Chapter 2

"Arielle, Jesus not again," I could hear him somewhere behind me but my body kept moving. I felt his arm on mine, and a need to get him off of me rose until "I'm not stopping you. I will get you there faster. Can you hear me?" I nodded following him to the car "The station?"

"No," I whispered "Just drive," For the next five minutes I pointed to where I wanted him to go before we stopped in front of a beautiful Greek Revival house that looked abandoned. I got out of the car not waiting for Isaac.

I ran in to find Jordan on the floor bleeding out from a chest wound. His breathing was halted and his eyes were dulling every second "Hold on Jordan," I placed his head on my lap and focused my healing on his chest "He's dying," I told Isaac, snapping out of my fugue-like state. I looked around nervously wondering if whatever had gotten him was still there.

"Don't worry, I've got you. Concentrate on Jordan," Isaac reassured me. Focusing I imagined taking some of the wound, pushing calm into him as much as I could. Sweat dripped down my face and the wound on my chest grew in proportion to his lessening. I finally felt him breathe a little easier. I started to slide sideways, but Isaac caught me.

"Parrish?" a frantic call came out from behind us. The Sheriff stopped short seeing us, then saw the puddle of blood. He went pale "Parish?"

"He's breathing better, but I can't go much further with it. He drains my power about twice as fast as anyone else does," I could feel the headache coming that I had experienced with him before. The pressure was too much for me so I curled into a ball covering my ears. I felt Isaac scoop me up, shifting me to one arm and helping the Sheriff pick Jordan up with his other. They got us both into the Sheriff's car.

Isaac placed me on his lap and started to drain the pain away "At least Peter was good for something," he muttered which made me grin and wince. I let myself relax into him. The Sheriff was asking questions but I let Isaac take over explaining what happened. We made it to the hospital where I was surprised to find Melissa outside the morgue waiting for us. I cast a worried look at Jordan, but I could see his chest rising and falling. I was a little unsteady on my feet but was practically held up by Melissa who was squeezing me almost too hard. We followed Isaac and the Sheriff who laid Jordan down on a metal table. He groaned loudly.

"Okay, okay, easy, easy," Melissa told Jordan, taking over and shooing their hands away from him "You said you were gonna keep him on desk duty," she demanded of the Sheriff. He looked at a loss of words.

"Yeah, it was just a minor noise complaint,"

"Are you guys discriminating against the supernatural?" I muttered as I held my hands over my ears trying to dull the thudding in my skull.

"No!" The Sherriff groaned exasperatedly "I am trying to make sure he doesn't burst into flame when he's stressed,"

"He's not on fire, is he?" Melissa asked hesitating to touch him "He's radiating heat, higher than a normal body temperature, way higher," They both peered at him which made Isaac and I step closer to observe.

I watched him, he looked like he had a mirage, then it turned into smoke "Maybe it's part of his healing process?" I asked and then jumped back yelling along with everyone else as Jordan jolted upright on the metal slab. He got up with supernatural speed, turning towards us while panting. His eyes were glowing and he looked like he might be a threat. There was a click behind me. I turned to see a gun pointed at Jordan, Melissa tucked behind the Sheriff. I growled. This man and his freaking gun, I was so sick of it.

His eyes flickered rapidly from a fiery orange to green before settling to his natural green color. Isaac and I sagged in relief. Melissa took a trembling hand and pushed the gun down "It's okay. It's okay," She soothed Stiles' dad "Right, Deputy?" she asked him calmingly.

He looked down concernedly at the blood all over him, he touched his chest gently but there was no sign of his wound anymore. He looked at his bloody hand for a second before his head snapped up "Scott," He said urgently, we waited for him to elaborate "We need to find Scott,"

We all paused waiting for him to go on "Okay, do you mean that something attacked you? Do we need Scott's help to catch it?" I asked him.

"Yeah, something big, and really strong," He rested his body on the table in front of him and worried his hands "His claws were different. Twice the size of Scott's. More like talons," He explained and then nodded to himself. I could feel his uneasiness rolling over me, making me queasy on top of the earplitting headache that Isaac was trying to help with.

Melissa shrugged "If that's the worst part, that doesn't sound too bad,"

"It's worse," He told us drumming his fingers against the table, he got a far-off look on his face "They did something to me. I don't know how to describe it other than it felt as if my life was being drawn out of me through them. Through the claws," We looked at him worriedly as he felt his torso again as if feeling it.

Melissa shook her head in disbelief "And now he's looking for Scott?"

"Which got me thinking about what this guy can do. The rule is you have to kill an Alpha to steal their power, right?" asked Jordan.

Melissa looked at me for confirmation as she said "Yeah, but it's different for Scott. You can't steal a True Alpha's power," I nodded in agreement.

"I think this guy can," Jordan told us worriedly.

I looked at Isaac "Well we were all meeting up at the school tonight, we can all go and meet him. Let me call him and Stiles,"

Isaacs's head snapped up and he got a weird look on his face "Hey, I think that kid Liam overheard everything, and he just ran away,"

"That's weird. The dummy probably went to help Scott without trying to warn him first," Isaac muttered.

"Brave but a little dumb," The Sheriff said while trying to call Stiles. Isaac looked like he agreed. They didn't get along yet. I still felt a little awkward myself around him. Every time I think I'm about to get to bond we nearly get killed "Stiles isn't answering,"

I clicked off of mine "Neither is Scott. He couldn't already have gotten to Scott could he have?"

"I don't know but we've got to go help," Isaac told me grabbing my arm and pulling me to the exit.

I ran with him to the car despite us getting soaked "I'm not exactly in the best shape Iz," I muttered leaning my head against the cool window, trying to will my headache and pain in my chest to go away. His hand reached for mine and was pulling pain away while he talked to me.

"Stiles man, he was so insistent on us coming tonight and now he won't pick up the phone. That kid is one existential crisis away from losing all of his hair, and I don't really think he can pull off that look," I laughed through my pain.

"No kidding. Do you remember the buzz cut faze? He actually tried to convince his dad he was gay looking like that," I told him smiling with my eyes closed. I could feel his chuckle vibrate through his arm until we jolted to a stop.

"Come on, Ari we're here," I was slower than him getting out. The rain was pouring so hard I could barely make him out ten feet in front of me. I panted through my pain hearing snarling up ahead. I nearly ran into him when he came to an abrupt halt. I peeked around him gasping as I watched Scott impaled on a man's claws. That was no werewolf.

We watched on as Scott got his bearings back. In almost slow motion he snapped the man's arm until the bone popped out, and then ripped the claws out of his chest while standing up. The man fell to his knees looking up at Scott in fear "I don't know who you are or what you thought you were going to do, but I'll give you a choice," Scott growled at him. I felt chills run down my back at the authority he was portraying "You can stay and I'll break something else," He paused, and all of us leaned forward to hear him "Or you can run,"

The man looked around at all of us Stiles stepped closer "I'd run," he suggested. Damn Malia was getting his confidence up.

Isaac and I moved to the side as the man rushed passed us clutching his arm. He growled and we flashed our eyes at him. We walked towards the rest of the group. We all watched curiously as the other boy who had been crouched with Kira came sauntering up with a smile. I felt an instant dislike for him.

"You don't remember me, do you?" he asked looking between Scott and Stiles "I guess I look a little different since the fourth grade," he looked bashfully down at his feet.

A look of realization came over Scott "Theo?"

"You know him?" Malia beat me to the question.

Theo spoke up "They used to. Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again. A couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, I just couldn't believe it," He smiled a smile and I just shuddered, it looked sweet but something felt off "Not just an Alpha, but a True Alpha,"

"What do you want?"

"I came back to Beacon Hills. Back home with my family. Because I want to be a part of your pack,"

Stiles and I shared a look. I knew we were on the same page. Theo asked Scott to think about it and then turned and ran to the school. We were quick to follow him. It was getting late, and we didn't want to miss the senior scribe.

As we walked through the halls I could hear Stiles ahead of us "We haven't seen this kid in years. You don't find that highly suspicious?" I nodded even though they couldn't see me. Up ahead I could see Lydia pushing through the crowd to get to us.

"I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me," Scott told him shrugging

We all stopped as Malia's phone buzzed, we had been waiting all day to see if she had passed enough of her classes to join us in our senior year, or if she would have to repeat junior year.

We all sighed in relief as she cried out "I'm in!" Stiles grabbed her up in a tight hug. Lydia called out for us to follow her already and we all made our way to the library. I felt lighter as we stepped in, everyone seemed to be getting along and made a line to go up to the second level of books. I bit my lip as Stiles grabbed the marker pausing to find the space to put his initials. I saw what made him hesitate, D.H. Derek. I felt my eyes water as I realized that at least here we could be together forever. I took the pen and signed my initials next to his. I passed it to Lydia who signed with a flourish.

She handed it off to Kira who also hesitated "This isn't vandalism, is it?"

Lydia shrugged "Not technically," Kira smiled brightly signing. Stiles and I smiled at each other when Malia decided to sign her name with a T, instead of H for Hale. It looked like she was starting to figure herself out. Iz signed next to my initials and then winked at me passing it on. I felt sadness run through me as Scott put Allison's initials in between all of ours. We all grouped looking at all of our initials together.

"She would have been with us," Stiles reassured Scott, who looked at him gratefully.

Lydia nodded rubbing his back "She still is,"

We got it together and walked out of there. I paused to look back, just 9 months ago I had met this crazy pack. So much had changed in between then. Allegiances, packs, status, adding to our mismatched group, losing others. It had been so tough, but all I could feel with Isaac's arm around me was hope for the future.