Chapter 34: A Lone Pack

Stepping out of the ambulance, Natalie Martin let her eyes fall immediately on Eichen House. The sight of it sent icy chills through her veins. She had hoped to never set eyes on this place ever again. Since the days of her late, former mother-in-law when she had been admitted here after she had her...breakdown. Now, she was here, watching as her daughter Lydia was being unloaded from the ambulance into a wheelchair and being rolled on in. As she was being moved through the doors and into the main building, Lydia was completely unresponsive to everything going on. She just kept staring off with a dull, blank look in her eyes. Seeing her usually attentive and full of life daughter being like this was greatly disturbing to Natalie. She almost jumped out of her skin when someone reached for her shoulder.

"Are you alright Ms. Martin?" the doctor who reached for her asked.

And it wasn't just any doctor. It was Valack, still wearing the appearance of Dr. Fenris.

She sighed and quickly nodded. "Yes doctor, I guess I'm just a little-"

But Valack held his hand up to stop her. "Say no more." He then escorted Natalie over to where the orderlies were laying Lydia down into the bed of her private room. "You don't have to worry, I'll be seeing and monitoring your daughter personally. I promise, your daughter will get all the attention and care that she needs."

"Just help my daughter, please," Natalie sighed out, heartbrokenly.

"Of course."

Natalie's eyes stayed right on her daughter's glassy eyes as they stared back at her, unblinkingly. She turned away as Valack kept staring at Lydia. Her eyes stayed glued over at the door, but now there was a tear leaking out from the side of her left eye as her mother departed. Valack's mouth curved a bit before he moved to leave and shut the door behind him.


It was close to 4am but neither Zach nor Virgil were feeling very tired. Right now, Zach was standing over at the window, looking out into the dark distance while Virgil was sitting off at his coffee table, moving his tarot cards about. Right now, The Magician was out in front of him and underneath it was The Fool, reversed paired with The Three of Swords. Virgil looked away from them and could easily make out Zach's intense stare from his reflection in the glass.

"You know, if you're trying to burn a hole in my window, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think heat vision is one of your chimera powers."

Zach rolled his eyes. "Ha Ha," he said, not at all amused.

Virgil moved to place a card down on the table. "What's on your mind?" he asked him.

"Oh, I don't know," Zach mumbled before he started pacing a bit. "Let's think. I was turned into some monster freak by three B-roll Frankensteins who would love to kill me now, there's some supernatural sociopath stalking me so he can make me one of his pets and a powerful werewolf that seemed to want to protect me I might've just made go and leave me high and dry. That give enough of a clue?"

"Plenty," Virgil nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you're having a good time."

"Hey, don't think I'm happy about any of this. You forget, I was almost torn to pieces only a few nights ago. The only reason I'm even here is because of that werewolf."

"The werewolf that you had me help you piss off?"

Virgil shrugged. "What can I say. I'm not the kind to suck up to people. Even giant killer werewolves that could tear into me like a lambchop."

Earlier that day, Theo Raeken had come to pay Zach a little visit. Needless to say that it was a pretty tense encounter, that thankfully didn't escalate pretty far thanks to Virgil's presence. But it had left them both a little shaken, and hungry for real answers and they had confronted the only one who seemed to have them.

Stiles.

He had come back to Virgil's place where the two of them were waiting for him to come back. They told him of Theo's 'visit' and they could see the effect that it had on him. As concerned as he was, Stiles hadn't seemed too surprised. Virgil moved to put his foot down and tell Stiles that he couldn't expect them to just go along with everything he was saying and not know what was really going on. Stiles urged for them to trust him but he argued back that he and Zach couldn't trust him if he didn't trust them. The two of them were nearly killed and now the danger seemed to be following them to their own homes, squatting in Stiles' case, and they felt that they deserved to at least know why. Stiles had owed them that.

With that, Stiles didn't seem to have the energy to argue. He moved to fill in more blanks about the Dread Doctors, his friends, and basically what it means to live in Beacon Hills. After over an hour, he felt he said enough and just left the apartment without another word. Both of them wondered if he was even going to come back now after this.

Zach stopped pacing and moved to throw himself into the couch, opposite Virgil. "You know, for the past two weeks, I kept thinking: 'Why me?' I mean, with all the crap I've gone through in my life, why did I have to get taken by some mad scientists and turned into some sick science experiment? I just thought it was all random and just had the worst god damn luck."

Virgil then leaned back into his armchair. "But now you know different."

"Yeah, lucky me," Zach grunted as he blew a hot puff of hair up at his forehead, making his front hairs waver a bit. "I now know that the reason I was taken is because I nearly died once before."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "When I was eleven, I was in a car accident with my mother, aunt and two cousins. My aunt and cousins were killed and my mother suffered cranial damage. Me, I sustained heavy blood loss, nearly bled clean out. But I was taken to the hospital and given a massive transfusion that just managed to save my life. They said it was a miracle. Now I found that it wasn't a miracle, it was curse. It went and put a target on my back for the Dread Doctors to use me for their experiments. Because that day I'd been made a genetic chimera as I had more than one set of DNA in my system and could be become one of their freak subjects to try and make some kind of super monster. And it turns out that it didn't even work. I'm a reject and they want to kill me while their first reject wants to make me part of his own pack of rejects to do god knows what."

"It could be worse."

Zach snorted. "Please, how could it be worse?"

"You could've died along with those other rejects. Stiles said you're the only one who lived. I think I would call that another miracle."

"Doesn't feel that way," Zach muttered. "Feels like I'm doomed no matter what."

Virgil collected all of his cards and put them all in a single pile. "Let's find out. I'll give a reading."

Zach let his lips curve for what felt like the first time all week. "You're not serious."

"Completely. This deck belonged to my grandmother and she always told me that it had a long family history and helped get us through the darkest of times."

"Please, this stuff isn't real."

"Says the guy who can grow wings and fly through the air like a bird who was just worrying about chasing away the werewolf who he felt could protect him."

"Good point. Why not," he surrendered.

Virgil went and shuffled the cards about and then asked him to cut the deck for him. Zach then did and Virgil went and brought them together into one big pile again.

"What do want to know? Ask a simple question."

"Uh...will I be okay?"

Virgil nodded as he felt a tingle at his fingertips as he moved to place the first card from the deck. He then moved two more cards into position underneath it. He then moved to flip the top card and reveal Zach's soul card.

"The Page of Pentacles, reversed," he muttered, seeing the card was upside down.

"What's it mean?"

"It's your soul card. The one that represents you. Your truest self. It's the one card that can never be changed. All that can change is the position its in. This card, reversed, it means you are someone that tries hard to avoid and run from any kind of trouble or hardship. A pessimistic guy that feels the world is set against you; no matter how hard you try you feel you'll fail so you wonder, why bother."

"Well," Zach muttered. "Can't say I argue with any of that. Nothing ever does seem to work out for me. Present circumstances and all."

He then indicated the card on the bottom left. "This next card will show what the greatest obstacle you face is." He then flipped it and saw that it was The Death card, a small smear of dried blood still on it from before. Virgil then had a sudden flash of the monster from the other night, snarling at him and he seemed lost of breath for a moment.

"Kinda self explanatory," Zach said, seeing the card. "I don't think you need to tell me what that means." He then saw Virgil was a bit loss of breath. "Hey you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, clearing his throat. "Fine. And you're right. I don't have to tell you what this means. This last card will tell you the best way to help you overcome it." He then flipped the card at the bottom right over and saw that it was The Magician. Stiles' face flashed in front of him for a moment.

"What's that mean?" asked Zach.

"Uh, its not a what. It's a who? And maybe you were right to be worried before."


Jordan Parrish was sitting at his desk, on the phone, having a soft but heated discussion with the person on the other line.

"I understand that her mother requested that she receives no calls or visitors. I was just hoping you could at least give me some kind of word of how she is doing." Jordan just closed his eyes and tried to beat down the heat that was rising up to his head after the person on the other end gave their response. "No, it's not it's not officially police business but-" He paused again, hearing the new response and clenched his teeth. He then took a deep breath and opened his eyes back up. "Very well, I understand. Have a nice night."

"Hey Parrish," a fellow deputy called out but was stopped when Parrish went and hung up the phone quite roughly.

"What?!" he barked. But Jordan took a moment to breathe and loosened himself up. "Sorry."

He didn't want to take it out on the guy when he did nothing wrong. Especially a fellow deputy that wasn't much older than himself actually. He was a recent recruit, hired in the wake of Haigh's...termination. Jordan thought he was a pretty okay guy. A definite improvement over Haigh, no question.

"Parrish, you alright?" he asked him.

"Yeah, everything's...fine," he huffed heatedly.

The guy tilted his head a bit. "Really? Sorry, it's just, you just look how I'm sure I feel when I get dumped or ghosted. Girl trouble? Or guy?"

Jordan let his mouth curve a bit. "It's girl related. But we're not...it's not like that."

"Really?" he said, disbelievingly.

Jordan sighed. He had a sudden memory flash of that intense dream he had with him and Lydia in his shower, before it went morbid. "It's complicated," he admitted. He then cleared his throat. "Anyway, you were coming to tell me something?" he asked, deflecting away from this topic.

"The station just got a call. Vandalism."

"Okay," he muttered, wondering why he was coming to him about it.

"It was at the service station. The place where that tech was just killed. I tried putting a call over to Clark, asking if she would take a look but she said was off duty and told me to take it to you."

"What exactly was it?"

"A supervisor said that it looked like someone cut something into the wall. Said it looked like claw marks."

Jordan's jaw stiffened.


The halls of the school were quiet, which made the clicks of Lydia's heels echo loudly with every step she took. Despite the atmosphere, there didn't seem to be any problem until she suddenly heard a squish sound with her latest step. She looked down and saw that her shoe was in something. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was blood. A lot of it, and it was running from down the hall. Lydia tensely followed the trail until it led her to an open classroom and she gasped as she looked inside. There was over a dozen bloodied corpses inside. Students were in random positions in the room, literally. Arms, legs and torsos were torn up and spread about all over the room. There was a body cut up from the waist and missing a right arm face down about a foot where she stood. Lydia could make out a teacher lying on his desk, a giant claw like gash running up his chest with a giant chunk of his neck missing.

She backed away until her back hit the wall opposite her and turned her head to see to bright orbs shining down at her from the darkness, across the hall. Lydia quickly broke into a run, trying to get away and she could hear a deep growling rumble out from behind her. It was clear that it was chasing her. She threw herself through the library doors and she froze in her tracks. The whole room was filled to the brink, with bodies. There were so many that a couple were stacked and piled up on each other. All of them were in different states of mutilation with claw marks and gashes decorating them all, along with splatters of blood. Unlike the first massacre, this one was full of people that Lydia recognized. People she'd seen consistently around school or town. Some from Satomi's pack and the Sheriff's station too. Towards the front of the pile, Lydia saw the bodies of Kira's parents, Deaton, Henry Tate, Melissa McCall, Sheriff Stilinski, and her mother; all of them having their chests ripped open or throats torn out. On the top of the pile, she spotted her friends. Liam, Mason, Kira, Malia, Stiles and Scott. She turned to look away but instead came face to face with a demonic face that roared at her. She then let out a hard, piercing scream.

It seemed to echo in the halls before it reached out through her own ears as Lydia found herself looking up at the ceiling of her room. Lydia was lying on her cot, staring up at the ceiling with unblinking eyes. Silent tears were running down from the sides of her eyes and fell down her paling cheeks. It was being witness by a pair of orderlies who were standing off to the side.

"Like clockwork," one of them muttered. "This girl doesn't talk and barely even blinks her eyes but she manages to cry right around this time every day."

"That's creepy," said his friend. "What's wrong with her?"

He snorted. "You think I know?"

They then went back to regarding Lydia's spaced out expression, the tears still falling. Most of the orderlies, the ones blind to the darkest secrets of Eichen House, believed the Martin girl to be a complete vegetable. Given the wound that was at the back of her neck, linked to her spine, it was actually a reasonable assumption. Especially when Lydia had to be escorted everywhere by use of a wheelchair, being watched and pushed by an orderly from dawn to dusk. What none of them knew was that most of Lydia's mind was being focused on so many other things, within the confines of her own mind.

Since the night she was dropped off at Eichen, Lydia had gone through so many mental simulations that she had lost count. Every minute she found herself watching sad, and often horrifying moments involving death and mayhem. Massacre upon massacre. Different people, some she recognized, some she didn't, coming across or mostly running from a towering dark figure. Yet each one of them always seemed to include one, if not all, of her friends. But she was powerless to outwardly react to any of it, save for the silent tears she shed after she experienced every one. The only expression her body seemed to be able to really make to the outside world after Theo's claws had plunged into her spine. She remembered Peter Hale rantings of how he had been left to his own grim thoughts in the solitude of his eight year coma, how it had eventually driven him insane. For the first time, she could genuinely start to empathize with Peter Hale.

As these thoughts ran through Lydia's mind, her two orderly watchers continued with their talk.

"What do you think Dr. Fenris wants with her anyway?"

"Who knows. I'm not asking. That guy creeps me out, more than half the crazies they have here."

"Hey," the first orderly cut in. "Careful what you say about Fenris. That guy has like a sixth sense or something. Anyone who gets on his bad side. Bad things tend to happen."

"Yeah, that only makes him creepier. Maybe he should be in here with all these other nutcases."


Theo was making his way up the ladder from the tunnel entrance into the service station. Luckily, it seemed that Scott and Stiles hadn't re-sealed it back up. As he got topside, Theo could see there was still some crime scene tape left over from when the police had been here. Out from behind him, Tracy was climbing out and getting to her feet.

"Did we really have to come over here?" she huffed out, annoyed. "And so late."

Theo narrowed his eyes. "Do you have something better to do?" He was spoke softly but you could hear the malice in his tone.

Tracy shrank a bit. While she might be back from the dead, it didn't change the fact that she was still a wanted fugitive for the murders of her father, therapist, and those prison transport drivers. She had nowhere and no one left to go to. "No," she muttered, apologetic.

"Then quit complaining," he spat.

Theo was feeling in the best of moods right now. Despite how it looking like it had no effect, Stiles' comment to him earlier did strike a nerve. "A fake pack with an even faker alpha. How adorable." His eyes hadn't turned red while Scott, even with losing his whole pack and dying, still had his red eyes. Needless to say, he was feeling pissed.

"I'm not," she said, despite the contrary. "Just, why didn't you bring Josh too? Or Corey? Hayden?"

"It's too late to go and get Josh and Corey. And Hayden is under watch from her sister right now. But, she did call and tell me that she had just overheard her sister on the phone with one of her fellow deputies. Vandalism at the crime scene."

"So, it was probably just some kids playing a joke," she said, trying to shrug it off.

"Hayden heard that them say that it was strange. And when strange is used in this town, it's worth taking a look." 'Especially at a place that the Doctors' prized specimen had claimed his latest victim,' he added silently.

They then split off and Theo wandered about but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, aside from the stain of the long dried spots of blood where the tech had been killed.

"Theo!" Tracy suddenly called out.

Theo ran over to her side and saw that she was staring off at the wall. There were deep cuts, no, scratches carved into it. Made by claws. As he moved to stand directly in front of it, he could make out moonlight seeping its way through them and outlined a shape. A mark. One that Theo quickly recognized.

"Well," he sighed as let himself take it in.

"What is it?" Traci asked.

"A symbol," he answered. "For a pack. A werewolf pack. Scott's pack."

"What does it mean?"

Theo didn't have to guess what this meant. Scott was going to try and get his pack back. That might be easier said than done. They were all scattered and divided. He was in over his head...however, from what he had heard, and seen from him firsthand, when lives were at stake, Scott could be quite persistent.

He narrowed his eyes at the symbol. "It means that we have work to do."

With that, Theo turned and headed out. Tracy gave the symbol another tense lookover before she followed right after him.


A soft howl rang out through the air which made Liam look up into the night's sky for a moment before he turned his attention back to the creek. The water right now was smooth as glass, reflecting the shine from the half moon lit up above. It became wobbled when a stone was sent skipping across the surface. Liam sighed as he saw the stone skip five times before it finally sunk. After he and Hayden had shared that kiss, Liam felt too buzzed to just go back home. He decided to come here and let himself think. This place was a good, quiet place to think and he had come out here a few times in the summer to have some time with his thoughts or when he needed to simmer down his rage. Right now, Liam's heart was in conflict. Kissing Hayden felt good. Really, really good. Hayden was cute and he did like her, even when she used to be a real pain in the ass. But, he couldn't stop thinking about Lori either. Fierce yet caring, she was always happy to help someone who needed it. Just the thought of her bright eyes and rosy cheeks made a small smile spread across his face. But the last time they spoke, he had said nasty things to her that probably wouldn't let her smile in front of him again. Not to mention, Hayden is a chimera now, died and was brought back from the dead where she now doesn't feel quite the same as before. Everything right now was just so complicated.

He then moved to bend down and pick up another rock when he heard a sound of branches brushing around and snapping coming off from the side. He turned around and was shocked to see who it was stepping out of the dark. The shock barely registered because the moment that Liam caught Stiles' face, he grit his teeth as he suddenly got a sharp pain in the middle of his heart like someone took a tack right to it.

Stiles had been running through the forest that late night to try and work through the motions that this day had stirred in him. From his and Scott's time in the tunnels with Theo and his so-called pack, to this new or rather old creature that the Dread Doctors had created and finally to the recent confrontation he suffered from Virgil and Zach. He just wanted a way to free himself from it all for a bit and so he moved to head to the preserve and just run. Run, jump and throw himself into the thralls of his lycanthropy. Everything always seemed to dim and feel less restricting when he let his wolf run free. As he sped through the trees, he felt all those concerns and worries lessen their grip on him and he was lighter and freer than he had felt in days. He just went and let out a small howl than sounded more animal than part animal. Stiles then took a moment to take in his surroundings and realized that he was close to the creek he liked to come to sometimes. He thought he would take a moment to go and enjoy it and shifted course. He pushed on through the brush and looked up to come face to face with Liam. As soon as he caught sight of him, he flinched as he felt a sharp pain, right in his heart.

The two werewolves felt that mirrored pain at the sight of each other but it faded just as quickly as it came. With it gone, they let themselves feel surprise at seeing each other.

"Stiles," Liam muttered.

"Hey Liam," he said back.

This was the first time they had seen each other since before the night preceding the Supermoon. Back when they were both still 'pack'.

"Uh...how have you been?" Liam wasn't sure what to really say.

"Well," he sighed. "For lack of a better term, like crap. You?"

Liam let himself smile as he felt a sad bit of euphoria come over him. "Same old Stiles."

"It hasn't been that long you know."

"Yeah, I know. It just feels like...I don't know, another life ago or something."

Stiles nodded. "I get what you mean. Back when Scott and I were best friends and his beta didn't try to kill him."

That made Liam wince. "Yeah, right," he mumbled.

Liam then moved to sit down on the ground and face the water. Stiles moved over to sit down beside him.

"I have to know, just what was going through your mind Liam?"

"I just...wanted to save Hayden. That's all I wanted."

"So, you're saying that what you wanted most at that moment was to kill Scott for some girl?"

"She's not just some girl," Liam cried out. "She...I just couldn't let her die. And Scott...he didn't want to do everything he could to save her."

"You mean give her the bite."

Liam bent his head down a bit. "He said that it might kill her. But, she was already dying. She did die." A tear started running down his cheek.

Stiles nodded sympathetically. "Anger and desperation, two things not good to have on a full moon. Especially when its Supermoon. Theo used that same trick on me, using my dad as his leverage. I get it."

"Scott probably hates me now."

"No," Stiles muttered. "He doesn't hate you. Believe me, there have been plenty who've tried to kill him, and the rest of us, and he doesn't hate any one of them. Not to mention, Scott actually went and did the same thing himself, more than once back with his first girlfriend."

"Hayden's not..." He stopped himself from finishing that she wasn't his girlfriend. He still wasn't sure what she was.

Stiles could detect some confusion. He guessed that there must be some issues between him, Hayden and Lori for him to sort out. "Look, point is, you and Scott will be fine. You don't have to worry so much about it."

Liam couldn't help but detect a hint of bitterness oozing out of Stiles at that. "What about you? Do you hate me?" he asked, looking over at him.

Stiles looked away from the water to meet his gaze. "Well, you're not one of my favorite people right now. Definitely angry and think you could use a good clawing or two. But, no. I don't hate you," he finished, softly. He then held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "Well, maybe just a little bit." That made Liam give him a small smile. "Anyway, I'm not in the pack anymore Liam. What I feel shouldn't matter anymore."

His smile faded quickly enough and Liam narrowed his eyes. "It still matters to me."

"Thanks."

"What about everyone else? Malia? Lydia? Kira? Scott's mom? You think they hate me?"

"Well, Scott's mom...yeah, you might be screwed right there."

"Yeah," he nodded. Liam knew that was a no brainer.

"Lydia, well she might feel that Scott kinda deserved it, maybe not at that level but close enough. Kira...you might want to steer clear of her when she's holding her sword for a little while. Malia, well since Scott's not dead, she won't feel you need to be."

"Hmm, that actually makes me feel a lot better actually. Speaking of Malia, is everything okay with you two?"

"Honestly...I don't know. She and Theo...well, let's say he got into more than just her head. The last time we saw each other after that, well, there were other things going on."

"Maybe you should go see her," he suggested. "You know, before she leaves."

That threw Stiles for a loop. "Wait, she's leaving?"

"Last I heard," he mumbled. He then reached over and picked up a stray pebble nearby and tossed it into the water, making a new set of ripples. "What about you and Scott?"

Stiles sighed. "Me and Scott? Well, for me...hate? Anger? Disappointment? Grief? I'm not sure which of them I feel. Maybe all of them. But Scott, I'm pretty sure he hates me, even if he won't admit it to himself."

"What Theo said to him couldn't have been that bad."

"No, it's not that," he grumbled, shaking his head. "This started even before Theo. Before we even knew you. Scott's hated me so much, he can't even bare to look at me."

Stiles then got to his feet as Liam tried to look back at him, confused.

"Wait, what are you talking about? Scott looks at you all the time."

Stiles turns back to look at Liam, his eyes shifted, and looking back at him with their sapphire like glow. "Are you sure about that?" He then deflated. "You should head on home now Liam."

He then ran off, into the dark, leaving Liam looking after him. As soon as they parted ways, both Liam and Stiles felt a sudden relief come over them both from out of nowhere.


Less than a dozen werewolves, including siblings Brett and Lori, were gathered up in their special clearing in the woods. They had all been called to gather here and everyone was tense on what the reason for it could be. At the sound of approaching footsteps, they all stiffened before, as one, turned over to see a pair of red eyes glowing out from the dark. Their owner stepped out into the moonlight and they all properly saw their alpha's face.

"It's just me," Satomi lightly announced to them.

"Satomi," Trey sighed out. Many of his fellow betas did the same in relief. "Sorry, it's just tense being here again, so soon."

No further explanation was needed. This place was the pack's fallback point. The last time that they had gathered here was back during the Deadpool when half of their pack had been decimated by The Chemist's viral weapon.

"Yes, I understand but thank you all for coming, nonetheless," she said, her red eyes dimming back to normal.

"Satomi, we only ever come out here if there's an emergency," Brett said, voicing everyone's more or less present thoughts on their gathering.

"Why did you ask us all to come here?" Lori quickly asked.

The alpha's jaw tightened a bit. "Yes, I suppose we should just get to it. I just received some rather disturbing news that I needed to share with all of you and it's better to tell you all face to face."

"Is it about those Dread Doctors?" asked one beta. "Did they attack again?"

"Or their chimeras?" asked another. "Are they coming for us?"

"Is this about why Stiles was at the school?" asked Brett.

"Did something happen with Hayden? asked Lori. "I know Liam was worried about her and he hasn't answered any of my calls or texts."

These questions and others were being fired off all at once and Satomi could barely make half of them. She quickly moved to clap her hands and then rose them up in a halting formation.

"Quiet," she ordered, making them all stop talking at once. "Thank you," she said before taking a deep breath. "I will explain everything. Please, simply bear with me." She then looked over at Brett and Lori. "As none of it is good so some of you had best ready yourselves."

With that, she then began to lay down everything that Stiles had told her. The truth of Theo Raeken and his involvement with the Dread Doctors and Wilson's death. The fate of Hayden, Corey, Josh and Tracy. The events of the Supermoon between Scott and Stiles as well as Scott and Liam. Stiles' new transformation. And the true purpose behind the Dread Doctors' presence in Beacon Hills and their 'successful' creation.

Needless to say her warning for them to brace themselves had truly done them little good. One of her betas actually fainted by the time she was finished. The rest were clearly shaken, stunned at best. Vengeful at worst.

Trey was squeezing his fingernails into his palms so hard that blood was starting to drip through his tightly clenched fist. "We should find this Theo and tear him apart, limb by limb," he growled, his golden yellow eyes shining brightly in the moonlit clearing.

A good many of them, including Brett, savagely nodded in agreement. They were all eager to avenge their pack's lost Second, their stolen pack brother.

"As touched as Wilson would be, he would not want us to be careless," Satomi cut in. "Don't forget, this Theo has the backing of those Dread Doctors."

"They can't be with him 24/7," said one of them. "When they're not, we'll tear open his wretched neck."

"And there is also the issue of the chimeras he has recruited," Satomi added. "Two of them include people close to Scott McCall's pack."

"So what?" spat Trey.

"Trey," started Lori.

"No," he cut in. "What has Scott McCall really done for us lately? What is he doing for us now? He invited this Theo into his territory, into his pack, and he goes and kills Wilson. Our Second. Making us feel torn up from the inside when he took his life. That makes it his fault."

"I know, but,"

"No," Brett said, cutting his sister off. "Trey has a point. Now, I like them. Scott's pack. When they needed us, we were there for them and if they didn't heal, we would all still have the marks to prove it. So where is Scott now for us? He's the alpha, the True Alpha. He has a responsibility, a duty, to us being wronged by his own beta. Wilson was our brother in everything but blood. The guy we were to stand with if the worst ever came to pass," he said, giving Satomi a sad look. "And despite everything this Theo has done to him and his own friends, he's just going to let him run around and do whatever the hell he wants! So what are we to him?!"

All of the betas nodded their heads in agreement. Lori stayed silent as her own face hardened a bit at her brother's words.

"Well spoke Brett," Satomi said after a moment. "Words that I can't help but agree with. If Scott McCall will not see justice met for what Theo Raeken has done to our pack, then we must take it upon ourselves to see that it does. That goes for anyone that tries to help Theo escape that justice. Be it the Dread Doctors, or those chimeras he's recruited into his mockery of a pack. If they believe they owe their allegiance to him, then they can share in his fate," she finished, making her eyes glow a bright red.

All of her betas rose their heads and let out a collective hard roar.


The orderly from before was out of his uniform and was walking through the empty and dimly lit faculty parking lot of Eichen, eager to get back home. He pulled out his keys and pushed to unlock his car, causing a boop to sound off like a cannon in the quiet lot. He opened his door and was about to step inside when he turned and jumped as he saw someone standing there. Dr. Fenris.

"Oh," he croaked. "Dr. Fenris, hell, you scared me half to death."

"Only half?" he responded calmly. "That's disappointing."

That only made the orderly confused. "Sir?"

The next thing he knew, Fenris moved and quickly jammed a syringe into the man's throat. He was barely able to reach for it when his knees started to buckle and he fell down to the ground, everything becoming dark around him.

When he came to, he realized that he was laying on the floor of a dimly lit room. He then was able to make out Fenris looking sternly down at him at the other side of a glass wall.

"Doctor?" he mumbled, confused.

"You know, I happen to have eyes and ears everywhere here. Well, mostly ears now."

"What?" the orderly grunted.

"You really should've heeded your friend's advice and been more mindful of your words. Especially because I did happen to be a patient here. Not among my most treasured of memories."

The orderly then started getting scared as he could feel where this was going. "Let me out," he said, pushing himself and banging up against the glass door.

"I can't. It's feeding time, and I've assigned you to help two of our establishments special patients with curbing their hunger."

With that he moved to hit a button that was on the side of the wall and the orderly heard a buzzer sound off from behind him. He turned and saw two men step out from the shadows, their eyes pale white and each of their jaws wide open displaying two rows of razor sharp teeth. He just managed to let out a scream before the Wendigos pounced at him and his blood began to splatter onto the surface of the glass.

Fenris began to walk off, indifferent to what had just transpired. He only stopped at a cell halfway down the hall, he looked inside at the sight of Peter Hale, sitting on the floor in a fetal like position. The man in question then looked up over towards the glass wall to see that Fenris had returned to his likeness as Valack and gave a slight nod to him. Valack let his mouth curve slightly before he headed off and left the man to his solitude, listening to the sounds of the Wendigos tearing and devouring the now dead orderly a couple of cells down.


Going to school had always seemed mundane to Cora but now being there made her tenser than she had been in the longest time. She was constantly on the lookout for Ruben. Expecting to see him around every other corner, atop every opposing staircase or sitting down the hall of every long room. But he wasn't there. The tension and anticipation got so intense that she started jumping at every sudden loud sound, or unexpected sudden peripheral movement. One particular embarrassing moment that when her teacher was trying to get her attention but she had spaced out to listen around for any sign of Ruben. She had nearly fallen out of her seat when her teacher slammed her hand at her desk, to the amusement of everyone in the room.

"So, he didn't show up to school again?" Derek asked as soon as she walked through the door to their loft.

"What was your first clue?" Cora said, slamming the door behind her.

"The fact that the school didn't call to tell my sister didn't decorate the halls with some teenage boy's entrails," he answered nonchalantly as he was pouring over a map at their coffee table.

"Oh please, something tells me you're not just going to glare down at Ruben the next time you see him!"

"Hey," he said hushing her. "Not so loud. Jason just got to sleep barely an hour ago."

She forced herself to push her tension down. "Sorry. It's just, all this waiting around for them to make the first move crap, it's starting to get on my nerves."

"Yeah, you're not alone in that."

"Anything new turn up today?"

"Well, Oscar and his pack still haven't come back into town yet. The apartment building where Oscar holds himself up has been quiet. No sign of him anywhere. But," he stressed in. "I did find out that we have two different werewolves keeping an eye on our building today. They're still out there right now actually."

"What?" Cora then moved to look out the window.

"Don't bother. They're actually quite well hidden. Enough that they wouldn't normally get detected. But, one of the perks of being evolved is that I have a stronger and sharper sense of smell than the average beta. I'm thinking Oscar left them behind to keep an eye out for him while he's out of town."

"Any word back from Charlie?"

Derek shook his head. "No, not a one. Wherever they are, Oscar must be keeping all of his betas from having any sort contact with the outside world to try and hide what he's doing."

"You don't think Oscar found out about him leaking information to us, do you?" she asked, feeling a little worried for Charlie. He was a decent guy and Cora couldn't help but like him a bit. And thought him quite cute as well.

Derek gave her a look, seeming to know what she was thinking. "I'm sure he's fine," he mumbled. "The guy's not stupid and seems to be able to look out for himself so far. Let's not assume the worst just yet. Still, at least we now know something about what Oscar is after."

"Something that involves Jason."

"Well, rather Jason's father."

"Stiles," Cora mumbled. "You know, it's been over a week, but I could still feel it. You?"

Something has changed. They both sensed it, the night of the full moon. It was instinct. A deep, internal and primal instinct.

Derek nodded. "Yeah. Maggie confirmed it just a little while ago. She reached out and found that there has an emergence of power over in Beacon Hills. It during the full moon. The Supermoon and when it reached its peak, that power awakened."

"Stiles...he really did it. He became-

"The beast," Derek finished for her. "But there's something else. It looks like Stiles wasn't the only one."

"What do you mean?"

"Maggie source wasn't sure. But, it looks like whatever those...Dread Doctors were doing in Beacon Hills, it seems they succeeded. Whatever they created, it also seemed to come out that night...and it just might be stronger."

"Stronger? What could be stronger?"

"I don't know and I don't think I want to know. But I bet Oscar does. All he's been doing seems to be tied up with all of this. Waiting and hoping everything falls into the proper places. And with Ruben confirming the connection that we have with it. Sleeping right upstairs. He'll be ready when it does."

"Well, I don't care what the hell Oscar wants or is after. If he thinks he can use Jason to get it, he'll have to go through me," she said, her gold eyes burning with resolution.


The sun was starting to peek in from the horizon as Malia was sitting in her room, staring out at a framed photo of herself, her dad, her mom and sister, smiling brightly at her. The reminder of why she was doing what she was doing.

Braeden was reaching out to some of her contacts that watch for the most obscure and stealthiest ways that the Desert Wolf might cross the country's border with her hostage. Once they found where she was coming in from they can then move in and go after her before she could get too far. Braeden insisted that it shouldn't be too long before she found out what they needed to know. Her dad insisted on coming along with them. Braeden of course argued against this as the Desert Wolf was more dangerous than any rogue shapeshifter they had come across here in Beacon Hills. But Henry didn't care. He wanted her just as much as Malia did. This was the woman that killed his wife and youngest daughter, all so she could kill her eldest daughter. That made him so lost in grief for years that he almost hunted and killed Malia. He wasn't going to stand back and do nothing as she tried to take her away from him again. He plainly said, for better or worse, he and Malia were in this together and wherever she went, he went.

She could hear him, sleeping soundly in his room and let herself smile a bit. Yet, her eyes narrowed when she heard the sound of a car approaching. It didn't sound like one she recognized though. She was about to run off and go wake her father when she quickly detected the sound of someone's voice, muttering to himself. A voice that suddenly made her nervous. She quietly made her way for the front door and stepped out onto her porch as a mini-van pulled up and stopped in a couple of feet from her house. Out of the driver's seat stepped out Stiles.

As soon as they laid eyes on each other, they flinched as a sharp pain hit their hearts. It lasted for barely over a second before it passed and they let their nerves come back and twist their stomachs in suspenseful anticipation.

"Hey," Stiles muttered.

"Hey," Malia muttered back.

Malia then went over and moved to wrap her arms around Stiles and he moved to squeeze her back. She moved to take in his scent and couldn't help but feel that it seemed a bit different from what she was used to. There was a hint of added...wildness. That was how she could best describe it.

"I was hoping we could talk," Stiles said, as he pulled away.

"Oh, okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"Uh, well, I hear that you're leaving."

"Yeah, we are. Me and my dad. He called the school them that we're leaving on a family trip and I might miss a few days after classes start back up."

"Why, what's going on?"

She shook her head. "I can't tell you."

But Stiles narrowed his eyes. "You're going after her, aren't you? The Desert Wolf."

That made Malia blink. But she quickly got over it. She shouldn't be surprised that Stiles figured it out. He did try to help her track her down over the summer. "Yeah, we are. Braeden's found a lead and we're going to follow through it."

"You sure about this? This is the same woman that slaughtered her way through over half a dozen armed men and left their bodies out like a living Van Gogh piece."

"She's already wants to come for me, and she doesn't care who is in the way. So, I'm coming for her first. I don't want her to come here. For any of you."

"That include Theo?" he asked softly.

The elephant in the room was just poked.

Her face fell. "What?"

"You know what," he said, his face expressionless. "The night of the Supermoon, I managed to pick something up from Theo. Your scent, mixed with his. It had rubbed off from you, onto him, and it had been mixed with some...pretty heavy emotions.

She let out a small huff of air. "Nothing happened. We kissed, that was it."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, is that it?"

"Look I can't really explain it, okay. I just...it was different than what I felt with you. I tried to fight it, I really did. But no matter hard I tried, I just couldn't stop thinking about him. His eyes. His smile. His body. I started to dream about him and feel this deep yearning to just...touch him. And then, after I saw him when I dropped you at your house that day, I just couldn't help myself."

Stiles sighed as he looked down at his feet. He really didn't like hearing any of that. "Yeah, it probably has to do with the fact that he's a chimera that's part wolf, part coyote. The coyote part of him probably appealed to yours and made you feel drawn to him. He was just like you. A perfect match." He may understand what had happened, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Stiles, I swear, all we did was kiss. I stopped before it could get too far. Because I suddenly thought of you."

"Me?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Thinking of you made me pull away from him and I just left."

"So, what do you feel now? About him? About me?"

"I-" she trailed off, looking off for a moment before looking back to him and shaking her head. "I don't know. What do you feel?"

He sighed and after a moment, shook his head as well. "I guess I don't know either. Maybe we...should take some time and think about it. Maybe after all this is over. Well, if we live that is."

"Yeah. Maybe."

Stiles looked back over at his van before turning back to her. "Look, I know this whole thing with your mother, you feel you have to handle it alone. But, if you ever need help, you know you can call me. Right?"

"I know," said Malia. "Stiles," she said, stopping him as he started to walk off. "I'm sorry."

His back was to her and he didn't turn back around. But he did close his eyes and then let himself nod his head. "I know."

"Will you be okay alone?"

Stiles finally looked back over at her. "I don't think I am quite yet."

With that, he made his way into the van and then started to drive away. A pressure seemed to lift of both off their hearts as relief filled them with their separation before grief set back in. Malia watched him go before she turned back to her front porch but saw that her father was standing just out of the front door. She moved over for him and he went and took her into his arms, squeezing as she cried silently into his chest.


Lydia found herself back in her bad after another...dream of blood and mayhem. Tears ran down her eyes like always but she found that she was now able to move her head. It took a moment for her to realize that she was actually moving her head. She tested herself and she was soon lifting herself into a sitting position in her room. She was mobile again!

Making her way to the door, she was surprised to find that it was unlocked when she tried to open it. She stepped into the halls and started to calmly try to make her way out of there. She then passed by an open room and froze as she saw that there was a tub the other end. Lydia didn't know why, but she felt herself drawn to it. She made her way over to find that it was filled with some kind of black tar-like goo. As she looked over it, she was startled when a hand suddenly reached out from inside to break to the surface. Soon a whole body was making its way out, splashing and dripping black goo everywhere. It was crawling its way over to her and Lydia tried to run but the door behind her closed shut and locked itself, trapping her inside. She frantically turned back around and found that the figure was standing up, just a few feet from her. It's face had been cleaned up enough for Lydia to see that it was actually Meredith.

"Don't be afraid," she said calmly to her.

Lydia responded with a scream. Or at least, an attempt at one. She found that her voice seemed to have gone on mute even though she was screaming as hard as she could. With whatever rational part of her mind she still had access to, she realized that she was still dreaming.

The next thing she knew, there was a snapping sound and she found herself back in her room, lying flat on her bed with an orderly looking down over her with a critical look on her face.

"I've been here a long time Lydia, do you think I haven't seen this before? I know when patients are pretending. Manipulating to get what they want. You are not getting out of here. Someone as dangerous as you are. I'm not like a lot of the idiots working here. You think Brunski was the only one in the know? There are more of us here than you would think...and we can keep you here for the rest of your life."

With that, the orderly took her leave, to the eyes of both Lydia and Meredith who were observing the exchange practically invisibly from the side.

"You have to wake up," Meredith told her.

"Do you think I haven't been trying?" she said back. "What if I can't?"

"Then you won't be able to help your friends. I know you've been seeing it. I've been seeing it too. For months. What's coming. They'll die without you."

"How am I supposed to help them like this?"

"You learned to fight, didn't you?"

Lydia suddenly had memory flashes of her sparring dates with Jordan. His bright, smiling face came back, so clear to her for a moment before fading away. "Only a little," she mumbled, keeping her gaze at her unresponsive body.

"You learned more than you think you did," countered Meredith. "And faster than an ordinary person could."

"But that doesn't matter now."

"It does, because I will teach you the rest. I'm going to show you how to use your voice. How to use it, as a weapon."


Virgil moaned as he lifted his head from his pillow as the sound of his doorbell rang out and woke him. He pushed himself to his feet and left his room to see that Zach was already up, sitting in his couch, looking over at the door tensely. Virgil held his hand out, telling him to just stay there just as the doorbell rang again. Zach stayed seated while Virgil moved over for the door and looked into his peephole to see who it was. He deflated as he did and moved to open the door and reveal Stiles standing there. He moved to hold up two brown bags.

"Feel like pancakes?" he asked.

Virgil looked over at Zach who stood up from the couch and stared back at him. Virgil turned back to Stiles and then moved to step aside and let Stiles come on in.


Scott was sleeping until the alarm at his bedside started blaring up and he stirred as he tried to block the sound out. He managed to hit the snooze button and let himself go right back to sleep. However, two minutes later, it blared again and Scott grit his teeth as he moved to slam his fist down on it and managed to break it in two. He sucked his teeth at what he had done but found himself sitting up in his bed as he angrily rubbed at his eyes.

He forced himself to get up and head over to the bathroom. He looked and saw himself still in his clothes from the previous night as he moved to splash some water at his face. Scott had tried to track down Stiles after he left the service station last night but he had no luck. Stiles hadn't gone to the hospital or even gone home and Scott had waited there until like 4 in the morning before he went and headed home. Calling him was useless because he knew Stiles wouldn't answer it. He leaned against his sink when the memory of Stiles throwing dirt back at him, and his symbol, flashed back in his mind. It just didn't make any sense.

When he and Stiles had fought together against Tracy and Josh, for a moment, it felt just like it used to be. He had apologized and he truly meant what he said to him, out of all the mistakes he made lately kicking Stiles out had been his biggest one. It was like that was where all his trouble had started. Just one day after he let Stiles go, everything else around him fell apart. He knew he was wrong and he apologized. When he asked Stiles to finish their symbol with him, it looked like he was really going to come back, but he seemed to just...change from out of nowhere. Grow angry and throw it back at his face, literally. Why? It just didn't make any sense.

What was he going to do now? If there was any chance of them stopping whatever it was the Dread Doctors had created, Scott was going to need his best friend. Maybe he might have a better chance if he had the help of his other friends. Lydia was in Eichen House and her mother didn't want any of them to be around her. Malia was closing herself off and didn't want his help from whatever it was she was planning to do. That left Kira and Liam. Kira had been gone for a while to try and gain control of her fox but Scott knew she could do that here, with them. The only reason she left was because he pushed her away. Just like he pushed Stiles away. He needed her back. And Liam...that was probably something that he needed to make the first move on.

He went over to grab his phone and move to dial up Kira first. He needed to know where she was.


After leaving Beacon Hills, Kira barely spoke as her parents drove them off and down the interstate. She kept her silence up until they left the California state line and kept driving them east.

"Where exactly are we going?" she asked them.

"We're going to see someone to help you re-connect with the fox in you," answered her mother.

"Who?"

"Skinwalkers," she said.

"Skinwalkers? What are they?"

"They are an elusive clan of shapeshifters that live out in the outskirts of American desert," said her father, in his lecture like tone. "They have into the spirits of animals to gain strength and power to fight and defend their land. They were revered by the old Native American settlements until the Colonial settlers relocated them and then hunted them to near extinction."

Her mother caught her eyes through the rear view mirror. "If anyone can help you Kira, it's them."

"We just have to find them first."

They traveled for days, talking with remnant Native American camps and a few of their scholars at history museums and universities. They were careful about how they asked for the information though, phrasing it as research and in depth curiosity but Kira saw that her mother seemed to give out more personal information when she felt that the source seemed more...genuine. They seemed to have gotten a lead with one elderly shaman who pointed them to a barren valley where he was sure they would find what they were looking for. Kira and her mother decided to go alone to this place and the duo soon arrived at a valley with nothing but rocky outcrops and tumbleweed as far as the eye could see. Kira left the car with her sword while her mother left to stand by her.

"How do we find them?" she asked.

"Skinwalkers are powerful shapeshifters and not particularly welcoming to strangers on their land. They'll find us."

Kira then began to hear a rumble sound and felt shaking beneath her feet. "I think they already have."

Mother and Daughter watched as the ground before them broke and three sets of hands shot out through the earth. Three figures climbed out, each of them wearing rough spun garments of animal fur and skin and wielding feather tipped spears. The one that was at the front even wore a headdress made of brown fur. Kira noticed that each of them were girls, around her own age and their faces were splashed with war paint. They were all staring hard at them, gripping their weapons tightly.

"Kira, take out your sword," her mother ordered.

Kira went and unsheathed her blade, twirling it for a moment before she held it over her head, at the ready. The skinwalker at the head, narrowed her eyes, seeming to accept the challenge. The three of them moved to surround Kira and they twirled their own spears in a fashion similar to how Kira readied her own weapon. The one to Kira's right made the first move and thrust her spear for her but Kira blocked it with her blade. Yet, the one to her left leapt up at her and tried to drive her spear right for her side. Kira just managed to block that strike too and tried to counter but the skinwalker easily met her attack. Kira then threw herself back before the one with the headdress, their leader, could strike at her while she was occupied. The three of them seemed to have a synchronicity with their attacks and Kira was barely able to keep up with it. The leader then threw her spear into the sand and thrust it up, sending it right into Kira's eyes. Her visibility became clouded and the skinwalkers moved to take advantage of that. One of them moved to meet her blade and then disarmed her. As her sword fell to the ground, the skinwalker moved out of the way, giving her fellow warrior an opening as she threw her spear for Kira, pinning her up against a nearby rock.

Noshiko panicked seeing her daughter now helpless as the skinwalkers moved to close in on her. The leader pushed at her other shoulder with the butt of her spear so she could have a better look at her.

"She's fightened," she said to the others. "But she's not frightened of us."

"Of herself," finished the second skinwalker.

"Can you help her?" Noshiko asked them.

The leader seemed to regard her carefully for a moment before answering. "We can try."

"If not, she stays," said the third skinwalker.

"What? What does that mean?" Kira panted out.

"If we can not help you, you'll stay. And become one of us. A skinwalker."

"You'll walk with us under the dust. Under the sun."

"Forever."

Kira looked at each one of them as they spoke and saw that they were all dead serious. She then felt herself getting released from their spears, the one stuck in her getting yanked out, and she gasped as she felt the blade leave her. As she fell to her knees, she barely managed a final glimpse of her mother before she found herself surrounded by dust and then saw black.


A/N: Apologies for the longer than usual delay. There were many things going on at once and I did suffer some writer's block halfway through this. But, I hope you feel the wait was worth it.