SONG: Hold my hand while I'm in the sand...No one else could understand... You are my anchor ~ Anchor by Lifehouse

Chapter 4

Scott:

It's been a week and still nothing. We were all being super vigilant but without knowing when, we were flying blind.

"I don't get it. Why can't I figure this out? I still feel this sense of urgency, but it's been a week." Lydia growled in frustration pacing the length of the school bus where we're standing next to for some semblance of privacy while at school.

"Are the visions still the same? No new information in them? Does it still not show clearly if he is saved or not?" Allison asked.

"No. I mean it did show me a different angle. So, I could definitely see that it's Scott holding onto him, and I see the wendigo grabbing at Scott, I don't know if he trying to eat him or just stopping him from helping the kid. And I see Isaac coming up behind hind to pull him way but that's it. I can't see anything else." She gritted out.

"Well, I hope he's not trying to eat him. I hear werewolf is bad for your teeth." Stiles snarked.

Lydia huffed out a laugh but ignored him otherwise.

"Maybe your powers are on the fritz, we could try triggering it." Isaac suggested.

"Like how?" she asked pacing back to us.

"I don't know. For us, we can use pain to trigger a shift. Maybe someone should hit you." He shrugged.

I saw red. Instinctively I growled at him pulling Lydia behind me. He took a step back and held up both hands in surrender.

"Whoa, okay that is enough of that. Maybe we should take a break from this conversation and head to class. We are not going to figure this out right now and lunch is almost over." Stile suggested putting himself between us.

"Yeah, good idea. Come on Isaac." Allison said, watching me warily as she tugged Isaac away walking the completely opposite way from the doors and going around the bus to get away from me. My eyes followed them until they disappeared, and the sound of their hearts faded. I turned and looked at Lydia who was watching me wide eyed. She gasped as she placed a hand on my arm.

"Scott, your eyes, they're glowing." She whispered. I knew that as I could still see in only red tints. Closing my eyes, I took a couple of deep breaths. When I opened them, she frowned and shook her head. "Still red."

"Damn. Okay, you and Stiles go. I need a minute." I told her. I could feel my fangs protrude and my claws extend.

"You sure Scott?" Stiles asked. I nodded and I braced myself against the bus. I closed my eyes again, taking slow deep breaths. "Okay, text if you need me. Come on Lydia."

Lydia gave me a pat before leaving with Stiles. Once they were away, I pressed my head against the warm metal, trying to focus my mind. He didn't mean it. I know that. He just threw it out there and sometimes Isaac doesn't think before he says things. But I know he would never do anything. Yet still I couldn't calm down. Breathing wasn't helping, I could feel myself losing control. Just the thought of someone touching her to cause her pain.

With a low growl I took off towards the forest behind the school. Dropping my bag by the entrance I ran. I pushed my muscles hard and my legs faster until everything around me was a blur. I don't know how far out I was when I stopped and let out the loudest roar I could muster. The sound of it startled the animals around me.

I purposely pierced the palms of my hands with my claws. The sharp pain of them digging into my skin helped. Isaac was right in a way; pain can trigger a shift be it from human to wolf or vice versa. I dug them in a little deeper feeling the blood drip down my wrist and coating the sleeves of my shirt. The pain of it brought me out of my mood. My vision cleared and my fangs retracted. Panting heavily, I fell back onto the dirt and let out a deep breath, feeling calmer.

The crunch of leaves and heavy footsteps made me sit up.

"I thought I heard you, Scott."

I looked up to see Peter standing before me.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, taking off my button up to wipe the blood from my hands. This shirt was trash now.

"Well, I was at home, or at a home, and suddenly an eardrum bursting roar, loud enough to shake the windows and scare the birds sounded. So, I thought I should come check it out. Funnily it led me right to you. What brings you out here on this fine Tuesday afternoon? Shouldn't you be in school doing some learning?" he asked crouching down in front of me.

"I just needed a minute to myself."

"Uh huh, and the reason for the roar that promised death and destruction to anyone who crosses your path?"

"Yet here you are… right in my path." I glanced up at him.

"True. I like living on the edge."

"no, you don't." I snorted.

"Again, true. But seriously what gives?" he asked.

"Nothing, its nothing." I said standing, balled up shirt in my hand.

"Oh, come on. I know you and I had a rocky start-."

"Rocky. You turned me, tried to get me to kill people and then tried to kill me yourself and tried to kill my friends."

"Yeah, well, we are all works in progress. What I'm trying to say is that you can talk to me. I know you would prefer Derek but since he's unavailable I'm the next option. I may not be an alpha anymore, but I have been a wolf all my life."

Rolling my eyes, I turned away from him, but he grabbed my arm. I turned back and growled at him. He let go and backed way. With a sigh I calmed myself.

"Sorry. I'm just having some control issues right now." I told him.

"So, I see. Any particular reason or just in general?"

"Someone said something colossally stupid, and it set me off for some reason. I knew he didn't mean it, well not really. And I knew he wouldn't actually do it. But for a split second I wanted to rip his throat out. So, I felt it best to get as far away as possible in order not to actually rip his throat out."

"Ah, does this colossally stupid thing have to do with a girl?" he asked. I looked at him in surprise. He nodded with a smirk.

"How did you know?"

"Ah, you remind me so much of Derek as a teen." He chuckled. "Whoever she is must be very important to you, for you to lose control."

"Yea, she is." I admitted.

"Well can I give you a piece of advice, so this doesn't happen again? Or at least so you will be better equipped to handle it. I doubt you will be able to just run off every time someone sets you off."

"Yeah, sure." I eyed him warily. With Peter it's about a 50/50 chance it will be usable advice.

"Make her your anchor." He stated simply.

"What?"

"Make. Her. Your. Anchor." He repeated.

"How does that help?"

"This girl, whoever she is, is so important to you, right? So much so that you literally were thinking of committing a murder to protect her even though you knew she was in no danger."

I nodded.

"If she is that important to you then that means she is the one person you will do everything in your power to never lose control around. She can be your calm in the storm. So, make her your anchor. Anytime you feel yourself slipping or spiraling think of her. Think of how much she means to you. Think about how she would react if you ever did lose control and let her, even just thought of her, calm you, bring you back from the brink." He advised and I must admit it was really good advice.

"I used to do that with Allison. Before we broke up, she was my anchor. She brought me back from the edge." I told him thinking about it. I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

"And it worked. What did you do when you broke up?"

"My mom told me I needed to be my own anchor. So that's what I have been doing. It's been working up until now."

"Mm, your mom. How is she doing by the way? We never did have that date." He smiled.

"Peter." I growled. He laughed and waved me off.

"Kidding. It's great that you could be your own anchor. But the minute she became your world. The minute her wellbeing and her life started to mean more to you then your own, then you are no longer your own anchor. She's already proven to be the one causing your reactions so, let her be the cause of your… counter-reaction as well. She has already negated you being your own anchor anyway so why not use that to your advantage."

"what's your anchor?" I asked curiously.

"Well at first it was my family, but most of them are gone. Then it was my hatred after the fire. But once that need for revenge settled down, I had to find a new one. First it was just me, cause not a lot riles me anymore. But now… now it's one person I never met and didn't even know existed until recently."

"Who?"

"My daughter."

Lydia:

We were just settling into our seats, Allison and I, when the loudest roar ever sounded, making the windows tremble. Allison and I looked at each other wide eyed and then both turned to Isaac across the room when he groaned. His head dropped back in resignation.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he?" he whined looking back at us.

"Do you blame him?" Allison gave him a look.

"It was just a suggestion." He exclaimed.

"You're an idiot." Allison sighed. Grabbing a paint brush and a palette from the side table.

"I didn't actually mean it. It was just an errant thought. It's not like I was actually going to hit her."

"Yeah, and maybe he'll believe you when you tell him that… over the phone… from a different state." Allison explained, touching the brush lightly with the red paint and then stroking the easel.

"But I live with him." He moaned.

"Yeah, you should probably not tonight." Allison told him. He sighed and rolled his eyes before starting his own painting.

"I'm not sure I completely understand what happened out there. He had to know Isaac wasn't serious."

Allison glanced at me and sighed.

"You really need to pull your head out of the sand, Lydia."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"She means that Scott likes you and even the thought of someone hurting you set him off." Isaac supplied not even bothering to look away from his own painting.

"Isaac!" Allison barked.

"What?"

Allison gave him a hard look.

"I thought she should know. I'm surprised she doesn't already know. It's not like he hides it." Isaac shrugged.

"Well, she does now." She rolled her eyes and looked over at me then gave him another narrowed eyed look.

"Sorry!"

I knew my eyes were wide as I took in that information.

"He… likes me?"

"Yeah, he does. A lot. But he won't do anything about it. Because of…"

"Stiles." I nodded. My mind was reeling from that revelation. I never really thought about my feelings being returned from Scott. "I'm not sure how to process this information."

"Nothing to really process. You like him, he likes you, but you both are so worried about hurting other people that you aren't willing to take a chance. Personally, I think you are both being stupid about it but it's not my call. Eventually something will happen, either a complete break or you will give in to those feelings. I'm hoping for the latter."

"But Stiles-."

"Stiles is not stupid nor is he blind. He hasn't been looking close enough, but soon neither of you will be able to hide it for too much longer. You need to talk to him, both of you. The sooner the better. You don't want him to find out any other way. That includes Isaacs big mouth."

"Hey, I resent that… but it's probably true." Isaac called out.

"I need to think about this. But not right now." I shook it off and started painting. I pushed all thoughts of Scott and Stiles out of my head and concentrated on art.

The next class was French with Scott, he was back in class but minus some clothing. Now in just a white singlet and jeans I couldn't help the rush of lust that went through me. You could almost make out every indent of the six pack he had under there. My fingers itched to touch them. He smiled as he took his seat.

"You okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah, fine. Sorry about that."

"You know he want serious right, not really? He was just throwing out an idea."

"I know. I really do but just the thought of you being hurt, it just triggered me. I ran it off and had a talk with an unexpected person and… I'm okay now. I'm in control."

I nodded and looked him over again. He looked relaxed and like himself again. Scott's always been a bit more serious than the rest of us. I don't know if that came with the wolf gene or not. But he also knew how to have fun and when to be calm and gentle. It's what made him a good leader, a good alpha. Though he was hot as hell in alpha mode. He got this intense look on his face that was just….

He wasn't overly muscular, less stocky than Derek and Peter. But his muscles still stood out powerfully. He was on the leaner side of muscular but that was deceiving. He was still strong enough to lift a car on his own if he wanted to.

Again, his tattoo caught my attention standing out against his skin tone and the white of his shirt. Two bands, one thicker than the other, both solid blacks. I couldn't stop my hand from reaching out to trace it with my fingertips. He gave a shiver and looked at me, his eyes flashed red for a split second and he caught my hand, stopping its movement.

"Sorry." I apologized, going to pull my hand away but he kept hold of it against his arm.

"No, it's okay. It's just a bit ticklish."

"I don't think I ever asked. What does this tattoo mean?"

"When I first got it, it was after Allison, and I broke up and it was kind of a reward for not contacting her all summer. But what it really means to me is unity, family, friends. I think of it as a symbol for us, our pack. How, no matter what happens we always stay united with each other and there's no ending, just like us. We are never ending."

"Do you still miss her, Allison I mean."

"No, not like you mean. She will always mean a lot to me, but we have both moved on. I'm grateful that I still have her as a friend. But I know now that we weren't meant to be and I'm okay with that."

I searched his eyes and saw he was being honest. I gave his hand a squeeze and nodded as the late bell rang. I turned to face front when suddenly I was assaulted by images flashing before my eyes. Tomorrow. The kid. The roof. Scott. Isaac. Blood. Pain. Falling. Falling. I gasped so sharply I almost choked and slammed both hands down on my desk.

"Lydia?" Scott called but it was just an echo in the back of my mind. The immediate voices, sounding as if they were right in my ears, were of the kid screaming in fear and pain, Scott roaring and growling in the background. The kid was going to fall. He was going to die, unless…

Suddenly I was hyperventilating. The beat of my heart pounding through my chest, my hands cramping as I white knuckle gripped the edges of my desk.

"No, no, no, no. Don't." I murmured. Scott holding tight with one hand to the kid while trying to fight off the attacker with the other. The attacker disappeared from off Scott, but he can't hold on any longer. His grip slips and the kid starts to fall. More screaming.

"No!" I scream again but it's too late. The vision fades and I'm once again back in class.

"Lydia, come on, come back to me. Hey look at me, breathe Lydia." Scott's voice registers again and I can feel his hands cradle my face. My eyes focus on his concerned dark chocolate ones. My hands gripped his wrists, holding him there. "Lydia, you can do it. Just breathe. Just follow me, in… out."

I hadn't realized I was still hyperventilating until then. I matched my pattern to his and felt calm. The adrenaline that was coursing through me left almost just as fast. But it left me lightheaded and dizzy, a bit fuzzy around the edges.

I blinked and tried to stay conscious long enough to explain, to tell him. I was aware of other students watching us, whispering and wondering what was going on and the teacher standing in the front confused, but I focused on Scott.

"You back with me now?" he asked.

"Tomorrow night." I whispered before everything went black.