Thank you to everyone who has shown these stories love so far! I hope you are enjoying them as much as I do writing them!

Featured song- Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace

I can't escape this hell

So many times I've tried

But I'm still caged inside

Somebody get me through this nightmare

I can't control myself

So what if you can see the darkest side of me?

No one would ever change this animal I have become

Help me believe it's not the real me

Somebody help me tame this animal

(This animal, this animal)

"92… 93… 94… 95… Natalie, you are so close! Don't you dare give up on me now!"

Panting like a dog, the redhead held herself up with her hands. With narrowed brown eyes, she glared up at Danny Mahealani, her dear friend who she was now starting to hate passionately.

"Remind me again why I agreed to do this?" Natalie quipped, sweating like a sinner in church.

"Because you need to strengthen your biceps for baseball this season," Danny answered. He pointed to Natalie's wobbling arms. "Look at you! You look like you're about to collapse at any second now!"

Instead of coming up with a witty comeback, Natalie groaned through her gritted teeth as she struggled to hold herself up in this grueling position. Danny rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. Then an idea struck his brain.

"Finish up and I'll buy you some Kit-Kats."

The promise of her favorite candy was all it took to finally get Natalie motivated. She finished her last five push-ups, collapsing to the floor when she reached one hundred. Slowly, she got herself off the gym floor, pumped her fists in the air, and let out a victory yell.

"I AM THE MASTER COMMANDER!"

Noticing how the gym got quiet all of a sudden, Natalie looked around. Almost everyone around her was giving her weird stares. Meanwhile Danny was covering his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"What?" Natalie asked around, "Oh, don't tell me that none of you have ever felt like Rocky Balboa after doing a hundred pushups!" Not even bothering to wait for a response, she shook her head in disappointment. "Amateur hour…"

Danny rolled his eyes and pulled Natalie into the break room, which was filled with benches and vending machines. Natalie sat down on one of the benches as Danny bought a couple of items from the machine. He then sat down next to the redhead and handed her a Kit-Kat, which she accepted gratefully. Danny shook his head and chuckled as Natalie broke off a bar and chomped on it.

"So," Natalie said as she broke off another Kit-Kat, "you're going to Lydia's party tomorrow night, right?"

"Yeah, are you?" Danny asked.

"You know it, my guy!" Natalie gasped excitedly as she grabbed onto her friend's arm. "Dude, please tell me that you're bringing that guy you've been talking to during winter break! I wanna meet him so I can test him and see if he's right for my Danny Boy."

"I was thinking about bringing him," Danny said with a quirked up eyebrow, "Now I think I'm scared to."

"Oh, what do you think I'm gonna do? Taser the guy?" Before Danny could even get a word out, Natalie held up a finger. "Never mind."

"Okay, well, what about you? Who are you taking to the party?"

Natalie shrugged nonchalantly. "No one."

"Really?" Danny questioned, "What about Stilinski?"

"What about him?" Natalie asked, breaking off another Kit-Kat bar. The only response she got from her friend was a laugh. It kind of creeped her out. "Why are you laughing?"

"Come on, Natalie," Danny continued to laugh, "Don't try to deny that there's something going on between the two of you." The look on the redhead's face remained blank, making Danny sigh exasperatedly. "The chemistry between you two is so obvious. It's like you're already a married couple."

"Pfft!" Natalie waved him off. "No, we're not! That's absolutely ridiculous. You're ridiculous. There's no way that Stiles and I are…" Her nervous laughter died down when she realized she couldn't fake her way out of this one. "It's obvious I like him, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah. Big time."

Awesome. Natalie loved that for herself.

Groaning, she ran her hands over her sweaty face. So if Danny knows, and apparently the rest of the world, there was a high probability that Stiles knew too. Then again, Stiles was sort of clueless when it came to his surroundings or anything to do with female interaction, which was for the best. That didn't make it less mortifying for Natalie either way. This information could easily make its way to Stiles and it absolutely scared the fuck out of her.

"Is it really that bad if other people know?" Danny asked her.

"Yes!" Natalie whined, "Do you have any idea how risky it is to develop feelings for the guy you have been best friends since you've been in diapers? Very! If Stiles ever found out I like like him and ends up hating my guts over it, I'll be so humiliated that I'll have to dye my hair blonde, change my name to Sally, move out of the country, and raise llamas!"

By the end of her rant, Danny was staring at her like she was insane. Which she kind of was, if Natalie had to be honest. Not the point.

"Have you ever thought about joining the theatre department at school?" Danny asked her.

"God, no!" Natalie snorted, "I don't think I could spend five minutes alone with theatre kids. There always seems to be too much… drama." Man, she was good. She would high-five herself if she could.

Danny, however, wasn't so impressed. He just let out a disappointed sigh. "I don't know why the hell I'm still friends with you." He got up and headed out of the break room.

Natalie let out an offended gasp. "Hey, don't be jealous of my clever dad jokes!" When Danny didn't respond, she left the room to go chase him down. "Danny, get back here! It's time for payback for those push-ups!"

The next morning, Terri had let Natalie take her car to school since she had the day off work. Even though the redhead would love to have a car on her own since she finally passed her driving test (third time's the charm, as Natalie would like to believe), all her parents told her when she started bugging them about it was that a car wasn't exactly in their budget right now. Excuses. So for now, Natalie had to either take her mom's car to school or rely on Stiles. Not that the last option was a bad one.

But Natalie was a strong independent woman, dammit! And strong independent women needed their own vehicles!

Having said that, after she dropped her brother off at school, Natalie made a pit stop at the nearest coffee shop and picked up a couple of drinks for herself and Stiles before driving to the high school. She then, managed to shut her car door after parking, walk inside the building to her locker, and open her locker, and grab the books needed for her first two classes. All while balancing the coffee tray in one hand. Natalie impressed herself sometimes.

"Natalie!"

Said girl turned around at the loud call echoing the busy hallway. Stiles was running towards her at a speed that she had never seen before, even during one of the rare times he was on the field during lacrosse practice. He had a panicked look on his face that indicated that whatever he was so amped up about was serious.

He obviously didn't see the CAUTION: WET FLOOR sign from where the janitor mopped the floor and he ended up slipping and falling on his ass. Typical Stiles. Rolling her eyes, Natalie shut her locker and jogged over to her fallen friend. She tucked the second cup of coffee in the crook of her arm as she helped Stiles up with her free hand.

"Whoa, dude," Natalie said when she saw how hard Stiles was panting from running, "You know, you really should start going to the gym with me more."

"I'll pass," Stiles wheezed, waving his hand blindly, "The gym is for suckers." Natalie punched his arm. "Ow!"

"You were saying?" Natalie challenged.

Stiles poured as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "Nothing… sorry."

"Apology accepted. Now why do you look like you're running from the police at eight in the morning?"

"I was listening in on my dad's phone call earlier-"

Tilting her head back, Natalie let out the most dramatic groan. "Dude, you gotta stop eavesdropping on every single police call and roping me into any scheme you conjure up in that brain of yours."

"Will you just shut up and let me finish, woman?" Stiles snapped. Natalie let him proceed. "As I was saying, the fiber analysis came in and the lab in LA said that there was hair on the half of the body they found."

"Uh huh. And you're telling me this because…"

"Nat, they were wolf hairs."

Good thing that whatever Stiles lacked in athleticism he made up for in cat-like reflexes and he caught the cups of coffee that slipped out of Natalie's hands. Her eyes were so wide it was a miracle that they didn't pop out of her head.

"No. You're joking, right?" Stiles shook his head. Natalie let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her red velvet hair. "Okay… well, did you tell Scott? This might have to do with that bite he got."

"I've been looking for him all morning but I can't find him anywhere. And he's not responding to my texts." Stiles eyed the cups in his hands. "Is one of these mine?" Natalie nodded. Stiles sipped on the cup with his name written on it with black sharpie. It wasn't even in his mouth for two seconds before he spat it out. "What the hell is this?!"

"Coffee?" Natalie answered. She pointed to the cup. "See the picture of the coffee bean on the side?"

"Okay, but why does it take like dirty dish water? What's in this?"

"It's just your standard caramel latte. Oh, with no caffeine."

The boy let out a not-so-manly squeak. "You gave me a decaf coffee?"

"Trust me, Stiles," Natalie said, "You of all people should not be drinking caffeine. You're squirrelly enough as it is."

After thrusting the horrid drinks back in Natalie's hands, Stiles accusingly pointed a finger at the redhead. "You are an evil human being!"

"You'd think you'd be use to it after sixteen years. Now, move! We gotta go find Wolf Boy and tell him what's up." Natalie grabbed Stiles's hand and dragged him around the school to search for Scott.

Oh, God. This was bad. This was really, really bad. If Stiles wasn't panicking earlier, he felt like he could have a heart attack at any minute. He and Natalie didn't get a chance to talk to Scott until the scrimmage game after school, but even then Scott was too focused on making first line to even talk to them. Together the two watched nervously as Scott made incredibly spectacular shots. He even threw some tricks and flips in the game, not stopping once for a breather or a puff from his inhaler. Since when did he even learn how to do a flip?

And the real kicker: he ended up making first line. Never did they think that in a million years…

Everyone who watched was amazed and beyond ecstatic over Scott, except for Jackson who just looked downright pissed. Let's be honest, when was that kid never pissed? Stiles and Natalie would've been proud of their best friend if they didn't know that something was very wrong.

A year ago, Scott wouldn't have been able to play throughout half the game without losing his stamina, let alone do a front flip over one of the other players! His best friends knew this better than anyone, so they had every right to be suspicious.

So what did Stiles decide to do? That's right- research.

Currently, he was sitting at his computer and surfing through the internet about anything and everything about lycanthropy. It was amazing what information he had found and held at the palms of his hands. If it weren't so terrifying, it would actually be so dope.

Stiles's research was interrupted when he heard someone knock on his door. He fell out of his chair and rushed to answer to find Natalie on the other side.

"Hey, I got here as soon as I could. Traffic was a bitch and I- whoa!" Stiles pulled Natalie in his room and shut the door behind her. She smirked. "Damn, Stiles. Forcing me into your room? At least buy me dinner first."

The boy's jaw went slack at the suggestive remark. Granted, Natalie was only kidding, but boy, did his mind start reeling.

"What? That's not wha… I just-" Stiles shook every single dirty thought out of his head. "No! Don't try to throw me off track! This is an emergency."

"I'll say," Natalie said as she looked around at the many books and articles scattered around Stiles's room, "Why does it look like a library threw up in here?"

"Because," Stiles answered as he sat back down in his chair, "I've been doing some research."

One by one, Natalie listed off the titles on a few of the books on Stiles's bed. "Wolf Pack… Bitten… Claimed by the Alpha Wolf… Twilight? Okay, I'm sensing a theme here."

"This is no time for jokes, Natalie!" Stiles exclaimed, "People's lives could be in danger!"

"Stiles, what the hell are you talking about? And why are you looking up all of this information on…" Then it dawned on her. "If this is about the wolf hairs and the bite mark, I am one phone call away from sending you to the looney bin."

"But Natalie," Stiles said as he grabbed one of the books and walked towards her, "everything adds up. Look at this." He opened the book and flipped through the pages. He then handed the book to Natalie and she took a good look at the bloody crescent shaped mark on the page. "Looks familiar, doesn't it?"

"Scott's bite mark…"

No. That's impossible. Natalie couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. It was all too insane to be true. A werewolf? Come on. Werewolves weren't real. Those were just monsters from some of Natalie's favorite movies, not something that ran around a small boring town.

On the other hand, it did explain a lot- Scott's sudden endurance and speed, his keen sense of smell and hearing. Oh, and let's not forget that the bite mark had practically disappeared in thin air. All of those things were mentioned in the book in Natalie's hands.

"Plus, Scott did say that he heard a wolf howling," Stiles reminded as he saw the wheels turning in his best friend's head, "You remember that, right?"

Slowly, Natalie nodded her head. With a slam, she closed the book and tossed it on Stiles's bed. "Okay, I believe you. But it's not me that you have to convince."

"I know," Stiles agreed, "Which is why you are texting Scott to come over while I do some more research. Now, chop chop. We haven't got all day."

With a roll of her eyes, Natalie did as she was told. After she texted Scott, she joined Stiles at the computer to continue their research. It was actually more like Stiles was doing all of the work. All Natalie did was give Stiles Adderall when he asked for them, which was more than he should have.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Stiles titled his head back and said, "Adderall me," before opening his mouth.

Natalie opened up the pill bottle and took out a capsule. "Uh, Stiles, I think you should probably cut back on this stuff."

"Life or death, Natalie," the boy sassed, "You decide." He then opened his mouth again, waiting for Natalie to put the pill in his mouth.

Groaning in annoyance, Natalie dropped the Adderall in Stiles's mouth. "I can't believe this is what my life has come to."

Thirty minutes later the best friends heard a knock on Stiles's door. As Natalie was staring at one of the pages Stiles printed out in horror, the boy got up and opened the door to see Scott waiting with that silly smile on his face. Must still be on cloud nine.

"Get in," Stiles said before he went back to his desk and gathered up all of the papers lying around. "You gotta see this thing. I've been up all night reading- websites, books. All this information."

"How much Adderall have you had today?" Scott asked.

"Maybe two-"

"A lot."

Stiles glared at Natalie's answer and she shot him a knowing look. He rolled his eyes, making Scott chuckle. "Doesn't matter. Okay, just listen."

"Oh, is this about the body?" Scott asked, setting his backpack and his butt on the bed, "Did they find out who did it?"

"No, they're still questioning people," Stiles answered, "even Derek Hale."

"Oh, the guy in the woods that we saw the other day."

"Seriously, why the hell doesn't my dad tell me anything?" Natalie wondered out loud. Neither of the boys paid attention to her.

"Yeah!" Stiles exclaimed, "Yes. But that's not it, okay?"

"What then?" the curly-haired boy asked.

"Scott, do you remember the other day when Stiles and I made that joke about… you know… the 'grr'?" Natalie mimicked the claw gesture Stiles made that day. "Well, that's not a joke anymore."

Scott clearly didn't understand, so Stiles specified. "The wolf. The bite in the woods. Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?"

"It's a signal, okay? When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard a wolf howling, that means there's others. Maybe a whole pack of 'em."

"A whole pack of wolves?"

"No. Werewolves."

Now Scott was agitated. He knew that he heard a wolf howling out in the woods. But a werewolf? Even he wasn't that dumb enough to believe that nonsense!

"Are you seriously wasting my time with this?" he said, standing up and grabbing his backpack, "You know I'm picking Allison up in an hour."

"We saw what you did on the field, Scott," Stiles told him, referring to himself and Natalie, "Okay, what you did wasn't just amazing, alright? It was impossible."

"Yeah, so I made a good shot." Scott tried to walk away but Stiles stopped him.

"No, you made an incredible shot, I mean, the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. People can't just suddenly do that overnight. And there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think I don't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore."

Scott looked over to Natalie, who had been sitting on Stiles's chair and not saying a word. "You don't actually believe this, do you?"

The redhead twiddled her thumbs. "I know this sounds absolutely insane, even for Stiles. But dude, you've gotta admit, all of the signs are there. This is some scary shit you're dealing with."

This was ludicrous. Scott shook his head in disbelief. "I can't think about this right now. We'll talk tomorrow, okay, guys?"

"Tomorrow?!" Stiles cried out, "What? No! The full moon's tonight. Don't you get it?"

"What are you two trying to do? I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?"

"Oh my God, Scott, we're trying to help you!" Natalie told him, "You've been cursed by the werewolf bug! And it's not only the full moon that's gonna cause you to change. It's also when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

She was met with a deadpanned look. "Bloodlust?"

"Yeah, the urge to kill."

"I'm already having the urge to kill, Natalie." And boy, did Scott show it. The room suddenly got colder.

Stiles flipped through another book. "You gotta hear this. 'The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse.'" He slammed the book shut. "Alright? We haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You gotta cancel this date."

When Scott wasn't looking, Natalie grabbed his backpack and dug through the pockets until she found his phone. She scrolled through his contacts list until she found Allison's name. Scott finally noticed and his eyes widened.

"Nat, what are you doing?"

"Calling Allison," Natalie said, ready to press CALL, "I'm cancelling the date."

"No, give it to me!"

The boy yanked the phone from Natalie's hand and went to grab her by her shirt. Fear was evident in her eyes as she had never seen Scott get this riled up in all their years of friendship. He was about to shove her against the wall, but Stiles wasn't about to let the girl he was in love with get hurt. So he pushed Natalie so she fell on the bed and Scott shoved him against the wall instead.

Fist raised, Scott was ready to punch the daylights out of his best friend. His consciousness seemed to have gotten the best of him and he ended up lashing on Stiles's desk chair. He knocked it to the side, almost hitting Natalie in the process.

Breathing heavily, Scott slowly drifted out of his angry state. His eyes grew wide at the mess he made and the terrified look on his best friends' faces. What the hell had he done?

"I'm sorry." Stiles didn't say anything. Scott turned to Natalie. The girl was trembling. "Nat, I…" She flinched when Scott tried to reach out to her.

Great, now his friends were scared of him.

"I-I gotta go get ready for that party." He grabbed his backpack and walked towards the door. He looked back at Stiles and Natalie before he left. "I'm sorry." Then he was gone.

Wiping his face, Stiles looked over at Natalie, whose eyes remained glued to the floor. He approached with caution and kneeled in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked, touching her arms and face repeatedly, "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No, he didn't hit me. I'm okay." What a relief. Until Natalie's eyes found the chair behind Stiles. "But your chair isn't."

Stiles pulled out of Natalie's embrace, confused, and walked over to his chair. He stood it up straight and was taken aback by what he saw.

Claw marks.

They were gashed through the back of his chair, creating ribbons out of the fabric. Natalie got up from the bed and crouched next to Stiles to get a better look. She tugged on a ribbon and they watched as it sprung back into place when she let it go.

"Party on, Wayne?" Natalie said to Stiles, quoting one of their favorite movies.

Facing his best friend, Stiles nodded his head. "Party on, Garth."

"Stiles, if you call me one more time, I will seriously suffocate you with a pillow in your sleep."

"Well, I wouldn't have to keep calling you if you just hurried your ass up," Stiles hissed through the phone. He had been waiting in front of Natalie's house in his jeep for the past thirty minutes. Impatience was slowly taking over the boy the longer he sat there. Forgive him if he was starting to get snippy. "What the hell is taking you so long?"

Natalie snorted from the other end. "In case you've forgotten over the years, I'm a girl and I do take pride in how I look. So shut up and give me a minute!"

Groaning, Stiles rested his head on his steering wheel. "I swear to God, Nat, if you're not in my jeep in five minutes or less, I will leave and you will have to find another way to- holy shit!"

The phone dropped out of Stiles's hand when he heard a knock on the passenger window, making him jump. Natalie was glaring at him, from the outside, waiting for him to unlock the door. When he did, the redhead climbed in the jeep and buckled in.

"Man, you have no patience whatsoever," Natalie grumbled as she smoothed out her outfit, "What do you think? Too casual?"

Stiles looked over at the girl sitting next to him. Casual, yes. But damn, did she look hot!

Edgy and alternative was always the vibe Natalie set out for when it came to her wardrobe. Tonight was no exception with her oversized and distressed black and grey striped sweater, black leggings, and her favorite pair of Doc Martens. Her red velvet hair was curled to perfection, resembling the hottest flames Stiles had ever seen. Natalie completed her look with some rings and earrings that just screamed 'badass'.

Was there anything this girl couldn't pull off?

"Stiles?" Said boy snapped out of his daze. "Does it look bad?"

"No, not at all," Stiles answered, "I think you look great, actually."

God, Natalie hoped that she wasn't blushing because that would be totally embarrassing, especially in front of Stiles.

"Thanks. So should we get going? We wouldn't want Wolf Boy to torture everybody at the party."

"Yep. Let's do this."

It didn't take long for them to arrive at Lydia Martin's house. Just from the booming of the bass in the music and happy shouts from the partygoers, they could tell that the party was in full swing. Stiles led Natalie to the backyard. Everyone back there was either dancing or drinking, both indicators of an awesome time. Natalie could see from the corner of her eye Lydia with her legs hooked around Jackson's waist as they made out.

The redhead gagged at the sight. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn that the jock was taking her right there against the wall. Gross.

The two best friends headed over to the drinks. Stiles handed Natalie a Mike's Hard Lemonade, her favorite, before grabbing a solo cup filled with beer for himself. As Natalie pressed the bottle to her lips and took a swig, she looked around at the scene before her. Once again, Lydia had outdone herself with this shindig.

Then Natalie spotted Scott and Allison on the dance floor. Despite earlier events and the concern of him becoming a creature of the night, Natalie couldn't have been happier for her best friend. Call her crazy, but in a way, she was actually jealous of him. Not for the obvious reason that he was now a werewolf, which was sick, let's be real. But was more so because Scott was allowed to dance with his crush freely while Natalie had to harbor her own feelings for the other third of their trio.

Life was not fair.

Stiles could tell that Natalie was feeling distressed. "Hey." He bumped his hip against Natalie's, making her look up at him. "You okay?"

She nodded her head reluctantly. "Yeah, I'm just… worried about Scott, that's all," she lied, "He could probably maim any one of these people at any minute. It could turn into a Stephen King movie in here."

Just as Natalie was about to take another drink, Stiles took the bottle out of her hand and set both of their drinks on the table next to them. Her eyebrow rose as he looked down at her.

"Let me help you take your mind off of that." He held his hand out to Natalie. "Dance with me."

No need to ask her twice. Natalie happily placed her hand in Stiles's and she let him pull her onto the dance floor, techno music blasting from the speakers. Once he found a good spot for them, Stiles began to dance. Or at least that's what Natalie thought he was trying to do. With his arms flailing and legs wobbling, he resembled more of an octopus.

"Stiles, what the hell are you doing?" Natalie asked over the loud music.

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked, "I'm dancing!"

"It looks like you're being electrocuted," Natalie laughed. She grabbed her best friend's hands to stop him from moving. "First, put your hands right here." She placed Stiles's hands on her hips. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, Stiles just about fainted from all this physical contact. "Then just move along with the music. It's that easy."

Following Natalie's instructions, Stiles allowed himself to let loose and start dancing, well, less crazily. True, he wasn't going to be winning any dancing contests anytime soon, but Natalie seemed to be happy so it was all working out for him. He even felt brave enough to bring the redhead closer to where their chests were touching. An unexpected move, but very pleasant.

By no means was this the first time the two had ever danced together at a party or concert. But they were always jumping around and head-banging like regular friends do. Never had it been so… intimate like this. You could almost feel the sexual tension radiating from them. For Natalie, it was kind of ironic for her to be dancing this way. She was always the person to make fun of couples grinding up on each other like horn dogs on the dance floor. Now she was doing the same thing. Not that they were grinding up on each other, but you get the idea.

From Stiles's perspective, the boy was in heaven. Here he was, dancing at one of the biggest parties known in Beacon Hill's history with the love of his life. Their foreheads were pressed together and the tips of their noses touched every time they swayed to the music. Neither of them dared to look anywhere else other than each other's brown eyes. As ridiculous as it may sound, they felt like they were the only two people at this party. Pinch Stiles now because it was just too good to be true.

Neither of them could help but stare at each other's lips. This was the perfect chance. Stiles had to make a move. He would be stupid if he didn't. One of his hands slid up and tucked Natalie's hair behind her ear, never tearing his eyes off of her. As he was about to lower his lips onto hers, from the corner of his eye he saw Scott clutching onto his head and run out of the crowd.

"Shit…"

Natalie furrowed her eyebrows and pulled away from Stiles. "What's wrong?"

"It's Scott," Stiles answered, "I think something's happening."

They both turned their heads to see Scott disappear through Lydia's house. Stiles looked back down at the girl in his arms.

"I gotta go check to see if he's okay. I'll be right back to come get you." With that, he ran off.

"Stiles, wait!" Natalie called after him. But he was too deep in the sea of people to hear her. So she did what she had to do and chase after her boys.

Soon Natalie ended up on Lydia's front lawn. She witnessed Stiles dive into his jeep and Tokyo drifted away. Tires screeched as the vehicle whizzed down the road to follow Scott. And now Natalie was stuck here.

Oh, the girl was pissed.

"That little shit was my ride home!"

But there was no telling if that Natalie was really mad at Stiles for abandoning her or Scott ruining what could have been the most exhilarating moment of her life with her crush. Damn Scott and his wolf-ness!

Then she saw Allison staring down the street, undoubtedly hurt at being abandoned by Scott.

"Allison!" Natalie called. Said girl turned around. "Hey, what happened?"

"I- I don't know," Allison stammered, "We were dancing and everything was fine. Then all of a sudden he just took off. I don't know if it's anything I said or did but he was my ride here."

"Okay, okay," Natalie said somewhat calmly, "Listen, I don't think what's going on with Scott has anything to do with you. Scott hasn't really been feeling well these past couple of days so I think his nerves just made it worse." She placed her hand on Allison's shoulder. "Hey. Scott really likes you. He was completely freaking out when he was telling me that you were coming here with him. So don't stress out about it. And if he does something stupid, count on me to give him a piece of my mind."

Allison chuckled lightly. "Thanks, Natalie."

"Of course." Hey, Natalie was pretty good at the whole pep talk thing. She should really start doing TedTalks. "Why don't you come with me and-"

"Allison. Natalie."

Both girls spun around and Natalie gulped when Derek stepped towards them. Just when she thought this night couldn't get any worse…

"I'm a friend of Scott's," he told them, "My name's Derek. How about I give you girls a ride home?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Allison said, "That'd be great. What do you think, Natalie?"

Natalie stammered a bit, looking back and forth from Allison to Derek. The look on Derek's face told the redhead to just go with it. And who was she to piss off a man that could most likely rip her head off?

"Yeah… sure," Natalie said through her teeth, glaring at Derek, "That'd be super."

Exactly as she thought, the drive to drop Allison off at her house was awkward as hell. Natalie had graciously taken the backseat of the beautiful Camaro, not wanting to be that close to Derek. It was silent the entire way, which was for the best in Natalie's opinion. When they got to Allison's house, she gave Natalie her phone number and made her promise to text her when she got home to make sure she was safe. She made the promise but was still uncertain if she could keep it once she was alone with this guy.

Derek didn't drive right away when Allison got inside her house. He peered at Natalie through his rear view mirror.

"Aren't you gonna come up front?" he asked.

"You know, I think I'm good right here. It's so nice and spacious-"

"Just get in the front seat."

"Yes, sir."

Natalie scrambled out of the backseat and practically dove to the passenger's side. The last thing she wanted to do was to piss Derek off. Once he was satisfied and got the address to the redhead's, he began to drive out of the neighborhood.

Well, Natalie has certainly had her fair share of awkward car rides, but this one certainly topped the list. It was silent throughout most of the time and it was getting on her nerves. So she decided to turn on the radio but Derek smacked her hand away before she could touch it.

"Hey!"

"Hands off the radio," Derek ordered, keeping his eyes on the road. Natalie rolled her eyes and placed her feet on the dashboard, which Derek immediately pushed off too. "And no feet on my car either. Actually, just don't touch anything."

"Am I at least allowed to breathe?" Natalie questioned. No answer. It grew silent again, but only for a few moments before Natalie became impatient. "So… Scott's a werewolf, isn't he?" Derek let out a grunt, which Natalie took as a yes. "Are you a werewolf too?" Another grunt. "Are you always this vague?"

"Are you always this annoying?" Derek shot back.

"Touché," Natalie nodded, crossing her arms and slouching in her seat.

"You should steer clear from Scott," Derek told her, "He's very dangerous as a newly turned werewolf. You don't know what he's capable of."

"Who are you, my dad?" Natalie snorted, "Scotty's my boy. And I'm not scared of any werewolves." Derek raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe you scare me a little. But I'm a big girl. And Stiles and I will get him through this."

"Stiles? Oh yeah, your twitchy boyfriend."

Way to tug on Natalie's heartstrings. "He's actually not my boyfriend. We're just best friends… sadly."

Derek scoffed. "Yeah, because best friends are always dry humping on the dance floor."

"Hey, let's not focus on my love life here. Or lack of…" Then Natalie's doe eyes focused on a picture attached to Derek's dashboard. "Let's actually talk about your love life."

She plucked the picture off and looked at it real close. In the picture was a beautiful girl who looked like she was about Natalie's age. The girl's hair was very long, curly, and dark, complimenting her tan skin nicely. Brown eyes sparkled as she smiled in the photo, almost looking like she was laughing.

"Put that back right now," Derek ordered.

"Who is this, your girlfriend?"

"It's none of your business. Now put it back."

"Wow, she's really pretty," Natalie continued, "You dog. Kudos to you. Although I do have to knock off points for the age difference-"

The car came to an abrupt stop, making Natalie hit the back of her head on her seat. She cursed as she rubbed her head. Derek didn't seem concerned at all. What an ass.

"We're here," he gruffly said as he snatched the photo out of Natalie's hand, "Now get out."

"Gladly."

Natalie opened the door and almost tripped getting out of the car. She made sure to slam the door shut for good measure, no longer caring about whether Derek would get mad or not. All she wanted to do was get inside the house as fast as possible.

The first thing that Natalie was going to do when she sees Stiles again is kill him for making her go through that hell of a car ride.

Worst. Night. Ever.

First, Scott is forced to come to terms that he was a werewolf. A werewolf. Then he had to leave in the middle of what was turning out to be a very successful date before he could risk ripping someone's throat out. And last but definitely not least, he was shot in the arm with a crossbow by none other than werewolf hunters. Because of course there are werewolf hunters. It was so not Scott's ideal Friday night. It officially sucked.

As Scott was walking down the road the next morning with no shirt on, he heard the rumbling of Stiles's jeep as it pulled up next to him. Sighing in relief, he climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. His best friend gave him his jacket to cover up with before driving off.

"You know what actually worries me the most?" Scott asked.

"If you say Allison, I'm gonna punch you in the head," Stiles responded, still bitter from cutting his dance with Natalie short and going back to Lydia's house only to find out that Derek freakin' Hale had given his girl a ride home.

"She probably hates me now."

"Ugh, I doubt that," Stiles assured, "But you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know, you could just… tell her the truth and revel in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a frickin' werewolf."

Judging the deadpanned expression on Scott's face, he didn't seem to like that idea that much.

"Okay, bad idea," Stiles agreed. He hit his best friend's arm. "Hey, we'll get through this- you, me, and Nat. Come on, if we have to, we'll chain you up ourselves on full moon nights and feed you live mice. I had a boa once. I could do it." Scott had to let out a chuckle at that. "And if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one with a girl pissed off at you."

"Really? What happened?

Stiles's cheeks began to heat up as his mind went back to the erotic-like dance he had with his favorite redhead. But he decided to spare the hot details and just give Scott the PG version.

"I almost kissed Natalie."

All thoughts and worries of Allison and the werewolf hunters vanished from Scott's mind. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. I was dancing with her at the party and we were so into it that I almost kissed her. But then, someone had to go wolfy on me so I had to leave Natalie at Lydia's to go find you. And now I'm never gonna have that opportunity again!" Stiles leaned his head back against his headrest. "God, this blows!"

Trying to comfort his friend as much as he could like he did with him, Scott patted Stiles's shoulder. "Dude, it's Natalie. She can't stay mad at you for long. Just give her the weekend to cool off and on Monday when you see her at school you can talk to her and patch things up. She'll forgive you."

Stiles snorted. "Yeah, if she doesn't castrate me first." He then put the car in gear and drove off.

Review, favorite, follow, all that fun stuff! And be sure to check out Scars, Isaac's story in this series!

I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie