Chapter Eight: Lightning Strikes

When the group returned to Beacon Hills, a storm was brewing over the town, giving the air a metallic tinge. Everyone's hair stood up on their arms and within, their wolves shifted restlessly.

Lyra looked up at the rumbling sky. Her wolf snarled, uneasy. Ever since she had shoved Isaac away from the downed electrical cord and had taken thousands of volts of electricity in her body, whenever lightning brewed, she felt it deep in her bones.

Lyra shivered at the memory. On her back, she still bore the red and silver scars where the cords had burned her skin. Derek said the rest could be seen with his wolf eyes, where it arched out over her right shoulder, down and around her side, and on the back of her arm. He said it looked just like how lightning strike victims looked, but only her supernatural healing had healed her. Mostly.

Derek stepped next to her, as though sensing her duress. His green eyes studied the black clouds. "I haven't seen a storm like that since-,"

"Deucalion," Lyra finished, looking grim.

The others gathered around them, watching as lightning snapped out from the clouds, followed by the growl of distant thunder. When it struck again, Lyra counted the moments between when the thunder rumbled, knowing it would give her a basic idea of how far away the storm was.

Crash.

One, she counted. Two. Three-,

Crash!

Lyra turned to look at the others. "Let's get inside."

Ooo0ooO

Everyone followed Lyra and Derek back to the Hale house. Once they were inside, through rain came down in thick sheets, soaking everthing in a matter of minutes.

Lyra pulled her phone out from her back pocket. She dialed a number, then held it to her ear. "Isaac," she said after a beat. "You with the pack? Good. Put me on speaker."

Lyra moved so she could lean against the wall while the others moved to sit on either the couch or a chair. "Abby, Matt. Yes, we're fine. Look when we got back, a storm blew in. Yes, exactly like that." She paused, listening. "No. No. I'm sure. Keep me posted." She slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Her purple eyes shifted to Cora, who had followed them back. "Abby wants you to return to Colorado."

Cora frowned. "But if Peter-,"

"They need your know how on Peter there," Lyra stated firmly. "I know we just got here, so you're going to leave as soon as the weather clears up."

Cora gave Lyra a look of displeasure. "You're not my Alpha."

Lyra stiffened. "I'm not asking you as an Alpha. I'm asking as your sister in law."

Derek looked at his sister. "You'll be safer with Abby."

"How do you know?" Cora snapped.

Now Derek frowned. "Because if Peter is going to show up, it will be here, not Colorado."

"I don't have to listen to you," Cora said.

Derek shook his head. "Eventually you'll have to align yourself with a pack, Cora. It's dangerous if you don't, especially now. So go to Colorado, and stay with Abby. You already have a spot there."

Cora folded her arms over chest, looking stubbornly at her brother.

Lyra sighed very softly. She knew Cora was only acting this way because, like the others, she was afraid of what her uncle had planned. They had all seen what Deucalion did.

Peter was different. Deucalion had been a part of their pasts in some way, but Peter was a part of the Hale family. It made Lyra shudder to think that now he was her uncle by marriage. Unlike Deucalion, Peter was patient. He would act like this was a game of chess, gathering every piece until the last pawn was standing. In the end, the drive for power had lead to Deucalion's inevitable defeat. There was always room for people with power. But not everyone was clever about it.

Lyra frowned and stated at her boots. She could feel herself being swallowed up by the thought of fighting and killing and defending those she loved, but a warm hand on hers pulled her out of those thoughts.

Derek looked at her, silently reminding her that she would no longer have to fight alone.

She looked at everyone else, and thought about her family and friends in Colorado. Then it hit her- she might have lost her family all those years ago, but now she had a new one.

She reached blindly for Derek, holding his hand tightly. She pulled in a shallow breath, and allowed that thought to wash over. She was no longer a lone Alpha with no pack. She was not the same woman who had stumbled into Beacon Hills, alone and wary, fighting the wolf within and the memories of her past.

She was so much more now.

A friend. A sister. A wife. An Alpha. A wolf.

And somewhere deep inside her, something relaxed, like a sigh.

Ooo0ooO

Lyra told everyone to stay at the Hale house while her and Derek scoured the woods for any signs of anything unusual. Kira, Malia, and even Victoria arrived, drenched and shivering. Lyra told them to join the others.

Stepping into the rain felt like wading into a pool. Within seconds, Lyra's hair was plastered to her face and shoulders, and her clothes weighed her down. Her boots made loud squelching noises as she trudged through the mud.

Derek followed her lead, his eyes already glowing blue. The sky was dark, like the sun had already set, but it was only the early part of the afternoon.

Lyra's eyes heated as well so she could make her way through the trees. Branches creaked and groaned above them. Smaller ones splintered and fell due to the harsh wind. Lyra grimaced when one fell, giving her a shallow cut on the cheek. It healed quickly, leaving behind a smear of blood and mud.

Derek wasn't doing much better. Even with his wolf like abilities, walking through mud was not easy, especially when it was slick and you were walking downhill. He slipped more than once, and was certain if he hadn't been able to heal quickly, his ankle muscles would've torn or his knee would have popped from its joint.

So Lyra and Derek kept walking, scenting the air, trying to pick through the smell of mud and rain and the subtle tang of metal that the crashing lightning left behind.

After about an hour, Lyra and Derek stopped, breathing heavily.

"I got nothing. You?"

Derek shook his head. "Let's go back."

The others had cups of coffee ready when Lyra and Derek got back to the Hale house. Lyra peeled off her jacket and left her boots outside, rubbing her arms.

"Need a shower," she said, looking at Derek.

Stiles, who had driven over in the time that they were gone, pulled a face. "Ugh, no shower sex!"

Lyra shot him a look that made him lean back against the couch.

When her and Derek went upstairs, they took off the rest of their clothes and plopped them into the bathtub, left to be dealt with at another time. Lyra cranked on the shower, eager to get the mud off of her.

Derek eyed her. Her golden skin was streaked with mud and grim, glistening in the low lights. Her hair was matted, snarling down her back in honey blonde clumps. A feeling Welled up inside his chest along with his desire, and he felt it curl around and squeeze his heart.

It was his love for her, that all consuming feeling that made his chest hurt a little and a smile cross his lips.

Derek moved and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back to his front.

Lyra stilled and turned her head a little. She rested a hand on his forearm. "Derek?"

"Have I told you how much I love you?"

He could all but hear her smile. "Not since this morning."

Derek buried his nose into her dirty hair. "I love you."

Lyra wiggled away from him and turned to face him. She placed a hand over his heart, and he covered it with his own. Her purple eyes were warm as she smiled up at him. "I love you, Alpha Derek."

Then she pulled him into the shower, the water quickly turning to a dark brown black color from the mud sliding off of their bodies. They spared the other wolves in the house by not taking each other under the hot spray. Although they often needed and wanted each other, this moment was different. This was caring and gentle.

Derek took a bar of soap and washed Lyra's body with gentle, slow circles until her skin gleamed and her hair was free of any dirt or twigs. And then she did the same, her lips curved as she washed his hair. She kissed the triskelion tattoo between his shoulder blades.

Ooo0ooO

When they finally joined the others downstairs, pillows and blankets had been busted out. The lights were flickering.

Lyra looked around with a frown.

"Half the town has gone dark because of this storm," Scott explained. "I hope you don't mind."

Lyra smiled and looked at them all. "Pity Lydia and Allison are missing all the fun." Then she walked over to the couch and sat down, her legs brushing against Malia, who was sitting on the floor. She began playing with the girl's long golden brown hair. "It's been a while since I've had a sleepover," she mused.

Then the lights went out.

"Aw, c'mon, I'm the only one here without infrared vision!" Stiles exclaimed indignantly.

The others laughed.

The night passed by slowly, with everyone too restless from the storm to sleep. Except Stiles, who passed out on the couch, then began mumbling about bumblebees or something. Lyra sighed, shaking her head at him, then covered him with a blanket.

They all took the time to get to know Victoria, who was the newest member of their group as well as the newest member of Lyra's pack. Scott seemed both surprised and pleased at the news, waving away Victoria's worries with a laugh and a smile.

"I got my own pack going," he told her. "It's good that she's building her own."

Cora nodded in silent agreement.

Malia casted a curious glance at Lyra. "Why haven't you build up your pack? I mean, being as powerful as you are..."

Lyra sighed deeply. She was now working on Kira's hair, working it into a fishtail braid. So she told them about her past, how she came to Beacon Hills. She told them how Deucalion tore apart not only her own family, but the Hale's and so many others. She told them how in the end, power was not important to her. Power only lead to greed and death, as learned by Deucalion.

"I want to find my own way," she said simply. "I want to build my pack, but I don't want to force anyone into joining just so I can be stronger. That's not what being a part of a pack is about. It's about sharing and caring for one another, for trusting each other in the good times and the bad. It's about family."

Derek smiled from where he sat, watching the woman in front of him, with her soft purple eyes, and thought about how much she had changed since she first came to Beacon Hills. Not too long ago, she had just been a stranger spying on him and Isaac and Peter in front of this very house, and now she sat surrounded by others, understanding how revenge would not heal the wounds that Deucalion left behind. Only time and love and family could do that.

Lyra seemed to sense his gaze, because she looked at him, her eyes gleaming with a sly kind of knowledge.

So when the night came to an end, they all eventually drifted off into sleep, all of them tucked together inside the living room of that big house, not only as two packs, but as one family.

Ooo0ooO

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.

Author's Note: Please review!