Disclaimer: Teen wolf does not belong to me in any way, shape or form – sadly Another quick chapter guys, I'm so sorry but I couldn't resist. Kayla and Stiles are my babies and I love rewriting this book, so I hope you don't mind the continuous updates. A big thanks to guest (lol, I feel ya), guest, guest, guest, guest, guest, guest, Scottken and read94 for the wonderful reviews as always, it means the world :)

"Scott's ignoring me"

Her ass hadn't even touched the seat before Allison was leaning sideways to face her, a worried expression twisting her features.

"Is he?" Kayla asked, putting her history books on the table and reaching for a pen, feigning stupidity, "why?"

"I don't know" Allison mumbled, her fingers twisting together as she stressed, "do you think he's going to break up with me?"

"Definitely not" Kayla chuckled, "that boy is head over heels for you. He's probably just having an off day. He is a teenage boy – plus he's a little weird. Actually, a lot weird"

"You don't think I have to worry?" she asked, and Kayla didn't know when she became the person people asked for relationship advice – she didn't exactly have the best, most reliable track record.

"No" she stated, "maybe his time of the month is coming up" she joked, Allison not even realising how accurate that was, only his behaviour wouldn't be weird because of a uterus but because of a full moon.

Allison begun to relax a little, trusting her words – for what reason, Kayla didn't know – but her eyes still held a glint of nervousness, chewing her lip like she wanted to ask a question but was too scared to.

"What is it?"

"Hm?" Allison squeaked, raising her brows.

"What do you want to ask?"

Her friend looked around shyly, making sure the classroom was still half empty before leaning closer to Kayla, a light blush tinging her cheeks.

"Last night, um… Scott and I… we… uh… we…"

"Did you have sex?"

Allison choked at her bluntness, swallowing her awkwardness as her eyes darted around the classroom to make sure no on heard.

"No. No. We didn't"

"Oral?"

"N-No"

"Did you at least touch it?"

"No" the brunette whispered, her face now the perfect representation of a burning tomato, "we got interrupted. But, well… if we didn't-"

"You would've fucked him?"

Allison's expression told her everything she needed to know.

"Okay. Uh" Kayla shrugged, "is that a bad thing?"

"No, I want to, I just… I don't really know how"

"It's really not that complicated" Kayla shrugged, "as long as he gets the right hole"

Allison chuckled a little under her breath, running a hand through her curly hair as she shook her head playfully at Kayla.

"Or are you wanting legitimate advice? Because I could give you some pointers-"

"Advice?" Lydia chirped, gracefully spinning into her seat in front of Kayla with a wide smile on her face as she turned to face her best friends, "advice on what?"

"How to fuck" Kayla shrugged, bluntly as ever.

"Oh god" Allison groaned, throwing her head in her hands, "I shouldn't have asked"

"No need to be embarrassed Allison" Lydia's eyes gleamed as she smirked cheekily, "we're all about girl power here. If you want to screw your boyfriend, go for it. Just make sure he covers up"

"Yeah" Kayla muttered, "or get on birth control. Trust me, you don't want to get pregnant"

Allison cocked a brow at her, as observant as ever as she picked up the change in Kayla's tone, about to ask if she had experienced a pregnancy scare or, God forbid, an actual pregnancy, but luckily before she could Lydia leaned forward, ecstatic with the 'girl talk'.

"Kayla's right. You definitely don't want to be tied down at seventeen with a baby" Lydia scoffed, like it was the worst possible thing that could ever happen, "you're too young and pretty for that. Plus, I heard if you have a girl they suck all of your beauty for themselves"

"Uh…"

"Lydia" Kayla laughed, "you're scaring her with the baby talk"

"Just making sure she knows ten minutes isn't worth eighteen years of responsibility"

"Unless it's a really good ten minutes" Kayla joked.

"Even then" the redhead scoffed, "you could give yourself ten times as many orgasms as a man could without any of the risk"

"Oh my God guys" Allison groaned in mortification, slamming her head on the table, "I wish I never brought it up"

"Too late" she smirked, "as far as positions go, well, that depends on what's most comfortable for you. Guys can get off in pretty much any way"

Allison lifted her head, her expression meek and mild but intrigued as she glanced shyly behind her two friends.

"How did you two lose it…?"

"On top, of course" Lydia scoffed, glancing down at her perfectly manicured nails, "like I would trust my virginity in any guy's hands"

"It was a bit of a mix" Kayla shrugged, "but don't trust my experience. It was crap"

Her brunette placed her hand under her chin, deep in thought as she considered her friends advice.

"Okay, makes sense" she acknowledged, "and I know it's not a big deal, I just worry"

To Kayla's surprise, it was Lydia who leant towards Allison, reaching for her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"It is a big deal" she insisted, not making Allison feel small or stupid for her worries surrounding her virginity, "and don't let anyone make you feel it's not, or pressure you into it. You only get one first time. Now, after that? Yeah, nothing to stress over, but that very first time? It will have a lasting impact"

"Uh… yeah" Kayla shrugged, pointing to Lydia, "what she said"

Lydia rolled her eyes playfully, "how would you know? You lost it in a bar with someone you'd known for 30 seconds"

"Exactly, and look how I turned out" Kayla joked, flashing them both a grin, "I'm fucked up. I'm the poster child for how not to lose your virginity"

Her redhead friend simply shook her head in exasperation, letting go of Allison's hand and turning to her with a devious glint in her eyes.

"Speaking of sex-" she smirked, "-I heard you agreed to spend the weekend with Brian"

"What?" Allison demanded in surprise, sending Kayla a disappointed look, "why?"

"Why not?" she shrugged, her tone not exactly thrilled with her decision that she made in the spur of the moment.

"Kayla, we spoke about this" Allison pouted, "Brian is not good news"

"He doesn't need to be good news Allison" Lydia grinned, twirling some hair around her finger, "he just needs to be good in bed"

"Is this because of Stiles?"

"No" Kayla replied, rolling her eyes at Allison, "it's not"

"Is what to do with who?" Lydia interjected, "what have I missed?"

"Kayla made out with Stiles" Allison said before she could shut her up, throwing her friend an annoyed look, "then he ran off"

Lydia frowned and pursed her lips, a blank look etched onto her face.

"What, or who, is Stiles?"

"Scott's best friend" Allison smirked, clearly delighted with herself that she could now rope Lydia into their discussions.

"Oh great" Lydia sighed, placing a hand against her forehead as if she felt a headache coming on, "another nerd"

"He's nice" Allison insisted, "much nicer than Brian anyway"

"That wouldn't be hard, Allison" Lydia rolled her eyes, "Brian may be the stereotypical definition of an all-American jock, but he comes with his advantages. Advantages that are highly needed in high school"

"You did it to make Stiles jealous, didn't you" Allison deduced, knowing Kayla still hated Brian and wouldn't agree to do something so stupid.

"So what if I did" she shrugged, "he blanked me all day. I got annoyed"

"You can't sleep with Brian just to get payback"

"I'm not going to sleep with him" Kayla was adamant about that, "I just got annoyed and before I knew what I was doing, I had said yes. Regretting it big time now though"

"Then turn him down. Right now"

"Not so fast Allison" Lydia smirked, "that was a smart move, Kayla. Play them off each other. Make them fight over you"

"Ew, no" she muttered, "that's the worst idea ever. We're not in some tacky 90's highschool drama"

"Your loss" Lydia shrugged, "but you need some action. You're wound so tight" turning back to face the front of the class as the teacher began speaking, instructing them all to settle down.

"I promise you Kayla, you'll regret it if you go out with Brian" Allison whispered, "and I think deep down inside, you know that too"

She sighed, flipping onto the page the teacher told them too, silently agreeing with Allison because she knew her friend was right. She didn't like Brian…

… She liked Stiles.

She decided to cut her last class, too tired and fed up to subject herself to sitting through fifty minutes of hell to take a walk around the grounds to clear her head from all the so called 'advice' she had been given today, her friends apparently loving to try and stick their noses in her romantic life– or rather, lack of.

She wandered through the halls, earbuds in place as she blasted music from her favourite playlist, making her way outside and walking around the school buildings, the fresh air helping her ever constant headache since the other night. Her head still feeling delicate and spacey, like her brain was knitting itself in a jumper from her nerve endings.

She hated the situation she was in right now. She hated how complicated it seemed to get. Why couldn't she have just stopped being so flirty and overly zealous? Maybe if she had, they wouldn't have kissed and they wouldn't be fighting, and she wouldn't have rushed into agreeing to a date with Brian of all people.

Urgh. It was official. She hated herself – even more so than usual. She hated the fact she had feelings. Feelings sucked, big time. She would really rather not have them. It would make things so much more simpler.

She continued her stroll around the grounds, a permanent frown etched between her brows before noticing two familiar figures just off in the distance, not far away from a group of older jock boys – probably seniors.

Scott and Stiles.

Curiosity got the better of her, changing her route to walk towards them. She couldn't see what they were doing, but she had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be good - especially if Stiles was involved.

They hadn't noticed her, nor did the group of four boys engrossed in doing some kind of dodgy drug deal by the outbuilding. Stiles was grabbing Scott's hand and holding it up in the air before he walked alongside the side of brand new Ford truck, keying a large scrape across both doors.

What the hell?

Stiles' back was to her, exaggeratingly throwing his arms in the air.

"Hey, Hey, hey dude! What do you think you're doing to that truck, bro?"

The four jocks all turned around, becoming visibly upset at the sight of the damaged truck, one tall buff guy rolling up his sleeves.

"What the hell?" he raged, suddenly lunging at Scott, his sidekicks not far behind him as poor Scott got punched in the face and fell backwards to the hard tarmac.

"Ouch" she muttered, pulling out her earbuds as she came to a stop next Stiles who jumped at her sudden appearance, watching Scott get pummelled, "you not going to help him?"

Stiles gulped, ogling at her with wide nervous eyes as he wet his lips, trying to find the right words to say to her but, unfortunately for him, nothing came out. She wasn't surprised with his behaviour but rolled her eyes none the less, pointing to the commotion unfolding in front of their very eyes.

"Guess it's up to me then" she muttered as she stepped forward, fully prepared to break up this fight – well, more like ambush. A fight would suggest Scott was actually holding his own which he certainly wasn't. At this very moment in time getting the living shit kicked out of him, but Stiles just grabbed her arm and pulled her back next to him.

"No… uh… this is meant to happen" he explained nervously, his hand still hovering around her elbow, "trust me… it's in his best interest"

"How is being a human punch bag in his best interest?"

He simply held up his phone, a fitness app open on the screen, numbers flashing and slowly rising into the hundreds. His heart rate.

"He's learning control"

"By getting his ass beat?"

Stiles visibly cringed, "there's method to my madness"

Scott was cowering in a ball, hands covering his head as the group delivered countless kicks to his back and stomach. She assumed Stiles' heart was in the right place, but still! It wasn't like he had many friends to sacrifice.

She rolled her eyes but, subconsciously, in that moment, trusted Stiles' judgement that he at least had a general idea of what he was doing, standing back and watching Scott get the living crap beat out of him.

"Come on Scott" Stiles encouraged under his breath, giving his phone a nervous glance at the climbing numbers, "stay calm. Stay calm"

"I don't think this is like a massage" she muttered sarcastically, "he could wolf out and kill these guys"

"Not if he thinks of Allison" Stiles said, letting out another wince as Scott got a well-aimed kick to his chest, "she grounds him"

"An anchor" she whispered under her breath, focusing on Scott and finding herself hoping he would be able to control it. She was rooting for him. If anyone deserved control, it was Scott. He deserved every chance he could get in this fucked up world.

"Hey!" a sudden voice exclaimed next to her, "stop it right now. What do you idiots think you're doing?!"

Mr Harris was an unwelcome addition to this audience, his beady eyes narrowed and suspicious as he looked at Scott on the ground, his face bloody and bruised as he finally sat up, the four jocks running off into the distance. The creepy chemistry teacher then turned his steely stare to her and Stiles – Stiles who was grinning as he held up his phone, the numbers on the screen falling fast.

"The three of you-" Mr Harris pointed, "-after school detention. Now"

"Excuse me?" she scoffed, "this was their shit show" pointing an annoyed finger between the two best friends, "I had nothing to do with any of this"

"You're a Hale" Mr Harris grumbled, his expression pinched tight with annoyance, "you're always in the middle of something. I read your previous school's transcripts"

"So?" she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, "I was a delight to teach"

"You commandeered a teacher's car and drove it through the bike shed"

"That was a misunderstanding!"

He was unimpressed with her backchat, brushing past her to pull Scott up by the elbow of his hoody, taking a rag from his pocket and handing it to him to stop the blood from pouring from his nose, his lips thin and white as they didn't do as they were told.

"Detention. Now"

She scoffed under her breath, sending Stiles an unimpressed look who simply gulped in response, nervously pocketing his phone.

"This is all your fault"

"I accept that" he nodded in response, lifting a hand to awkwardly scratch the back of his neck, watching with careful eyes as she turned on her heel and stalked away in front of them, clearly not very happy – with what, Stiles could only assume with everything. From the incident last night to their awkward encounter at lunch to this.

Kayla kept at least ten steps ahead of them, brimming with a quiet furiousness as Mr Harris hung back behind them all, making sure they didn't run off, like he was herding sheep. She pretended to ignore their very existences behind her as she pulled her phone from her pocket, sending Allison a quick text to let her know she wasn't needing a ride as she had been given after school detention and didn't know how long it would last.

Allison's reply was quick, the one-line reading 'what did you do this time?'

'It's a long story' she texted back, choosing to be nice and keep Scott out of this, knowing Allison wouldn't be happy he got into a fight, especially given his recent behaviour. That boy was walking on thin ice as it was, she wasn't about to send a wrecking ball through their relationship.

As they walked, despite the small gap between her and Scott and Stiles, she was able to hear their conversation as clear as day – both lacking decorum. In fact, it was a miracle their talk of werewolves and hunters hadn't been heard by anyone not in the know.

"Dude, you did it" Stiles congratulated loudly, "see? Allison keeps you in control. Derek was wrong"

"She makes me stronger"

"Apparently so. Hey, maybe this whole love thing isn't overrated after all"

"So, this full moon… all I have to do is think of Allison and I won't go out and kill anyone?"

"Well, uh… let's not try to run before you can walk, heh. I'm still chaining your little werewolf ass up. Mainly because it's me you usually try and kill"

"Yeah. Sorry about that"

"Just let's not make me target practice in the future, alright?"

"I'll try" Scott chuckled, their voices fading for a few seconds before he spoke again, "um… so what are you going to do about, well…"

She could feel Scott's gaze bore into the back of her head as they walked, Stiles' soon joining his, but she just ignored them both, pretending she couldn't hear a word they were saying.

"W-What do you mean?" Stiles spluttered, feigning ignorance.

"Stiles, you have to do something" Scott insisted, "you can't just kiss someone and not talk about it"

She could feel the indecisiveness rolling off him in waves, a nervous kind of energy surrounding him and making him jumpy, clearly very far out of his comfort zone.

"I'm pretty good at ignoring my problems, actually. It's worked so far"

"Well, it's not going to work for this" Scott insisted, "dude, seriously, just ask her out. I know you want to"

Kayla listened intently; her expression twisted into deep thought. Did he want to, really? Or was she just the next best thing he could get because Lydia was unavailable? She wasn't going to be somebody's second choice.

"I-I can't" Stiles whispered, his voice a little sad and disappointed.

"Why?"

'Yeah, why Stiles?' she thought bitterly, pursing her lips in quiet anger as she walked.

"Because I like her dude, okay? I really really like her and I just don't think I could handle the rejection if she said no. That would suck. And I don't want to lose her as a friend either. So yeah, kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place"

She didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't that. In fact, she could think of a hundred other reasons Stiles could've told Scott that was nowhere near what he said. Colour her surprised. A feather could've blown at her and knocked her over she was so shocked.

She felt the bitterness that had built up inside her slowly ebb away at his hushed words, starting to feel a little bad for her behaviour. She was aggressive and mean, not realising that maybe he was confused and overwhelmed by his feelings – feelings that she didn't expect were so serious. She thought maybe he was just attracted to her for her looks, because she was pretty to look at and not much else. She put his shyness and tongue-tied behaviour around her down to his inability to talk to girls. She, wrongly, assumed he just thought she would be an easy lay like most of the people she had encountered.

Turns out, she was wrong.

He liked her.

Not because she was pretty. Not because she flirted. Not because she was confident and secure in her sexuality. No. He liked her because she was just, simply, herself.

She swallowed back the sudden onslaught of surprise she felt, tuning out of their conversation as she opened the door into the chemistry lab, Mr Harris' classroom, and took a quiet seat at one of the tables near the front, grabbing a notepad and pen from her bag that she dumped on the table next to her.

What the hell was she meant to do with this information? She supposed it was her own fault for listening in to conversations that were not meant to for her. Yeah, well, lesson learnt 'miss karma' - what a bitch. Now she was stuck knowing stuff she didn't want to know. She wished she could go back to thinking Stiles was just simply crushing on her for her looks, not that he was falling for her.

She didn't do feelings. She didn't cope well with feelings, whatsoever. When she felt things, she felt them intensely and all-consuming and, as such, they became difficult to regulate. The fact she spent nearly a year spiralling after her brother and fathers' death proved that. She almost died herself because the grief became too much, unable to manage her own thoughts, behaviours and emotions in a healthy way.

Same with Aiden. Their 'relationship' – well, if you can even call it that – was abusive and volatile, filled with so many lows and co-dependency that when things were simply okay, she took that as if she was riding a tidal high, finding herself loving him even though they were not suited for each other one bit. Then, when things were really bad, they were close to killing each other multiple times – in fact, she was surprised they didn't. They would go from hating each other to loving one another in such a toxic way, she didn't know that normal relationships weren't meant to work that way. Her formulative years experiencing the worst possible moments, cementing the idea in her head that relationships were a bad thing that was to be avoided at all costs. She didn't know it wasn't normal to have sex with someone she loathed. She didn't know it wasn't normal to argue with your partner multiple times a day. She didn't know it wasn't normal to feel fear with the person you let into your life, your heart, your bed…

Aiden was a complicated guy. Their relationship was complicated. She became a complicated person because of knowing him. They spiralled together, bringing out the worst in one another. Then, when she finally left him, she was left with the baggage of what their time together created. Not just a need for alcohol. Not just the impact of having to deal with the grief she had delayed through substances. Not just a dependence on drugs or the trauma from their fights, physical and destructive, but from the life they made-

No!

She refused to go there, shaking away those thoughts from her head. She wasn't going to think about that, too scared to feel what she knew she would if she let those emotions back in.

This is why she was the way she was. Why she shut herself off, refusing to feel anything too deeply. Because she knew, if she felt anything – good or bad – she was vulnerable. And Kayla hated being vulnerable.

She had learnt that the best way to live was by surviving – just surviving. Floating through life, avoiding the epic highs and disappointing lows. Simply just existing. She didn't know how else to function.

Unfortunately, realising Stiles' feelings were more serious than she thought came with the sudden burden of how to deal with her own. Feelings that, before today, she was able to play off. The cage around her heart starting to open.

She promised herself she wouldn't fall for anyone. Convinced herself that she could have casual relations because those were simple and uncomplicated, right? That's what she hoped she could have with Stiles. He was sweet and cute, someone she genuinely liked hanging with… a friend. Instead of falling for him, she thought she could simply flirt with him, hook up with him, keep things cool and rational.

But she knew, after today, that wasn't going to happen. Stiles would want more. He would want the whole package which was to be expected. He wasn't damaged like her… his view on the world and relationships not skewed by trauma. And, as such, this realisation had a knock-on effect on her. Knowing that he liked her as much as he did, inside her head she felt safe enough to admit she liked him too. How much? She wasn't sure. But enough that she felt something warm stir inside her chest, like something was slowly beginning to awaken inside her.

She broke away from her thoughts as Mr Harris began writing 'detention' on the board with chalk, the annoying squeal setting her teeth on edge as she sent him a disdainful glare to his back.

Scott and Stiles had too taken their seats on the table directly next to her, Stiles the closest. She didn't know if it was intentional or pure coincidence, but regardless it was now her that was starting to feel a little awkward.

How could she deal with this?

Should she nip it in the bud, turn him down? Start going out with other people? Follow through on hanging out with Brian to take her mind of things? Or should she just let things run their course and see what happens?

Stiles caught her looking, nervously meeting her gaze with shy eyes as he tapped his fingers along the desk, his foot jumping against the footrest of the stool. It looked like he was wanting to say something, his lips pursed and puckered but, as the seconds ticked by, nothing came out.

"Uh… Mr Harris?" Scott asked gingerly, making Kayla and Stiles break their stares, "I think I need more tissue"

The rag that Mr Harris had originally given him was drenched in blood, the excess blood beginning to drip to the table below.

The chemistry teacher simply nodded his head towards the door, indicating silently that Scott could leave for a few brief moments to get some more tissue, which he did, holding his head back with a hand under his nose as he left.

The classroom was silent, Mr Harris taking a seat at his desk as he began to pull out wads of homework from his briefcase, using his free time to babysit three teens and do some marking which, Kayla thought, summed up the fact he had no social life whatsoever.

She turned her head downwards, scribbling and doodling in her notebook as she ignored the growing tension – apparently, Stiles wasn't the only one good at ignoring problems.

However, to her surprise, just a few seconds later, Stiles had begun 'pssssting' at her to try and grab her attention, something she frowned at as she turned her head towards him.

"Yes Stiles?"

He swallowed nervously, casting a careful glance towards Mr Harris' desk to make sure he was preoccupied before turning back to her, a regretful glint shining in his stare.

"I… I'm sorry" he whispered, much to her astonishment, his expression genuinely regretful, "I… I did a crappy thing and I'm sorry. You deserve to hate me"

"I don't hate you Stiles" she mumbled, "so don't worry"

He breathed a visible sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow as he gave her a gentle but somewhat awkward half smile, struggling again to find his voice.

"I promise… if we ever… uh, again-" he fumbled over his words, pink spottles covering his cheeks, "-um… I won't run off"

She simply raised an eyebrow, unamused. "I'm flattered" she whispered sarcastically, making Stiles bite back a groan of annoyance at himself.

She continued with her doodling, absentmindedly tracing lines and patterns across the paper, but it seemed Stiles, as persistent as ever, wasn't done. Where this sudden confident streak had come from to talk to her again, she didn't know. He dipped his head behind his grey backpack on the table, starting to 'psssst' her again.

"Stiles" she stated with an eyeroll, "I'm not a cat. I have a name, y'know"

"Right. Sorry" he winced, "Kayla, uh… I just uh… y'know earlier, when you agreed to go out with Brian… that was just… just a spur of the moment thing right? You're not actually going to go out with him, are you?"

"I don't know"

He didn't seem to like that answer, his brows knitting together in displeasure.

"You can't really be that stupid, can you?"

"Oh, I'm the stupid one here, am I?" she snapped back, making Stiles jump slightly at her tone.

"You're not stupid. Your decisions are" he whispered, his gaze turning a little softer, "trust me, Brian is not a nice guy. Remember Lydia's party? You were totally out of it and he was still going to have sex with you regardless. You could do so much better than him"

"Hm" she muttered, not really wanting to get into this right now.

"Kayla, please…" Stiles continued, his voice wavering a little as he was bordering on begging her to reconsider, "please don't…"

To her surprise, he looked genuinely distressed by the idea of her even entertaining Brian's advances, his gaze hurt and full of worry. Worry? She wondered why he was worried… did he not think she could hold her own against someone like Brian Murdock? Because, trust her, she had handled much worse.

"... You're worth so much more than that scumbag" he continued, using her silence as a way to continue speaking, desperate to change her mind, "and I... I couldn't... I just... I..."

He was fumbling over his words, clearly not knowing what to say but the desperation had won him over, willing to do anything to make her see sense.

"I... I can't stand the idea of you... of you... with... with..."

She didn't know what to say, holding his gaze for several seconds but just as she was about to open her mouth, not really sure what she was going to say back, the classroom door opened and Scott shuffled back in, holding a fresh tissue to his nose.

Her and Stiles broke their stare, watching as Scott came to take his seat and Mr Harris shot them all a suspicious look, a deep resentment burning in his gaze. She decided to end the conversation with Stiles there, not really sure where it was going, turning back to her notepad to resume her mindless doodling.

Well... what she had thought was mindless doodling. Instead of indistinguishable scribbles, there was just one word being repeated over and over again, stretching across both open pages.

ALPHA.

The pen loosened from her grip, tipping sideways and slowly rolling across the table before falling to the floor, grabbing the attention of Scott and Stiles who peered across at her curiously.

She didn't turn to face them, looking down at the pages with wide eyes, her heart thumping erratically against her ribcage. A desperate panic surging through her veins as she realised, with sickening clarity, the Alpha must've done something to her. Form a connection with her, get in her head – something. And that something wasn't good.

That realisation was followed by a sharp pain across her hairline, right where her cut was from the accident. A stinging, burning twinge causing her hand to quickly fly to her head, letting out a loud wince as she screwed her eyes shut, expecting to see darkness but instead was consumed by fire.

The flames were bright and all consuming, licking across her skin as the heat began to seep and melt her from the inside out, terrified screams and shouts fading in the distance. Feelings of intense pain, and rage, coursed through her veins – feelings that she knew didn't belong to her. Whosever they belonged to were dark and hateful, a kind of darkness that she hadn't felt in a long time. Murderous intent clawing its way through her very soul.

The Alpha was vengeful.

She broke free from the break from reality with a strangled gasp, beads of sweat seizing her skin as she looked around in panic, her skin still tingling from the crackling flames.

Scott and Stiles were looking at her in concern, both boys on the edge of their seats as Mr Harris peered over the tops of his glasses, his face tight with annoyance.

"I have to go" she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper as she grabbed her bag and started to hastily shove her notebooks back in, "I-I need to leave"

She stood, the stool scraping loudly across the floor as she threw her bag over her shoulder and started to make a beeline towards the door, but Mr Harris stood quickly, pointing an angry finger at her.

"Miss Hale, sit back down"

She ignored him, suddenly feeling too claustrophobic in that room, her chest tight as she escaped the classroom, Mr Harris' annoyed shouts following her but she didn't care, her feet hurrying into a run to push the double doors open at the end of the corridor and escape into the fresh air.

What the hell was happening to her?

Something happened in that accident… something she didn't remember. What happened during those seconds, or minutes, the Alpha was on top of her? What did he do to her when she was passed out unconscious?

She tried to catch her breath, placing her shaky hands on her knees as she took her time to regulate her breathing, not wanting the panic to take her over completely. She wasn't a panic type of person. So used to being levelheaded and borderline dissociated.

Once her breathing had evened out, she stood up, gazing across the empty grounds of the school. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew one person that might. One person that could help her figure this out.

She grabbed her busted up phone from the back pocket of her shorts, with shaky fingers quickly opening up Derek's contact details and pressing 'call'.

"Derek?" she asked as soon as he answered the call, "I… I need your help. We have a problem"

"No"

"Kayla-"

"No" she stated with a stubborn shake of her head, "I'm not going in there"

Here they sat in Derek's Camaro outside Beacon Hill hospital's long term care facility, Derek having picked her up from school as she told him everything that had just happened – her weird connection with the Alpha.

"He could help"

"How?" she exclaimed, "he's basically comatose"

"He's getting better" Derek insisted, "it's slow, but there's an improvement. He knows a lot more than I do"

"He's not going to get better Derek" she exclaimed, "Uncle Peter is fucked. He's fucked. He got burned so bad he can't even wipe his own ass. How could he possibly help us?"

Derek blew out a small puff of air, his gaze unwavering from hers.

"You said you saw fire, right? Well, what if this Alpha… what if it's one of us?"

"What?" she asked, not following his train of thought, "one of us?"

"A Hale"

"Unlikely" she scoffed, "we got wiped out. No one could've escaped that fire"

"Peter did" Derek insisted, "and-"

He cut himself off, like he realised he almost let slip something he wasn't supposed to say, raising her suspicions even more.

"And…?"

"And nothing" he shut her down sternly, putting that armour back on, "Peter did. Maybe someone else did too"

"So, you think the Alpha is a Hale?"

"I don't know" Derek sighed, "I hope not but… you said you had a sense of familiarity with him, right?

"Right"

"Who's more familiar than family?"

"Okay but, rational thought here, werewolves die or get hurt by fire a lot. The hunters use fire a lot. We're not the only family that had a 'tragic electrical fire'"

Derek didn't reply, turning his steely gaze to the hospital facility.

"Peter could still help. We need to try"

"I hate hospitals" she repeated with a grumble, but somewhat accepting of Derek's logic.

"I know"

She sighed but got out of the car, ignoring the uncomfortable shiver that she got down her spine as she followed Derek into the building, slipping past the empty front desk.

"Uh… you not signing in?" she asked, pointing to the logbook that rested on the desk. Derek didn't reply, heading down the long corridor which forced her to speed up to catch up with him, rolling her eyes.

Unlike her, Derek knew where he was going, his long strides leading to a room on the left near the end of the corridor. She was hesitant, hovering for a few seconds over the threshold as she saw her uncle sat in a wheelchair, back to the door, slightly slumped to the side.

This would be the first time she had seen him in over six years… never finding the confidence to visit. Scared to, as it was a reminder to all she had lost.

Derek sat on the edge of the bed and then turned to face her, beckoning her forward by patting the space on the bed next to him. She swallowed back her nerves, ignoring the voice inside her head telling her to get the hell out of here, putting it down to her hatred of hospitals, and slowly stepped past the door.

The room was bare and empty, clinical and lacking any personality. No flowers, no cards, no pictures. As if Peter had been completely forgotten about.

A rush of sadness hit her like a ton of bricks, regret bubbling up inside her as she took a careful seat next to Derek. She couldn't imagine what Peter was going through… trapped in his own mind and body, having lost most of his family. It must be torture. It must be so frigging lonely…

Maybe she should've visited before.

Derek slowly reached out, grabbing the arm of the wheelchair and spinning it around, the sudden sight of her Uncle Peter's wide, lifeless eyes making her jump a little. One side of his face disfigured and scarred; his skin having melted from his body.

"I need your help" Derek said quietly, "we need your help"

Kayla didn't know how much help someone in Peter's position could be, especially seeing the state of him with her own two eyes, but she let Derek continue to ask his questions, covering all his bases.

As Derek spoke, Kayla just stayed quiet and watched her uncle Peter for any signs of awareness or realisation, expecting to see him twitch or blink but there was nothing. As if his charred body was just an empty vessel. She didn't see him in there at all, his very essence and personality burned from him.

When she was little, she saw him most summers. He was always a little strange and eccentric, but she liked that. She had gravitated towards him, finding something familiar and accepting within him. For whatever reason, her parents didn't like that. Keeping him at arm's length and never really letting her spend time alone with him. She had always asked why her daddy and her uncle Peter never saw eye to eye, but she never got a response, her dad just telling her it was complicated and nothing for her to worry her pretty little head about.

She got that same feeling now. The very same feeling she had when she was little. That pull to him, like something inside her felt at home and accepted with him.

Before she could look too much into it, they got interrupted by a redhead nurse, her expression disapproving and annoyed as she caught them, just as Derek had started shouting in frustration.

"Let him go" she chastised, storming into the room as Derek had grabbed Peter's arms, "you think after six years of this, yelling at him is going to get a response?"

"Worth a shot" Kayla shrugged, not liking this nurse's tone, "might be more useful that what you've all done for six years"

The redhead sent her a glare, "it doesn't work like that"

"Well, do you have a better method?" Derek ground out through gritted teeth.

"Yes. Patience. He'll respond if you give him time"

"We don't have time" Kayla said, "we need him to speak. Now"

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen" the nurse said, "and, in the best interest of my patient, I'm going to have to tell you to leave"

Derek sent her a look of frustration but nodded, standing up and waiting for her to do the same.

"We're family" Kayla insisted, not backing down, "you can't kick us out"

"Family?" the nurse asked, her tone sharp and snippy, "I've worked here since before he came to our facility. He never gets any visitors. That doesn't sound like family to me"

Kayla was ready to throw fists, her anger rising from a solid 3 to a high 10 as she went to snap something back, but Derek placed a hand on her shoulder, a silent warning to stay quiet.

"Fine" she mumbled, "we'll leave"

She stood up, turning to face her Uncle Peter one last time. His expression hadn't changed, nor did the look in his eyes – still empty and vague. However, when she looked at him, she felt a stronger kind of pull to him, like visiting him had awoken something that had long been buried.

A/N) I am on a rolllllllll… haha. I like these varied chapters, and I like having more friendship building, it's fun. I hope you all liked, and are still loving Kayla and Stiles and the wee twists going on.I'm loving rewriting it for you all. Thanks for your continued support and I would really appreciate it if you could leave your thoughts, it makes my day – thank you and see you soon