aneksi had been spending a lot of time at home, or at her mom's work. mostly to get away from the problems that scott and his friends brought. hell, she could've died fighting the lizard creature. in order to avoid them, she never followed her dad to his work since sheriff stilinski worked there. she rarely bumped into melissa mccall, but she didn't complain when they met.

cory visited often. aneksi apologized for her weird behaviour and sat there, taking away his dad's pain. at least she could do something good with these powers, and she prevented the near-death scenario to ever repeat. he promised each time to never tell a soul, and she believed him. a few days after the school pool incident, isaac appeared on her door step. tilting her head to the side, she sighed at him because he knew she'd rather stay away from it all.

"can we please borrow you?" he asked, pressing an innocent smile.

"we?" she quoted, already knowing the answer. "what does derek need me for?"

"i'll explain on the way." he reached out his hand as she contemplated on it.

"fine. but i can leave whenever i want to." she demanded, closing the door after her.

isaac walked beside her towards the lair. she follower with folded arms and waited for him to explain this sudden request of her presence and help.

"okay, i want you to just be there, and derek needs your ability to compell people." he informed her, causing her to close her eyes and look away.

"isaac, i'm not good at that. i've practiced on you, but..." she said, twitching the corner of her mouth sideways.

"and it has worked on me every time. you made me put on a bra and walk outside. and you made me tell you about my most embarrassing memory. i'd never do that or tell anyone that." he argued back, nudging her body with his.

"who is it i'm compelling?" she asked quietly, in defeat.

"it's... jackson, actually." he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

"what?!"

"you'll make him forget you were even there, don't worry."

as much as aneksi doubted her own skills, she went with him and leaned her body against the nearest wall when isaac left. derek sat by a chair half a meter from her and held a piece of glass, which made her frown deeply.

"what the hell is that for?" she asked abruptly, but he just ignored her.

isaac and erica returned to them, but with a struggling jackson in their hands. he looked up at aneksi with pure confusion and panted.

"what happened to you on the night of the full moon?" derek asked bluntly.

"what? nothing. nothing happened." jackson stated, which derek didn't believe one bit.

"you're lying." derek almost mumbled. he put the glass shard away and began putting on gloves.

"no, wait, i can prove it. i taped myself." he said quickly, glancing at aneksi. isaac laughed and raised his eyebrows.

"you taped yourself?" isaac smirked, making her frown in disgust.

"yes. it was a full moon. and maybe while you were curled in the corner having an existential crisis about turning into a monster, i was preparing for the so-called gift your big, bad alpha promised me, and what did i get? nothing. you want proof? let me get the video."

jackson calmed down a bit and isaac softened his grip of him. aneksi looked down at derek, who nodded at her to do what she was brought to do. with a heavy sigh, she reluctantly approached jackson and gazed at him.

"i need you to look at me and listen carefully." she started, already noticing his irises expanding, thankfully. "tell me something personal, about me or you or us or whatever. it needs to be personal and something that is true."

"we used to go out for the shortest time once, before i met lydia. once we went to the movies and you spilled all your popcorn over my head. we stopped dating because you thought i was an asshole, which is true. but we're still friends though."

"oh my god." she mumbled as a few images flashed through her mind, first at the movies and then some others. "you're the boy from the beach, on the pictures in my room."

isaac frowned at this, vividly remembering those polaroid pictures. derek sat there patiently and waited for them to go on. aneksi could see the memory in her head now, from the moment jackson and she entered the cinema to when they were to leave. she remembered standing up, almost slipping and therefore dropping the popcorn on him.

"that was a nice day." jackson smiled. shaking her head a bit, she blinked and focused on him again.

"are you lying about the full moon? do you or do you not remember what happened?" she asked sternly.

"i remember that nothing happened." he repeated, and she straightened her back and turned her head to look at derek.

"he's telling the truth. am i done here?" she raised her arms to drop them a second later, looking at him with a weary face.

"wait a moment." derek said, grabbing the glass piece and placing himself beside her. "you know jackson, you've always been kind of a snake. and everyone knows a snake can't be poisoned by its own venom."

derek slowly fed him some of the kanima venom, and jackson collapsed on the floor, paralyzed. aneksi let out a breath of relief and rubbed her face with her hands, knowing he wasn't a suspect any longer.

she left the place quickly, although isaac caught up with her after a while. he grabbed her arm and sent her a soft smile.

"thanks for helping." he thanked her, most likely on behalf of derek.

"whatever." she muttered, trying to walk away again.

"hey, what's wrong?" he frowned, not letting her go just yet.

"i don't want to be near derek, alright. and i don't want to be with you while you're with him. i don't like you when you're around derek." she said bluntly, jerking her arm off of his grip.

"what are you talking about?" he mumbled confused, eyeing her. she licked her lips and thought about how to put it. it might've seemed ridiculous, but she did notice and absolutely hated the change of attitude he had when derek was near. even erica became cockier, and not in the good way.

"i get that this werewolf pack thing is important to you, i do. but i don't like they way you are when you're under his command. you're mean and cold." she tried to put it as happily as she could before finally leaving.

"derek's gonna' suspect lydia now, and you know that!" he called, causing her to merely slow down her pace. "and i would gladly kill her if she's the kanima."

aneksi shook her head since he just gave her a perfect example of her argument. she hurried over to school where she found stiles and scott by their lockers.

"you two have to keep lydia away from isaac and erica." she proclaimed, looking at them. "derek just tested jackson, and he's not the kanima. keep them away from her."

"well that's gonna' be a problem during chemistry." stiles muttered and sighed through his nose. aneksi followed them to the classroom, hearing erica and isaac's arrival shortly after.

she knew this thing was deadly, and she understood they wanted it dead. but how derek could just point out lydia and insist to put her down was beyond her. isaac gave her a look as he entered the classroom, a brief moment of sanity before he returned to a smirk and placed himself in a chair. folding her arms together, she waited outside until allison came rushing out with a page in her hand.

"come with me." was all she demanded before the two wandered off somewhere.

allison brought her to ms. morrell, whom aneksi had no idea who she was. allison handed her a paper an asked her to translate, even though ms. morrell was unsure of the words.

"like the wolf, its power is greatest at the moon's peak. like the wolf, the kanima is a social creature but where the wolf seeks a pack, the kanima seeks... a friend." she translated slowly, creating a frown upon the two girl's faces.

"a friend? what does that mean?" allison asked.

"maybe it's lonely." ms. morrell suggested, which put a thought to aneksi's mind.

the two girls exchanged a look before allison walked off to help get lydia out of the school. aneksi blew up her cheeks and shook her head over the stressed teenagers. she didn't participate in getting lydia away from there; she walked down the hallway and bumped into scott.

he was about to go and help his friends too, but coach finstock called for him. aneksi followed scott inside, awkwardly rolling her thumbs as coach showed him lacrosse pads.

"these are danny's." scott stated, and coach went on about the responsibility of a captain, and just rambled for a long while as always.

the two hurried over to the library where danny sat with a computer. she glanced down at it, seeing how he was restoring some files.

"dude, what did you do to my pads?" danny asked when scott put them on the table.

"me? you're the one who was wearing them." scott retorted with a now familiar frown.

"no, i wasn't. i was in goal, remember? different pads."

"then who was wearing these?" scott asked as his phone rang. he didn't even listen to danny's answer before accepting the call.

aneksi watched dumfounded as he rushed out of there without an explanation. she crossed her arms together and looked down at the computer screen, whilst danny didn't. the restoring file was a video of jackson, most likely the one he was talking about earlier. when she was about to leave, jackson suddenly sat up in his bed, turning his face towards the camera. she swallowed hard as jackson's eyes started to glow yellow.

"shit. shit, shit, shit, shit." she whispered before taking fast steps out of there, already on her way to call isaac — who, conveniently, didn't pick up.

aneksi jogged out of the school completely, looking up at the darkening sky. despite the fact that she had witnessed jackson getting paralyzed, she still suspected him. especially after ms. morrell translated the page, saying it seeked a friend because of its loneliness. she knew jackson was an orphan, not knowing his real parents. according to everyone, he was a jerk. who could be lonelier than that?

making another attempt in calling isaac, she wanted to scream when he didn't pick up. instead, she called stiles who picked up immediately.

"where are you?" he asked instantly.

"where are you?" she retorted, walking towards scott's house.

"at scott's, keeping lydia from derek like you said. look, isaac put venom on her rock candy crystal during chemistry. nothing happened to her, aneksi. scott believes she's immune, but why would she be?"

"it didn't paralyze her?" she mumbled and almost managed to stumble because of a pit on the ground.

"no, it didn't. derek is determinant to kill her. they're all outside, we need you." he whispered, in fear that anyone would hear.

"i hate playing on both sides." she muttered displeased and then closed her eyes in regret.

"excuse me, what? are you helping psycho derek?" stiles almost scolded her.

"i wasn't helping them, they just needed my ability to compell. i had to ask jackson if he remembered anything about the full moon night. that's all. stiles, i don't want to be a part of this."

"well, you are, so suck it up and come help us." he sighed, actually putting a smile to her face.

"shit, i almost forgot why i called. lydia isn't the kanima, it's–" she started, but was cut off.

aneksi hadn't realized she had reached scott's house, but derek had. he hit the phone away from her hand and quickly grabbed her, his own hand against her mouth.

"i thought you were staying away." he hissed and locked an arm around her stomach to hold her still.

aneksi tried to scream against his hand until she tought of something better. focusing, she released her claws and dug them into derek's thighs, causing him to suddenly let go off her.

she elbowed his face harshly and then brought him to the ground with a simple kick against his legs. boyd gazed at her, ready to attack, but she growled at him and vamp-sped inside the house.

there were way too many sounds around her. she could hear erica and allison, lydia, and isaac. that's when her eyes landed on the green venom by the window frame, reminding her about the truth.

"stiles!" she yelled, turning around a corner where isaac stood. letting the anger take over her, she kneed him between his legs and watched him drop to his knees. scott rushed to her side and frowned with his lips in an amused way.

"really, neks?" isaac groaned and glared up at her.

"you idiots. lydia's not the kanima." she muttered and grabbed his neck.

"do you know who it is?" scott asked quickly, a hand against her shoulder.

"it's jackson." she blurted out, looking around them. "and he's here, i know that. lydia's not safe at all."

"are you sure?"

"scott, i saw the video he was talking about, the whole one. he sat up with his glowing eyes. and he's lonely. allison and i had the page translated earlier."

"you were with us when we tested him. he wasn't paralyzed." isaac frowned.

"shut up." she muttered, looking at scott. "we'll figure that out later. can we kick them out of the house now?"

derek still stood outside when erica and isaac were thrown out, landing in front of him. erica was still paralyzed, and aneksi had taken the pleasure in beating isaac unconscious. scott, allison and stiles placed themselves on the porch outside while aneksi stayed by the side, keeping an eye out for the kanima since everyone had seemed to forget about it.

"i think i'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, scott. you're not an omega. you're already an alpha of your own pack. but you know you can't beat me." derek said, smiling a bit by the end.

"i can hold you off until the cops get here." scott retorted when the sirens echoed in the air.

aneksi sniffed a bit and quickly looked up, widening her eyes faintly. she nudged stiles to get his attention, and soon the kanima hissed, disappearing into the woods after everyone had witnessed it. soon after, lydia came rushing outside with a frightened and confused face.

"would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" she exhaled.

the fact seemed to hit everyone at the same time, but aneksi focused her eyes on derek with a small smile etching on her lips.

"it's jackson." scott whispered what aneksi already knew and followed it with his eyes for as long as he could. derek didn't seem to have heard the name considering he was too busy watching the kanima run away.

"not lydia, as you can see." aneksi muttered to derek, watching as he looked down in frustration.