Allison easily dodged Lydia's awkward kick and smoothly ripped the bo staff from her hands. "You're not concentrating."

"Sorry. Things have been weird," Lydia said as she stretched. "Without mentioning anything with a Y chromosome, how have you been?"

"Stagnant" she answered as she began shadowboxing. "It seems like I'm so used to big drama that I don't know how to function without it anymore. And the house is so quiet all the time."

"You know, you can stay at my place any time. My parents would totally be fine with it."

"Your parents, no offence, have been really weird ever since the running naked through the woods thing. I'll pass. Dad and I..."

"No Y chromosomes!" Lydia shouted as she made shushed Allison. "We need a girls night out that doesn't involve weapons or homework or moping over boys. Are you free Saturday?"

"Actually I have a date with Sco..." Allison started before laughing. "I can cancel my plans this once since he's been cancelling on me left and right the last few weeks."

Lydia didn't say anything. She just looked off to the side for a split second before smiling and hugging her best friend.

"Do you just want to call it a night and go veg on the couch and watch bad teen melodramas?" Allison asked as she began putting away the training equipment scattered around the garage.

"Sure. What braincells you didn't kill by kicking me in the head eight hundred times would love death by terrible acting."

TW

All Scott could think about was how weird things had been the night before. He pretty much ignored Stiles and Allison all through school, and Danny was on his way to his house to talk about Lydia. His mom was working and Derek was too busy trying to find his missing pack members to care about what "the traitor" was up to.

He searched the internet for anything about stones that could raise the dead, but all he found anywhere close to what he was looking for was voodoo zombies. He bookmarked a few sites just in case, but Danny's family was from the Pacific Islands, not the Tropic of Cancer. It was doubtful a religion tied to the Atlantic Ocean and New Orleans was involved in a Hawaiian artifact.

Scott heard the steps before the doorbell rang. He bounded down the stairs with a speed that humans would have to work years to achieve. He almost slammed the door shut when he saw that Danny wasn't alone.

"Hello, Scott. So nice to see you again," Derek's uncle said as he casually tossed Danny through the doorway by the collar of his shirt. "My nephew sends his best wishes."

"How goes the search for Boyd and Erica? Anything?" Scott asked as he helped Danny up, careful to keep one eye trained on Peter. "I'm a little surprised that Derek would let you out of his sight, since he doesn't trust you nearly as far as he can throw you."

"See, that's the thing, Scott: you don't get that kind of information from anyone but the Alpha of a pack. Especially after your subterfuge was revealed. Derek is still upset," Peter answered with a smarmy grin. "No, I'm here on his behalf. He wants to know why you and your little friend here have been spending so much time at our familial home and in the graveyard."

"You can tell Derek that any questions he has he needs to ask me himself," Scott growled after shifting halfway into wolf mode. "Now get out of my house before I throw you out."

"We both know that you wouldn't be able to do that, Scott. I may be just a Beta, but I'm older and stronger and more experienced than you are," Peter bowed. "But I'll happily deliver your message. Anything else I should tell my darling nephew?"

Scott thought for a moment, but Danny was the one to speak up. "Actually, no, but I have a question for you."

Cocking his head curiously, Peter looked at Scott and ignored Danny. "Why is your friend talking to me without a proper introduction, Scott?"

"Danny, this is Derek Hale's evil Uncle Peter. Peter, this is my friend Danny. Touch him and I'll kill you."

Peter just smiled as his eyes lingered on Danny. "I would never dream of cavorting about with a mongrel from another pack, Scott. That pleasure is all yours."

"Huh?" Scott asked, confused. "What are you talking about? I don't have a pack."

"Not an official one, no, but you're an odd Omega, Scott. Most of them don't hang about with humans."

Stomping his foot to get the attention of the two wolves, Danny looked immediately like he regretted it as soon as Peter looked at him.

"Yes, young man?"

Standing as tall as he could, Danny did his best to look Peter in the eye. "If you're this Derek guy's uncle, then you're the one who came back from the dead. How did you do it?"

"You want to know the secrets of magic, little one?" Peter asked as he sauntered up to Danny, his face inches from the boy's. He breathed heavily in his face, smiling as he sniffed him. "There are things that man is not meant to know."

"What about me?" Scott asked as he grabbed Peter by the arm and pulled him away from Danny. He made sure to dig his claws in a little tighter than necessary.

With a flourished bow, Peter pulled out of Scott's grip and stepped onto Scott's porch. "I'll tell you two things, Scott. If you want me to talk you should really talk to my nephew."

"And the second thing?" Scott asked as he crossed his arms.

"Make sure your lap dogs know their place. I might not be so friendly next time."

Peter shifted into full wolf mode and ran off into the dark night. Scott watched him until he rounded a corner, then slammed the door and turned to Danny.

"Hey, man, are you okay?" He asked as he walked Danny to the living room. He sat the silent Danny on the sofa and walked to the kitchen. He retrieved a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. "Do you need any ice?"

Danny didn't answer, so Scott brought him the lukewarm water and set it on a coaster on the table. Peter may have been scary and threatening, but Scott knew his mother would kill him for leaving water rings on the furniture.

"How do you do this? How does Stiles do this?" Danny asked in a raspy voice as he grabbed the water with a trembling hand. "How do you look people in the eye that would kill you without blinking and not crumble?"

Scott put one arm around Danny's shoulder and the other on his knee. "I do crumble. A lot. I just wait until they leave to do it. Hell, my girlfriend's entire family wanted me dead three months ago."

"I think he might know something, Scott. If he came back from the dead like you told me he did, then he knows something. And we have to find out if he knows anything about the Necrostone."

"We will, Danny, but first we have to figure out what we're going to do about Lydia," Scott reminded him. "She knows all about what we've been doing. And I really don't want her to tell Allison or Allison's dad."

With a growing aura of confidence, Danny smiled and hugged Scott. "You idiot, we're going to tell her what happened tonight. We're going to tell Lydia everything. And we're going to ask her to help us."

Scott awkwardly put his arms around Danny. As he stifled a choke on the scent of Danny's Armani cologne, he felt one more thing click in his head. Something Peter had alluded to and he hadn't picked up on.

"Danny." Scott said as he broke the hug.

"Yeah?" Danny asked as he finally took a drink of the water Scott had handed him.

Putting a hand on Danny's thigh, Scott leaned in and breathed deeply. "I can taste it, you know."

"Know what?" Danny asked as he leaned back.

Then Scott kissed him. It was awkward, unpleasant, and both knew it was a bad idea. Danny dropped his glass of water on the sofa. Scott ignored his damp pants as he leaned further into the kiss. His senses started to leave him until all he could smell was the pheromones Danny was emitting and taste the Blistex Danny had put on earlier that evening.

Pushing Scott off, Danny stood up and walked into the kitchen. Knowing to give him distance, Scott instead turned his attention to the spilled water all over the sofa. He grabbed the glass and put it on the coaster on the table. Then he commenced to flipping the cushions in the hopes that his mother wouldn't notice.

"Dammit." Scott cursed himself as he thought of Allison. He knelt onto the floor and put his head into an accent pillow and screamed. He'd lost control and had been running off animalistic lust.

"Scott?" Danny's voice was small and Scott looked up to see him staring from around the corner in fear.

"It's okay." Scott assured him before sitting down on the arm of the sofa. He ran his hand through his hair and continued mentally cursing himself. "It's not okay. I have a girlfriend."

"And I'm a guy," Danny said as he remained half-hidden by the wall. Scott wasn't sure if Danny was reminding him or asking him.

"That, too. We can't do this tonight. Danny. I have to go. You can stay if you want. I have to go."

Danny eased himself around the corner and into the living, but maintained a healthy distance between himself and Scott. "You already said that. If you're confused or anything, I'm here to talk."

"No offence, Danny, but you're kind of the last person I want to talk to right now."

"Understandable," Danny agreed before Scott bolted out the door.

TW

Stiles just sat on his bed and watched Scott pace a hole in his floor as he muttered to himself. He didn't need to ask what happened, because whenever Scott got like this it was usually about Allison. He got more worked up over that girl than he did the various people and monsters trying to kill them.

"Dude, just apologize to her and stop trying to dig a hole to China in my bedroom," Stiles finally said as he threw a pillow at Scott. The action seemed to have snapped his friend out of his stupor.

Sitting in the swivelling office chair, Scott spun around a few times before settling into what could barely pass as a comfortable position. He said nothing for several minutes. Scott smacked himself in the forehead once before looking at Stiles.

"You're the werewolf expert. Does this increase my sex drive or something? Did that bite make me super horny? Or is it time for the full moon already? Because I thought that was still a few weeks away." Scott continued rambling before Stiles threw another pillow at him to shut him up.

"What did you do?" Stiles scooted to the edge of the bed and did his best to look Scott in the face, which was difficult since Scott was doing everything in his power to look anywhere but at his friend. "Scott, tell me, what did you do?"

"I made out with someone that isn't Allison," Scott half whispered before hiding his face in his hands.

Stiles absorbed this information for about half a second before jumping to his feet. "Was it Lydia again? I swear, Scott, if you did this to me again I'm going to kick your ass."

"It wasn't Lydia, Stiles. I wouldn't do that to you," Scott declared as he looked at the floor.

"But you would do it to Allison. That is screwed up, Scott, even for the soap opera you two call a relationship."

"You think I don't know that?" Scott yelled as he slammed his fist on Stiles' desk, causing it to crack. "Err, sorry."

"Step away from the furniture and expensive electronics, Scott. And calm down. Now who was it?"

Scott was quiet for several seconds before offering a non-answer. "It doesn't matter."

"See, I've watched enough cable TV to know that when someone says that it actually does matter. A lot. Who was it, Scott? It's not like we talk to that many girls."

Stiles was shocked to see Scott shut down with one sentence. He played it over in his head and got down on one knee so he could look up into Scott's eyes. They were squeezed shut.

"It wasn't a girl, was it? Scott, dude, was it Danny?" Stiles asked as he shook his friend's leg. "You know you can talk to me."

"Why would you guess Danny?" Scott asked while keeping his eyes shut.

"You two have been spending a lot of time together, and Danny is a good looking guy... Scott, do you think I'm attractive?"

"What?" Scott asked as he finally opened his eyes and looked down at Stiles' upturned face.

Stiles could feel Scott tensing and backed away. "Come on, you know what I mean. I'm not gay, and I don't care if you are, but do you think I'm hot?"

"I am not gay, Stiles, and I'm not answering that question."

"Why not?"

"It's weird."

"And making out with Danny isn't?" Stiles asked as he started primping in his mirror.

Scott cleared his throat and then laughed for the first time that day. "I never said I made out with Danny. Or any guy. And I'm not gay. And you look fine, you dork."

"Thank you for that," Stiles said a smile. "Now, then, are you going to tell Allison that you made out with Danny?"

"Stiles..."

"Fine," he sighed in response. "Are you going to tell your girlfriend that knows ten different ways to kill you that you made out with someone else of an undetermined gender?"

"Do you think I should? I shouldn't. Should I? Because I think the wolf took over, Stiles. I really do."

"Scott, the wolf took over?" Stiles rather seriously.

"I think so."

Stiles sighed and grabbed his cellphone. "This is gonna suck so bad, man."

TW

Stiles pulled his jeep up to the Hale House, wishing every second that he was driving anywhere else. He hated coming here when Scott wanted to do his sadistic training exercises, and that was when he knew he wasn't going to have his head ripped off by a lunatic.

"I see you still don't have car privileges. Your mom still pissed at you for hiding the fangs from her, Scott?" Derek asked with a laugh as scanned the treeline nervously.

"He wanted backup in case you tried something," Stiles answered for his friend. "Look, we just had some questions is all."

Isaac and Peter walked out of the house and stood behind Derek, outnumbering Scott and Stiles. "I'm all for an exchange of information. Why are you and your friends hanging out in my house, Scott?"

"It's secluded and the Argents would never look for anything here. They've written it off as a usual patrolling point," Scott answered simply. "There's something coming, Derek. Something bad. And I think he knows."

Derek looked at Peter and laughed. "Of course he knows, Scott. He's the one who has been helping me prepare for the invading pack. We've already seen at least one of their scouts."

"Invading pack?" Stiles shouted before shaking Scott's arm. "Scott, there's an invading pack. We can barely deal with the ones that don't want us all dead!"

"There's an invading pack?" Scott said in disbelief. "That is so not what I need right now."

"Does that answer your question or are you two going to continue wasting my night?" Derek asked.

Stiles stepped forward and spoke for his friend. "Does the wolf ever take over when it's not the full moon?"

Peter smirked, but it was Derek who laughed and answered. "The wolf isn't like an alternate personality. It's a part of who you are. It doesn't take over so much as you lose control. And Scott here seemed to have gained control. Are you having trouble being a lone wolf?"

"Does the wolf change you?" Stiles pressed further since Scott didn't want to. "Does it change you, you know, sexually?"

"STILES!" Scott shouted as Isaac burst into a giggle fit.

Derek was too busy laughing himself to answer, but Peter calmly walked over to Scott. He ignored Stiles completely. He placed the flat of his index finger under Scott's chin and tilted his head upward so their eyes could meet. "The wolf doesn't change your sexuality. It does heighten it, but being a teenager I don't think it's possible for your sex drive to actually go any higher than it already is. Any feelings or confusion you have you would have had with or without the bite."

"Back away, Pedowolf," Stiles said as he stepped between Scott and Peter. Peter bared his his fangs at Stiles but chuckled in an amused manner. "Scott, let's just get out of here."

Scott didn't want to leave, though. He walked around Stiles and up to Peter. "How did you come back from the dead?"

"You'll have to ask your friend, Lydia, Scotty boy. She's the one who did all the work."

"But it was your plan. How did you do it?" Scott demanded.

Peter pulled him in for a hug and whispered something in Scott's ear. When he let him go, Scott grabbed Stiles by the coat sleeve and told him they needed to leave. Not wanting to stay, Stiles climbed into the jeep and started it. He didn't even buckle up before pulling away from the house.

"So, I guess being a werewolf doesn't make you gay. That's a relief. I don't have anything against gay people, but the last thing I want is for Derek Hale to come onto me. Right, Scott? Scott?"

"Stiles..." Scott muttered as he looked off into the darkness of the night. "I'm not gay, but I am scared."

"Of what?"

"Peter Hale, Stiles. He knows what I've been doing and why."

"Scott?" Stiles stopped the jeep and shook his friend, but it didn't seem to make any difference. "Scott, what have you been doing? You are scaring me a lot more than three creeps ever have."

Scott sounded on the verge of tears as he opened the door to Stiles' jeep. He climbed out without a word and slammed the door. Stiles blinked and his best friend was gone.

TW

Danny opened his front door even though it was late and his parents were bound to be pissed. When he saw Scott, he didn't say a word. Danny stood back and let Scott into his home. "We have to be quiet. My parents go to sleep insanely early and Jackson was the only person they'd let into the house at this hour."

"He knows, Danny. It's not just Lydia. Peter Hale knows, too."

"That werewolf guy? How did he find out?" Danny groaned as he led Scott up the stairs. It wasn't exactly a conversation for the living room. "I know it's weird that we're going to my bedroom, but nothing is going to happen, Scott. Nothing."

"The last thing I'm worried about right now is my rating on the Kinsey Scale, Danny," Scott lied as he followed him. The thought had been in the back of his head the entire night. "There is a sociopath out there who knows what we've been doing with our free time. Did you call Lydia?"

"She's already here, Scott. And she's pissed. She was with Allison when I called. I guess Allison called you and never returned her call."

Allison was not a priority to Scott at that moment, but he didn't want to say it. Danny opened his bedroom door and ushered Scott inside. Lydia was sitting on Danny's bed. Her legs were crossed as were her arms.

"Scott McCall," she hissed as she pointed a finger at him, "you need to tell me what the hell is going on and right now. Danny here wanted to wait until you showed up to tell me. I ditched YOUR girlfriend for this. Something you seem to excel at lately."

"This is a little bigger than high school sweethearts and their relationship problems, Lydia," Danny scolded her as he sat at his desk. Scott just stood awkwardly.

"I know that, you imbecile. Now what development happened in one day that was so important you had to call at ten at night?"

Scott was the one to speak. "Peter Hale knows about everything. The stone, the killings, and that you know. Lydia, I think you two are still bonded."

"So he knows about this conversation?" Lydia gasped.

"I'm counting on it," Scott answered. He walked over to the fish tank on Danny's night stand pulled a black rock out of it. It was smooth, and looked as though it has recently been set into a necklace. "If Peter Hale does know what you know, Lydia, I want him to know that I have the Necrostone and that I want answers or I'm going to destroy it."

"You can't!" Danny exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Scott, if my parents find out I destroyed that they'll kill me!"

"Danny, it's a little past time to worry about that," Scott answered as he pocketed the stone. "Listen, Lydia, please don't say anything about this to Allison. Nobody outside of the three of us and Peter knows anything. Not even Stiles. I'm begging you."

Lydia made a choking motion in Scott's direction and growled, but she agreed. She pointed her finger at Scott again and warned him to treat Allison better or he'd regret before leaving.

"Scott, about Allison. Are you going to tell her?"

"Tell her what, Danny? That you created smart zombies or something and I had to put them all back in the ground? Do you know how ridiculous that is?" Scott protested as he finally sat down on Danny's bed. "Or did you want me to tell her I made a move on you and I don't even know why? Because those are both really bad ideas right now. Really, really bad ideas."

"Scott, if you need to talk, I'm still here. Lots of straight guys experiment. It's cool. Really."

"I'm not having a coming out drama, Danny. If I'm bisexual or whatever I'll deal. I just don't want to hurt Allison."

Danny sat upright and gave Scott a look that seemed to bore right through him. "In all honesty, Scott, I'm more worried about you hurting yourself than I am about you hurting Allison. You have to deal with things. You can't just ignore them."

"I'm dealing, Danny. I've been dealing for months with things that you wouldn't understand, and now I'm cleaning up your mess."

"Forgive me for giving a damn."

Rubbing his face with the palms of his hands, Scott let his shoulders droop and he fell onto his side and stared at Danny from his bed. "I'm sorry. It's been a stressful night. I don't know what to do. I'll figure it out, though. I always figure it out."

Danny looked out his window and sighed. When he looked back at Scott, the other teenager was asleep. Danny tried to wake him up, but couldn't. He assumed it was a werewolf thing and pulled Scott's cellphone from the pocket of his jacket and sent a text to his mom saying he was staying at a friend's house. They'd probably call in sick in the morning after Danny's parents had already left for work and then go see that Peter Hale guy again.

TW

Stiles pulled into his driveway, shaken more than he thought he would be by Scott's abandonment of him in the woods. He'd seen a lot of disturbing things since his best friend was bitten. Scott being so scared that he actually ran away when his first instinct is usually to fight was pretty high up on the list.

His dad wasn't home, so obviously it was going to be a frozen pizza kind of night. Stiles was walking in the front door and debating whether he wanted a cheese or pepperoni pizza when he smelled pasta. It was weird, because neither he nor his father cooked.

"Dad, are you home?" Stiles called out nervously. He grabbed the first thing he could, the shoe on his left foot, and walked into the kitchen. When he saw who was in there, he dropped the shoe.

He'd never seen her in person. He'd only seen pictures as his dad told him she died during childbirth. That he was the miracle baby who kept his wife alive.

"Welcome home, Stiles. I've wanted to meet you for ages, but your father just didn't want me to come home. Didn't you dear?"

Stiles looked and saw that his dad was tied up in the corner of the kitchen with blood trickling from his forehead. When he looked back at the woman who looked just like his dead mother he was greeted with a cast iron skillet to the face.