"Shouldn't you be studying?"

Kim's gaze rose from magazine she was reading then shrugged. "I should be, yes, but since I'll sure as hell fail, I thought I might as well spend the afternoon doing something relaxing," she replied.

The fact he came in without knocking almost drew a malicious comment out of her, but in the end she managed to bite it back. There was no reason to tell him how annoying she found this habit of his, so she chose to return her attention to the magazine. She had just started a long article about people who lost their partners because of their weird hobbies. It was still better than studying.

The alpha rolled his green eyes at this answer as he sat on the edge of her bed. He looked ridiculously out of place in her room, even if it wasn't so girly anymore. With a sigh, he took the magazine from her hand and threw it on the floor. "Kim, it's only history."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot that you're obsessed with it," she snapped at him while she moved to get back her magazine, but Deucalion was faster and kicked it out of her reach. Giving him an annoyed look, she said, "You know, I don't really like the idea of this test. I mean, really? I'm not even sure we were supposed to study things like the comparison of the honor codes of different militaries."

"But it's important." Kim huffed and leaned her back against the headboard. "Alright, where are your books?"

"No. Don't even think about it, I won't study today."

Deucalion laughed as he pulled up his right knee so he could face her. "Don't be ridiculous. Give me an hour and trust me, you'll pass it."

"Get out. Seriously, get out and leave me alone for today."

She was waiting for him to move, to do anything other than looking at her with that smug smile on his face. It wasn't fair because he knew exactly how easily he could persuade her to do whatever she didn't want to do. But he waited. Patiently and in complete silence that drove her insane.

"If I don't?"

"I'll shoot you?" she offered uncertainly. Of course, Kim would never shoot him.

The werewolf, with the smile still on his face, shrugged. "You're childish."

"No, I'm lazy," she pointed out with a raised forefinger. "That's different."

"Look, your father asked me to come over and help you with this. Let me help."

"Shouldn't you be with your pack?"

"They have a life of their own."

"What about you?" It was supposed to be a normal, friendly question but Deucalion gulped as his body tensed. She tiled her head, patiently waiting for him to finally say something but he didn't. "Why are you looking at me like this?"

"It's nothing."

"Didn't seem like nothing to me. Duke, come on, why don't you trust me?"

Clearing his throat, the alpha shook his head. "Let's get this studying over with, Kim."

The girl looked up at the ceiling for a second before she reached out and put her hand on the side of his neck. "Please, tell me," she pleaded quietly.

"Don't do this to me," he told her while he leaned into her touch, his lips brushing her wrist.

Kim shivered but didn't move. This small movement revived most of the old feelings for him she had successfully forgotten months ago. "I'm not doing anything," she finally said, pulling away her hand.

Only nanoseconds after breaking contact, he caught her hand and pulled it to his mouth, gently kissing it as he said, "Yes, you are."

"No, I'm n-"

She couldn't finish the sentence because he interrupted her with a kiss. A kiss that led to something neither of them expected to happen.

Almost an hour had passed since Derek and Scott left the loft, leaving Stiles, Peter and Kim behind. She was thinking, trying to find a reason why Deucalion took those Betas. There had to be something, but if it was a werewolf-related thing, he had probably forgotten to tell her when she was younger. She walked over to the window, watching the nearby buildings and the windows, seeing as the people inside lived their perfectly normal lives with their perfectly negligible problems.

Then she remembered something. "Sparta," she said as she turned around and looked at the two men.

Stiles raised an eyebrow. "Sparta?"

"Yes," she nodded without hesitation. "I guess he's trying to train Derek by taking something important away from him. At the age of seven Spartan boys are grouped into packs, but later they end up in different units," Kim explained. Of course she was probably wrong, but this was the only thing she could think of. Why else would he do something like kidnapping kids?

Peter threw his head back on the couch with a dramatic sigh. "Here we go again, his Ancient Greek kink."

"What are you talking about?" Stiles asked as his eyes darted back and forth between them.

"He calls himself Deucalion, she says he's referring to Sparta - see the pattern here?" the older Hale asked with a smirk.

Kim shook her head before she turned to Stiles. "It's not a kink. Ancient Greece was his favorite and main field, but he was studying history and anthropology in university."

"And he successfully made you study that as well."

"He helped me after I decided to hand in my application," she corrected him.

"That's almost the same," Peter replied.

Meanwhile Stiles put up his hands with an utterly confused look on his face. "Wait, how well do you know that guy?"

"Well enough to say almost everything I know about werewolves came from him."

"Why haven't either of you mentioned that yet? You should go and talk to him. Maybe, if you two weren't keeping it to yourselves, we would have already known where he kept Erica and Boyd."

"Stiles, I know it sounds easy, but it's not," she replied. "I won't talk to him until it's absolutely necessary."

He tried to get more out of her, asking questions she didn't want to talk about, but after almost half an hour he gave up and concentrated on his own theories. This is how he accidentally helped Peter remembering a very important detail.

The next day Deucalion, Kali and Ennis showed up in Derek's loft and, according to Peter, it wasn't exactly a friendly visit. Apart from making their intentions and expectations clear, Deucalion sent Kim a message through the Hales. Peter didn't want to let her go, but there was nothing he could do to stop her. She didn't even agree to be accompanied by him, saying in case of an emergency he would try to contact Chris since he lived in the same building.

So she left, and felt the nausea take over as she was waiting for the elevator to arrive. There were mere seconds left to change her mind. Maybe it was a trap. Maybe he should just stop and turn back before it was too late. The door opened and he was already waiting for her. "Do you know why I wanted to see you?" he asked without a greeting.

She didn't. In all honestly she hadn't felt like thinking about it, because the only thing that appeared in her mind was the pain he caused to Derek. It reminded her on the day he killed Marco. She heard it all. "No," she managed to say quietly as they went to the living room. "Please, enlighten me."

"I heard you have a much," the alpha started, stopping for a second as he tapped his fingers on his cane, "deeper relationship with Peter Hale than just staying in his flat." There was no smile, no smirk, and all the muscles tightened in his face.

"Who told you that?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. And I can also smell him on you, Kim."

"You don't know anything," she growled angrily.

"I know enough to warn you about it. I don't want you around him if you don't want him to get hurt."

"Duke-"

"I'm serious," the alpha interrupted him, obviously on the edge of losing his patience.

Kim let out a small laugh as she sat next to him. "Do you even know why I'm sleeping with him?" she asked. "It started after we had met, after you kissed me. I... I needed someone, something to distract me. Since I'm staying at his place, it... happened. He's having fun while we're waiting and I'm having fun and get you out of my head. It's a win-win situation."

"You only did it because of me?"

"I know you're a monster, don't get me wrong," she stated to make it clear then added, "but I remember who you used to be and I still love that man."

"Then stay here, in the penthouse."

"To live with the other alphas?" she asked incredulously. "Thanks but I'm not suicidal."

Deucalion let out a sigh. "I won't let them hurt you."

"What about you?"

"Kimberly, you still believe I would ever hurt you? How many times I have to tell you I would never let you get hurt?"

She had no idea what to think anymore. Every single time she got this close to him her old feelings clouded her mind and made it impossible to think straight. Now it didn't matter how strong the physical bond between her and Peter was, because there was no love between them. In Deucalion's case it was an exceptionally strong emotional bond, one that often made her think if there was something more in the background, and a disarming and intoxicating physical bond she couldn't resist.

A few minutes were enough for her anger to completely disappear, giving space to uncertainty she felt every time her gaze fell on him. One day, if the others don't kill him, she would ask him about this bond. He wasn't telling her the truth and she didn't like it. This thing had absolutely nothing to do with their plans, this was something strictly between the two of them, concerning both sides, but the alpha, for some strange reason, believed it was better if he had kept her in the dark.

The silence was deafening and nerve-wrecking. "By the way, you started it," she said.

Deucalion turned towards her with raised eyebrows. "What?"

"You said I was the one who started this ridiculous thing between us back in the animal clinic that day," she started the explanation, keeping her eyes on her hands she folded in her lap. "But it had been you, Duke, when you came over to help me studying for that exam."

"That was different."

"Why? Because you gave in?" she asked, slightly raising her voice. "Or because it was more serious than a simple kiss? Come on, admit you didn't mean when you said we should forget it."

Deucalion took a deep breath to calm himself, his anxiety slowly breaking the cold and well-controlled surface. The last time she had seen him this way was right before he found out he'll stay blind. It was terrifying because she was alone with him in the penthouse. "You were too young, Kim."

"Bullshit!" She was shouting and didn't bother her. Her anger gave her the strength to get over the fear. "You were simply too afraid to see how far it could go between us because you believed I was too young to make a rational decision I wouldn't regret later."

"Fine, you're right," he gave in. "Is this what you wanted to hear?"

"Only if you mean it," Kim replied a bit calmer.

"Remember when I told you my Betas had a life of their own and you asked me about mine?"

"Vaguely," she lied.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, waiting for the right moment to begin. Seconds later he reached out to find her hand and she didn't hesitate before interweaving her fingers with his. "In a certain way, you were my life at the time. Not only because I was trying to teach you a few things, mostly to keep you safe. I knew you liked me at some point but it was only a silly crush, nothing serious. Then later I realized I loved you much more than I thought."

Kim gulped. Why was he doing this to her? She came here to help the others fight her, but instead she was now here, talking about their oh-so-fucked-up relationship. If it could be called a relationship, that is. "You do know things could have turned out differently if you'd told me that, right?" she asked seriously.

"Yes, I do," he nodded. "But it was better this way."

"Better for whom? You killed your Betas and now you're after Derek and those kids."

Deucalion ignored her last sentence. "If you won't stay here, at least promise me you'll stay out of this. I really don't want you to get hurt, Kim."

Author's note: Thanks for everything! What do you think she will do now? Anyway, feedback is always welcome.