Stiles POV: "Stiles over here" Selene yelled to him.
"What is it?" he asked as he got closer to her.
"It's her den" Selene told him.
"We gotta tell Scott" Stiles said.
Selene nodded then took off running at a more human pace.
"Why doesn't anyone just wait?" Stiles said to himself before running after her.
Soon he was full out sprinting keeping her in his sights. Something about him chasing her in the woods felt right inside him primal and right. What didn't feel right is when he literally ran into Scott who was also running. Mostly that just hurt and made him scream.
"I think we found something" Stiles said once he got his breath back.
"So did I" Scott said not even breathing hard.
Lucky werewolf.
Stiles and Selene led Scott back to the den they found. Slowly they went inside and saw human stuff.
"It's a coyote den" Stiles said.
"Werecoyote" Scott and Selene said at the same time.
"You see this? This is Malia's. Remember it's the same one she was wearing in the photo" Stiles said picking up a jacket.
Gently Scott picked up a stuffed animal.
"We shouldn't be in here" Scott said.
"What do you mean?" Stiles asked.
"She's not going to come back now. We just invaded her home. Our scent's going to be everywhere" Scott explained.
"If she's not going to come back here where's she going to go?" Stiles asked.
"I don't know."
"Can you track her now? You think you got her scent?" Stiles asked.
"Maybe but I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf. And I'm still worried that if I do it I won't be able to turn back" Scott said.
Stiles sighed. "The door's still open."
"If I can't get to Derek we're gonna have to find someone else to help. This is basically a crime scene right? I think it might be a little out of my boss's league" Scott said.
"And more in my dad's."
"I can help track her since Scott doesn't have a complete handle on his new powers yet" Selene said softly.
"I'm trying at least" Scott replied.
"But you're still scared of it. If you fear it you'll never control it. Anyway I think we need to keep Malia off balance. Stiles you should call your dad here" Selene explained.
Stiles called his dad and got him to bring a few deputies with him down to the old accident site. Stiles then showed his dad the coyote den and quietly explained Malia was the coyote.
"You're sure it was her?" his dad asked.
"I looked her right in the eyes. And they glowed just like mine" Scott explained.
"And her scent is all over that den and it's fresh so not just from her stuff" Selene added.
"It makes sense dad."
"But it wasn't a girl it was a four legged coyote right?" the Sheriff asked confused.
"Well okay. But yeah see that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet" Stiles said.
"It is possible for werewolves to turn into actual wolves it's rare but it happens. So why not a werecoyote?" Selene said.
"Okay but if it was a full moon and she did change while her mom was driving then anything could've happened" Scott said.
"Horrible things could've happened. Ripping shredding tearing things" Stiles added.
"Which is probably what caused the accident" Scott said.
"Think about it dad all right? They're driving Malia starts to change she goes out of control the mom crashes and everybody dies."
"Except Malia" Scott offered.
"She blames herself all right goes off running into the woods and not knowing what's happening in shock becomes a coyote" Stiles said.
"That makes sense… in a Chinese folktale. Boys this is insane. I need this kept quiet. The three of you not a word. I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this. Scott? Scott!" the Sheriff said as Scott stared off into the distance.
"Sorry. What did you say?" Scott asked.
"Oh hell" the Sheriff said when Agent McCall pulled up.
It got worse when Mr. Tate got out of the car too.
"Mr. Tate" the Sheriff said softly.
Mr. Tate was looking at the small blanket Mr. Stilinski held.
"Mr. Tate?" Agent McCall asked.
"It's hers" Mr. Tate said gently taking and cradling the blanket from the Sheriff.
"All right wait here" Agent McCall said.
"Dad" Scott said trying to stop him.
"I'll talk to you in a minute. I wouldn't mind hearing how your mom's okay with you running around in the woods this late."
Then he walked off toward the den with the Sheriff following him. Scott and Stiles and Selene left before Agent McCall came back. No one spoke as Stiles dropped Scott off at his home. Selene climbed into the front seat and Stiles drove home.
"I think I still freak your dad out" Selene said once they were in Stiles' room.
"I think all this stuff still freaks him out. It freaks me out sometimes."
Selene dressed for bed and got under the covers.
"What about me do I freak you out?" she teased smiling.
"No you are the least freaky thing in this freaky world I find myself in now. You're my light to pull me back you're my other half… you're exactly who I want who I NEED. I love you my mate" Stiles said getting into bed wrapping his arms around her.
Stiles fell asleep with her arms wrapped around him like his around her. He didn't dream once. At school the next morning Stiles Selene and Scott and Allison met in the back of a classroom talking about last night in the woods.
"Here's where we found the den. It's right in the middle of the hiking trail" Stiles said pointing at a pin on the map on his tablet.
"Well that could narrow it down. Coyotes travel fixed trails. But I think you're right about her noting back to the den. Coyotes don't like wolves. And they're really smart. If they don't want to be heard they actually walk on their toes" Allison said.
"Coyotes tip-toe?" Stiles asked.
"They tip-toe" Allison confirmed.
Stiles looked at Scott in surprise. Then the bell rang.
"I got to go but send me the pinned location" Allison said.
"Okay" Stiles agreed.
Stiles and Selene took their seats while Scott talked to the new girl Kira.
"All right everyone let's get started. We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read aloud for us? Mr. Stilinski how about you?"
"Or maybe someone else could" Stiles said after hesitating.
"Everyone participates in my class Mr. Stilinski."
"Okay." Slowly Stiles got up and went to the podium. His heart rate increasing and he gripped the podium tight. When he looked down the words were literally sliding off the page.
"Stiles? You okay?" Scott asked.
Stiles' breathing increased.
"I should take him to the nurse's office" Scott said guiding Stiles out of the room. Vaguely Stiles heard the teacher tell Selene to stay in her seat. Scott took him into the bathroom and Stiles pushed away from him and looked in the mirror.
"Stiles look at me man. Is this a panic attack?"
"It's a dream it's a dream. This is just a dream" Stiles said.
"No it's not this is real. You're here. You're here with me. Okay what do you do? I mean like how do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?"
"Your fingers you count your fingers. You have extra fingers in dreams."
"How many do I have? Hey! Look at me. Come on Stiles. Look at my hands and count with me."
"One. Two" slowly Stiles counted.
"Keep going."
"Three. Four."
"Five" Scott said helping him along.
"Six. Seven."
"Eight" Scott added.
"Nine. Ten" Stiles finished.
"Ten. Ten" Scott repeated.
Selene walked into the bathroom clearly in a panic. She threw her arms around Stiles and held him close. Slowly they sank to the ground to sit.
"How did you get out of class?" Scott asked.
"I lied said I was going to be sick" Selene responded.
"What the hell is happening to me?" Stiles asked.
"We'll figure it out. You're going to be okay" Scott said.
"Am I? Are you? Scott you can't transform. Allison's being haunted by her dead aunt. And I'm straight up losing my mind. We can't do this. We can't… we can't help Malia. We can't help anyone" Stiles said softly.
"We can try. We can always try" Scott said.
Selene tightened her hold on him giving him much needed comfort. Scott left the bathroom quickly but Selene and Stiles took a little longer.
"Everything WILL be okay" Selene said keeping her arm around his waist.
Suddenly Stiles saw his dad at the end of the hall. Turns out Malia was in the school and tried to attack Kira.
"A couple of students said they saw it running across the field and back into the woods. Thank god nobody got hurt" his dad said.
"Her" Selene softly said.
"What happens if she does hurt someone?" Stiles asked.
"Most likely they'll have to put it down."
"Put her down? Dad try not to forget there's a girl in there one that you'll be killing. Come on you aren't back to not believing are you?"
"I believe there are a lot of things I don't understand yet. But that doesn't mean that everything and anything imaginable is suddenly possible. Now are you 100% sure that this is a girl and not an animal?"
"Yes. Because Selene and Scott are sure." Stiles looked at the end of the hall and saw Scott looking at them.
Stiles turned away but asked in a normal tone.
"Scott you been listening?" Scott nodded.
"All right let's get this figured out come on" his dad said.