too much pride for her own good. 'Oh I like being human..' cut the bullshit, kid. Being human fucking sucks, everyone gets to push you around. When you're one of us." Kali steps into the room, her toenails clacking against the wood floor, "No one can tell you what to do. It's a fountain of power.'" Kali smirks.
Deucalion starts to walk out of the room, occupying the space Kali was previously in. "Have your fun." He says to Kali, turning and leaving.
Aria looks confused but understands when Kali's eyes flash a bright red. Aria darts for the stairs but Kali grabs her leg. Aria quickly drops to the floor, pain vibrating through her body.
"Stupid pitiful human." Kali snarls, delivering a swift kick to Aria.
Aria rolls over, picking herself up, "You were human once too." Aria breathes heavily, holding her fists up, "Don't forget that. Though being a psychotic wolf bitch really suits you."
"Psychotic wolf bitch? I'll show you a psychotic wolf bitch." She swings at Aria and Aria ducks, lunging for the left. "Are we really doing this? Just let me get a good bite in. That's all. Then I'll be out of your hair." Kali walks towards her, "You don't stand a chance, so why fight? You're human."
Aria lowers her fists only to send them flying, punching Kali right in the face. Aria hears a crack and uses the opportunity to bolt up the stairs. She runs into Stiles's room, shutting herself in his closet. Taking out her phone.
Yeah so I'm in a battle to the death here, HELP. She texts Derek, Scott, and Issac. She hears Kali's toenails before anything else entering Stiles's room. Aria grabs the baseball bat in Stiles's closet.
When Kali opens the door, Aria swings the bat. Kali catches the bat in her hand, propelling it backwards to hit Aria in the face. Aria is dizzy with pain at this point, teetering on her two feet. Aria reaches out to punch Kali but Kali catches her fist, painfully twisting it. Kali throws Aria to the ground and when Kali advances on her, Aria trips her. Kali is taken by surprise, hitting the floor. Aria bolts out of the room again, running into a hard chest, she looks up at Derek Hale.
"Where the hell were you?!" Aria growls at him.
"Your best friend was out in the front waiting for me." Derek growls back at her, his eyes a vibrant red. Aria spins around in time to watch Kali drop from Stiles's window.
"Damn it." Aria runs a hand through her hair.
"You're going to need to ice that." Derek says as Aria leans against her kitchen counter, dizzy with pain. He gestures to her head, "You took a hard bump."
"I'm fine." Aria snarls, touching the back of her head absent-mindedly, she feels a large bump but doesn't care. Obviously, Derek cares. He walks over to her freezer, taking out the ice pack. He hands it to her and she takes it, holding it to the back of her head.
Derek crosses his arms over his chest, "They launched an attack too early. Something is happening."
Aria's fingers are freezing, so she sets the ice pack aside for a few minutes, "Maybe they're about to go on vacation so they thought they should just X me off now to save them the trouble of having to do it later?" She jokes lightly.
Derek bites his lip, pondering, "I don't get it."
Aria thinks back to Deucalion's comment about her red eyes, "He said something to me." She says slowly.
"What?"
"Uh, he said, something about red eyes, about uh, me having them." Aria nervously scratches her arm, shyly looking at Derek, "That doesn't mean anything, does it?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought I was going crazy."
Derek's eyes flash red and he looks at her closely, then his eyes resort to their typical blue, "Your eyes are green, right? Typically?" Aria nods, "They're turning red."
"That's ridiculous."
"When I look at you with wolf eyes, they, they're turning red. Slowly but.." Derek clears his throat, "Aria.."
Aria shakes her head, taking steps backwards, "No, no I won't do it. Deucalion said this would happen. He said it would. I thought you'd prove him wrong, but no, you're just like them."
"Just like them?"
"You want to bite me." Aria accuses, waving a finger in front of his face, "No way, mister, you aren't getting that mouth anywhere near any of this. I stay strictly bite-free. No creepy werewolf transformation for this gal, nu-uh!" Aria shakes her head violently.
Derek growls, frustrated, "What's so wrong with being one of us?"
"Everything!" Aria shouts at him, "Everything is wrong with it! Look at you!"
Derek looks hurt, though he quickly deflects it, "I do, I look at myself everyday in the damn mirror and do you think I like what I see? You have a chance at what the rest of us didn't have. Help, these people made mistakes because there was no one there to help them. You, however, have an entire clan of people wanting to help you. You have a chance at being.. the best."
Aria starts breathing heavily, "Issac had help but that didn't stop him from killing his Dad, did it?"
"You heard about that?" Derek asks quietly.
"Of course."
Derek looks away, "Issac's dad was abusing him, Aria. Do you really think being a werewolf would stop those feelings of hatred, the need for revenge?" He shakes his head, "Sometimes things still stay with you. They propel, they become stronger. Though we're not sure if Issac was the one who killed his Dad."
Aria takes a few steps towards him, "What became stronger for you then?" She asks quietly.
Derek looks at her intensely, his eyes boring into hers. As if he was glancing at her for the first time, curiosity lighting up his masculine features. His eyes searching for something within hers, he starts to lean towards her.
"What the hell happened?!" Stiles shouts, running into their house, "Claw marks on the walls? ARIA? ARIA? ARE YOU OKAY?" He finally comes into the kitchen. Derek and Aria quickly separate. Aria on the other side of the kitchen while Derek scratches the back of his neck. "Oh thank god." Stiles runs over to Aria, collecting her in his arms, he looks over at Derek, "Thank you."
Derek shakes his head, "I didn't do anything, it was all her."
Aria's eyes meet Derek's over Stiles's shoulder and for once she sees pride in his dark stormy eyes.
Stiles, Scott, and Aria sit at the kitchen table, happily eating Chinese food. Scott is joking about practice and Stiles happily jokes along with him as Aria listens, taking small bits out of their story.
"So Aria, tell me, how does it feel to be the most wanted woman in Beacon Hills?" Scott asks, dimples in his cheeks.
Aria glances up, "Well Scott, since you asked so nicely, it feels like I need to start putting in a security system so I don't get attacked by some crazy Alphas. Otherwise, it feels pretty damn good. Does wonders for the self-esteem."
"My little sister, a true Alpha, who would've thought?" Stiles jokes timidly, he points at Aria with his chopsticks, "Though you stay strictly human. You are now part of team human, so far it's just you, me, Lydia, and Allison."
"Allison?" Aria asks.
Scott chokes on his egg roll, "My god, you've never met Allison."
"Who's Allison?" Aria prods.
Stiles and Scott's eyes meet, "This is fucking crazy, how have you never met Allison?" Stiles asks, "She's even in the same group of friends."
Aria shrugs, "Probably not important enough to even apply on my register."
Scott scoffs, shyly looking down at his egg roll, "She's my ex girlfriend."
"You had a girlfriend?!" Aria asks, her eyes wide.
"Don't ask so surprised! I was perfectly capable of getting a girlfriend before you left!" Scott protests, his chopsticks hitting his plate in outrage.
Aria laughs, eating some more of her white rice, "Sure you were, you could barely even talk to me." She rolls her eyes, though dimples are still prominent in her cheeks, "I'm proud of you, so, is she pretty?"
"Beautiful." Scott swoons.
"You loved her." Aria accesses.
"Yes." Scott agrees.
"And she broke your heart." Aria says with a grimace.
"..Yeah." Scott admits, the table going silent.
Aria shyly eats her rice, "Don't worry, there's someone better waiting on the horizon, I'm sure of it."