𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐈 ✶ Teen Wolf Rewrite
Stiles Stilinksi/Original Female Character
TW | S2
chapter two
summary; as if the last month and a half hadn't been stressful enough — now there were a few more werewolves, a kanima, and a seriously disturbed old man added into the mix. but amber, stiles, and scott could totally handle this. it would be fine. everything was great.
word count; 7,965
chapter notes; pack recruitment doesn’t go quite as smoothly as derek had hoped. the whole gang tries to help when isaac finds himself in a tight spot on the night of his first full moon.
masterlist
c h a p t e r t w o
shape shifted
"Are you sure you guys have to lock me up? I mean, I feel like things are gonna be a lot easier tonight." Scott repeated optimistically for the third time.
Stiles rolled his eyes as the two of them headed down the hallway toward the locker room to get ready for their morning practice, tugging the strap of his backpack more firmly over his shoulder.
"Yeah.. I, uh- I'd love to believe you, Scott. But-"
"I'm serious." Scott insisted, "It's not like the last full moon. I don't feel the same."
"Oh? No wolfy urges?" Stiles started, "You're not feeling any urges to kiss your unbelievably attractive and now, might I remind you, ridiculously unavailable best friends?" He asked pointedly, wincing at the mere thought of the way Scott had made a move on Amber the month before. Flashes of pink lipgloss smeared over Scott’s lips, Amber’s wide hazel eyes and bruised knuckles, the angry words that had been shouted back and forth between Scott and himself, all still fresh in his mind.
"Are you describing Amber or yourself?" Scott asked with a grin, amused with his own joke.
"I'm not going to respond to that. Because it wasn't funny." Stiles stated before continuing, "How about the urge to maim and kill people? Like us? Your best friends?"
"I swear I don't have the urge to kiss and/or kill either of you." Scott promised as they walked through the door into the locker room.
"Y'know, you say that now-" Stiles disagreed quietly, "But then the full moon goes up and out come the fangs and the claws and there's a lot of howling and screaming and running everywhere, okay?" He rambled off quickly, gesturing emphatically with his hands as they approached his locker, "And it's very stressful on me. So, yes. We're still going to be locking you up."
"Okay, fine," Scott conceded, leaning against the end of the lockers, "But I do think I'm more in control now. Especially since things are so good with Allison-"
Stiles' face pinched up in annoyance, "Yeah, I'm aware of how good things are with Allison."
"They're really good." Scott repeated suggestively.
"I- Thank you. I know." Stiles muttered.
Scott grinned and raised his eyebrows in insinuation, "I mean like.. Really good.."
"Alright! I get it!" Stiles snapped, "Just, please. Shut the hell up before I get the urge to maim and kill myself."
Scott looked at his best friend in amusement, "Why're you so bitter, anyway? I texted Amber last night. So I know you were planning on sleeping at her place. Alone.." He hinted, "I mean, didn't you guys-"
"No, we didn't." Stiles told him, readjusting his backpack over his shoulder again agitatedly, "I- Which is fine. I've been in love with this girl for nine years. Waiting a little bit longer isn't gonna kill me, I just. It doesn't mean I don't want to. Really bad."
He sighed as his mind unhelpfully supplied him with the same image he'd thought back to a million times in the last 12 hours — Amber, in nothing but the thin lace of her underwear, shivering, smooth skin pebbled with goosebumps, the muscles in her stomach clenched from the cold-
"-Like, all I think about doing every second of every day, bad." He rambled on, huffing angrily when his eyes caught on Scott's smug face again, "And it would just be a whole lot easier if I weren't listening to you brag about your incredible sex life, alright?"
"Okay, okay." Scott raised his hands in surrender and changed the topic, "Do you guys at least have a better plan than handcuffing me in my bedroom this time?"
Stiles nodded and moved to pull his locker open, "Yeah, much better-"
As the door to his lacrosse locker swung open, the sturdy metal chains that he'd stuffed in there haphazardly in preparation for the full moon slipped from the top shelf. They slowly and forcefully slid out to the tile floor of the locker room, clinking loudly as the long link of chains began to coil in a pile at their feet. Stiles made a few aborted motions to catch the mess but they were made in vain, the chains slipping through his hands as they fell until he simply dropped his arms to his sides with a wince.
Coach Finstock stepped up beside him and smacked his gum loudly in Stiles' ear, peering over his shoulder as the chains slowly fell and gathered in a heap. Stiles risked a glance back at the man and then around the locker room, shrinking back awkwardly under the judgemental gazes of the guys around them as the chains continued to fall, seconds stretching painfully slowly to prolong the embarrassment.
When the long chain finally finished piling up on the floor, the changing room was thrust into a stunned silence.
"Part of me wants to ask," Coach Finstock told him, eyes glued to the large pile of chains on the floor at his feet, "But the other part says that knowing will be more disturbing than anything I could ever imagine." He confessed, taking a few steps and backing up slowly, "So, I'm gonna walk away."
"That's good," Stiles choked out, a pink flush on his cheeks, "That's a wise choice, Coach."
He quickly knelt down onto the ground to attempt to collect the mess so that he could stuff it back into his locker and Scott squatted down beside him.
Stiles' hands fumbled with the chains for a moment, his gaze drifting up toward his friend and pausing when he noticed Scott looking around the room distractedly. His friend's eyes raked over their teammates in a slow trail as he searched for something.
"You okay?" Stiles questioned after a few moments, watching his friend continue his survey of the room, "Scott?"
Scott's attention finally snapped over to Stiles with a frown, "There's another," He said vaguely, "In here. Right now."
Stiles blinked in confusion, "Another what?"
"Another werewolf."
Even though they'd skipped both first and second period to get coffee in an attempt to settle some of Lydia's nerves, the redhead still hesitated nervously outside the school building, both Amber and Allison watching her apprehensively out of the corners of their eyes.
"You okay, Lyds?" Amber asked softly, "If you don't wanna do this today, I'll take you home right now. I can just borrow Stiles' Chemistry notes and I'll go to classes after lunch-"
"I'm fine. I can do this." Lydia assured her, "I am not some emotionally scarred little girl who got lost on a hike, okay? I’m better than that. And I don't even remember it, so."
"You seriously don't remember anything?" Allison asked from the redhead's other side.
Lydia looked between her two friends with a sigh before delving back into the explanation she'd already given Amber that morning when she'd first picked her up and asked about her visit to the hospital the night before.
"They called it a 'Fugue State'. Which is basically their way of saying 'we have no idea why you can't remember running around the woods naked for two days.'" Lydia shrugged, "But personally, I don't care. I lost nine pounds."
Amber's hand went to Lydia's shoulder protectively, "Oh, cut it out, will you? You're gorgeous. Always."
Lydia rolled her eyes but didn't deem the compliment worthy of a response, hesitation seemingly gone as she reached out to wrap a hand around the door handle.
"Are you ready for this?" Allison checked again.
"Please," Lydia scoffed, "It's not like my aunt's a serial killer."
Without waiting for a response, Lydia pulled the door open and stepped into the building. Amber shot Allison a small grimace of sympathy and the other girl smiled weakly in response as they followed Lydia inside.
The hallways were crowded at the tail end of the fifteen minute morning break and it seemed as if every one of the students froze in their movements, all of the eyes in the busy hallway suddenly drawn to the reappearance of the girl they'd all been gossiping about since Winter Formal.
The heavy weight of the stares of their classmates had Lydia faltering in her steps once again and Amber stepped up beside her, hand settling on her friend’s back reassuringly.
"Maybe it's the nine pounds." Allison suggested slyly from Lydia's other side.
The comment seemed to jolt Lydia back into action and she tilted her head thoughtfully before stepping away from Amber's outstretched hand and strutting confidently down the hallway toward her locker. Amber scrambled to follow behind her, tugging her backpack straps tighter over her shoulders as she regained her footing and matched her friend's steps.
"Hey, I'm gonna head to Chem, but I'll talk to you later, okay?" Amber checked in quickly, watching as Lydia waved her hand dismissively and hummed, "Text me if you need anything, Lyds. I mean it."
"Honestly. You're worse than my mother, Amber." Lydia commented, flipping her hair over her shoulder as the three split apart at the intersection of the hallways, "If I suddenly have some life threatening emergency, you'll be my first call!" The redhead promised over her shoulder, waving her arm above her head without turning around and disappearing down the hall.
When she could no longer see her head of strawberry blonde hair amidst the throng of students, Amber finally turned only to flinch embarrassingly in surprise when she spun directly into Allison.
"Sorry!" Allison apologized quickly, "I thought you knew I was right behind you."
Amber's heart rate slowed after the sudden spike and she shook her head with an uneasy laugh, "It's fine, no worries."
They looked at one another in uncomfortable silence for a few seconds before Amber took a small step to go, Allison's hand snapping out quickly to wrap around her wrist in a gentle grip.
"Wait!" Allison pleaded, "I just- I wanted to talk to you for a minute. Y'know, without Lydia."
"Oh. Yeah, sure," Amber agreed easily, assuming the other girl wanted to talk to her about their red headed friend, "What's up?"
Allison released her wrist to rub her hand along her own arm uncomfortably, "I just- I know there's no real way to apologize for everything that happened.." She started slowly, "But, I still wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. Like, so unbelievably, ridiculously, and absurdly sorry. For everything."
Amber sighed, pulling at her backpack straps awkwardly, "Thanks, Allison." She said honestly, "I- That- It means a lot."
Allison's stiff posture slumped in what looked like relief, "Does that mean I'm kinda, sorta, a little bit forgiven?" She questioned hopefully with a dazzling smile.
"Kinda, sorta." Amber laughed quietly despite herself, holding up her hand to pinch her thumb and forefinger together and showing her the small gap of space between them, "A little."
Allison's smile widened, "I'll take it!" She laughed excitedly, bouncing on her toes and throwing her arms around the other girl in a hug. Amber laughed and hugged her back for a moment before Allison stepped back with a wide smile. "I'll let you get to class, now." Allison told her, smiling and giving her a wave before darting down the hallway toward her locker.
With an amused shake of her head, Amber turned back to head to the west stairwell and made her way toward Mr. Harris' room on the second floor.
The Chemistry classroom was nearly empty, so she settled in at one of the slightly larger tables near the back of the room and took the center stool out of the three that were squeezed in at the table, dropping her backpack to the ground at her feet. She hummed a tune under her breath and began to bounce her leg absentmindedly, her foot propped up on the lower rung of her seat as she waited for her best friends to join her.
When Scott and Stiles walked through the doorway together, they both seemed to stumble over their own feet at the mere sight of her and they picked up their pace as they rushed toward the table she'd claimed at the back of the room.
"Dude! Where have you been?" Scott asked immediately, settling into the stool on her left.
Her eyebrows furrowed at the tinge of anxiety in her friend's voice and she turned her head toward Stiles when he came around the table on her other side. He hugged her head to his chest in greeting and she reached a hand up to pat his back, nuzzling her nose into his shirt for only a second before she turned her head to speak.
"Allison and I took Lydia out for coffee before we came in-" She explained slowly, cheek still pressed against the soft material of Stiles' shirt. As he released her and sat down, she looked between the two boys on either side of her curiously, "Why, what's going on? Did something-"
"There's another werewolf." Scott told her in a harsh whisper.
"Isaac Lahey." Stiles cut in quickly.
Amber's foot slipped from the rung on her stool and she managed to catch herself with her hands, slapping them down on the tabletop loudly as he continued.
"And it gets better. He was pulled out of practice this morning and is gonna be taken in for questioning because, drumroll please-" Stiles tapped his fingertips on the surface of the table dramatically, "His dad's dead. They're thinking it might be murder and if Isaac's a suspect, we're all seriously screwed because somehow, I doubt the cells at the station are up to code for holding the supernatural."
Her eyes were wide. Derek had assured her everything would be fine. This was decidedly not fine.
"His dad's dead?" She squeaked.
"That's the part that got you?" Stiles asked in disbelief, "Not the sudden appearance of another teenage werewolf?"
"Wh- I.." She stuttered with a wince, pulling her pencil from the spiral of her notebook, desperate to have something between her fingers to fidget with, "I mean, it's just-"
"You knew didn't you?" Stiles interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.
"You knew Derek turned someone?" Scott whispered frantically.
She made a face, tapping her pencil eraser in a fast rhythm against the tabletop, "Technically, I knew he was planning to turn someone-"
"What!" Scott said a touch too loudly, looking around them sheepishly before training a harsh glare on Amber.
Stiles reached out to wrap his fingers around hers, pinning her fidgeting hand down against the table, "Amber. What the hell?" He said seriously.
"I'm sorry!" She apologized in distress, looking over at Stiles with wide eyes, "Derek promised everything would be fine because he was sure that Isaac-"
"If you three are finished, I'm going to start class now." Mr. Harris' voice cut out sharply.
Their attention snapped to the front of the classroom where their teacher was standing at the blackboard, a loathing look of annoyance on his face as he scowled at the three teens through his glasses.
Amber blinked in surprise and looked around the now full classroom. She hadn't even noticed the final bell ring.
"Sorry, sir." She apologized quietly as she felt Stiles' fingers retreat from where they'd been wrapped around her hand.
Mr. Harris glared for another few seconds in silence before he turned to the blackboard, grabbing a piece of chalk and beginning to write, the loud clacking filling the room every time the chalk tapped back down against the board.
"Why would Derek choose Isaac?" Scott asked in a hushed whisper, turning back to look down the table at his friends.
Amber bit down on her lower lip, eyebrows drawing together, hesitant to tell her best friends about herself being Derek's first choice, but equally reluctant to broadcast Isaac's abusive home situation.
Stiles watched her hesitation and he sighed quietly, leaning forward on the table to peer around her toward Scott as he spoke softly, "Peter told me that if the bite doesn't turn you, it could kill you," He said quietly, "Maybe teenagers have a better chance of surviving."
Amber reached out under the table to squeeze his knee in silent thanks for covering for her and he gave her a small, tight smile in response.
"Well, he is a teenager. So, your dad can't hold him, right?" She asked Stiles quietly, smoothing her thumb along the outside of his knee.
He frowned in thought for only a fraction of a second, "Well, not unless they have solid evidence," He whispered in response, "Or a witness.. Wait-" His eyes narrowed and he whipped around, scanning the classroom for a moment before turning to the table beside them, "Danny." He hissed at the boy sitting a few feet away, "Where's Jackson."
Amber's eyes locked on the empty stool beside Danny that was usually occupied by the boy in question, her eyebrows furrowing.
"In the principal's office," Danny told Stiles, the look of confusion on his face revealing that he was surprised the three of them didn't already know, "Talking to your dad."
"What?" Amber whispered frantically at Danny.
"Why?" Stiles asked immediately after.
Danny shrugged, "Maybe because he lives across the street from Isaac."
Stiles turned slowly on his stool, looking at Amber and Scott, jaw agape.
"Witness." Scott supplied quietly.
"Shit, fuck." Amber hissed under her breath, her hand abandoning Stiles' knee so that she could tangle her fingers agitatedly in her hair, elbows on the table in front of her.
"We gotta get to the principal's office." Stiles said quietly.
Amber looked up again with a frown, "How?" She and Scott questioned at the same time.
"Everyone please turn to page seventy-three." Mr. Harris announced as he finished up writing his notes on the board.
Stiles was quick to reach out for Amber's notebook and rip out a blank page, tongue pinched between his lips in concentration as he rolled it into a tight ball. She frowned at the messily torn paper in the notebook in front of her and was about to question him when her eyes were drawn to the small white bundle soaring through the air toward the front of the room. She watched with wide fearful eyes as the ball of paper bounced against the back of their teacher's head with a quiet smack before dropping softly to the ground.
Mr. Harris turned around sharply, furious eyes raking over the students behind him, "Who in the hell did that?" He asked angrily.
A few student's laughed and Amber balked, heart pounding with nerves in her chest. Her accusing finger came up to sell out Stiles in a flash, hyper-aware of the haphazardly torn notebook page sitting in front of her. Stiles pointed his own index finger over her head toward Scott, and the third boy gestured vaguely to his right in the direction of both of his friends.
Mr. Harris took an enraged breath, his jaw clenching as he gestured toward the classroom door, "Principal's office. All three of you. Now."
Amber swallowed nervously and nodded, attempting to quickly collect her books into a pile in her arms with fumbling hands and tripping over her stool as she stood to leave. Stiles reached out to steady her with a hand on her waist as she stumbled and the three of them rushed out of the classroom hurriedly.
When they stepped into the hallway, Amber reached up with her free hand to smack Stiles in the chest.
"Are you out of your mind?" She hissed as they fast walked toward the office.
"Sorry." He apologized weakly, tightening his hand around her waist and squeezing her hip in a way that brought infuriating tingles to her stomach, "Desperate times and all that."
Her face scrunched up and she huffed a sigh, knowing that he was right and they'd needed some way to know what Jackson was telling his dad. But it didn't mean she had to like it.
When they got to the hallway just outside of the principal's office, the boys quickly settled into the two chairs outside of the open door, all three of the teens dropping their books to the ground beneath them.
The secretary narrowed her eyes disapprovingly at the trio as they settled in, clearly having already gotten a call from Mr. Harris while they'd made their way to the office. Amber gave the woman a sheepish smile as she sat back against the armrests between the two seats, tilting her head as the three of them listened in on the voices coming from the office behind them.
"Listen to me," Sheriff Stilinski's voice said from the other side of the wall, "You're telling me you knew Isaac's father was hitting him?"
"Hitting him?" Jackson scoffed, "He was kicking the crap out of him."
Amber frowned at his words, finding herself angry on Isaac Lahey's behalf despite barely knowing him. As if he could sense the moral need for justice flaring up inside of her, Stiles reached up to rest a hand on her thigh where she was propped on the arm of the chair.
"Did- did you ever say anything to anyone?" The Sheriff asked, "A uh, a teacher? Parents? Anyone?"
"Nope." Jackson said easily, "It's not my problem."
"No, no. Of course not." The Sheriff agreed quietly, "Y'know. It's funny. That the kids getting beaten up are never the ones that deserve it."
"Yeah." Jackson agreed immediately, "Wait, what?"
Amber snorted a laugh.
"I think we're done here." Sheriff Stilinski announced.
The sound of footsteps approaching against the tile floor alerted them as the Sheriff and a deputy moved to exit the office and Amber was yanked roughly from her perch between the two chairs. She yelped quietly in surprise as Stiles hauled her down onto his lap and wrenched a magazine open in front of her face. Her hands reflexively came up to hold the edges of the glossy booklet and she raised it up to cover their faces just as his father stepped out into the hallway.
"Hi, Scott." Mr. Stilinski greeted slowly, his eyes flicking over to the seat beside the boy with an unimpressed look, "Amber." He added pointedly.
She peered around the side of the magazine, resolutely keeping it held up in front of Stiles over her shoulder, "Good morning, Mr. Stilinski." She greeted with a nervous smile, keeping her body determinedly still as she acted as a wall between Stiles and his father.
The man continued to look at her in disbelief for a few seconds before shaking his head and disappearing down the hallway without another word.
"Dude. You know he definitely saw you, right?" Scott asked Stiles quietly after a moment.
"Boys. Young lady." A voice addressed them from the door of the office, causing Amber to flinch from her perch on Stiles' lap as they all looked up at the old man who was decidedly not thirty year old Principal Thomas whom they'd been expecting, "Come on in." The old man summoned.
Amber scrambled to her feet and the boys followed suit, the three of them looking between one another in confusion as they followed behind the man and stepped into the principal's office.
There were three chairs waiting for them in the small room and Amber settled into the center seat with a nervous breath, looking around the office and frowning at the absence of their usual principal's things.
The older man settled into the seat behind the desk and picked up a small folder, peering inside for a moment before his gaze rose to examine Scott.
"Scott McCall," He drawled in a slow rasp, "Academically not the most accomplished.. But I see you have become quite the star athlete." He said, soundly mildly impressed.
Amber peeked over at her friend and watched Scott nod just before the old man picked up a new folder and spoke again, addressing her this time.
"Amber Callisto," He read off the top of the page, eyes lifting up to look at her with an indiscernible expression, "A 4.0 GPA and first line on the girl's soccer team." He commended in approval.
She nodded nervously at his assessment, picking anxiously at her thumbnail in her lap. She slumped in relief when he dropped her folder atop Scott's and moved on to another. She watched the old man squint at the page silently for a few seconds, undoubtedly trying to figure out how to pronounce the name at the top of the page.
"Mieczysław." She supplied quietly after a moment, unaware of the way Stiles' eyes snapped over to her in awe at the easy way the pronunciation slipped past her lips.
The old man behind the principal's desk looked between the girl and the folder in his hands for only a second before he turned his attention toward Stiles.
"Mr. Stilinski," The man addressed him finally, eyes dropping to look down the page, "Oh. Perfect grades," He assessed with an impressed eyebrow raise, "But little to no extracurriculars.. Maybe you should try lacrosse."
Stiles leaned forward in his chair, "Oh, um. Actually, I'm alr-"
"Hold on-" The older man interrupted, turning his attention back toward Scott, "McCall.. You're the Scott that was dating my granddaughter."
"Granddaughter?" Amber repeated quietly, sitting up straighter in her seat as she looked between her two best friends in surprise.
"We were dating," Scott told Allison's grandfather quickly, "But not anymore. Not dating. Not seeing any of each other, or doing anything with each other.. At all." He rambled nervously.
"Relax, Scott. You look like you're about to crack a cyanide pill with your teeth." The older Argent observed amusedly.
Scott took a nervous breath, "Just, a hard breakup."
"Oh, that's too bad. You seem like a pretty nice kid to me." The old man commented, pausing for a moment before turning his head to look between the three teens, "Now, listen guys. Yes, I am the principal. But I don't really want you to think of me as the enemy."
"Heh," Stiles huffed sarcastically, "Is that so?"
Amber reached across the small gap between them to smack his arm anxiously, glaring at his lack of verbal self-control.
The old man raised his eyebrows before continuing on as if nothing had happened, "However, this being my first day, I do need to support my teachers, so.. Unfortunately, someone will have to take the fall and stay behind today for detention." Principal Argent looked between them slowly, pursing his lips as he waited for someone to speak up.
Amber turned her head between her two friends slowly. Scott was giving her a look in silent objection to doing it himself, which she supposed made sense since he was the werewolf of the three of them and thus slightly better equipped to deal with the Isaac situation. Her gaze drifted to her other side and she watched Stiles distractedly picking at a hangnail on his thumb and making no move to speak up himself.
His attention snapped up, however, when she finally sighed and turned to face the principal in slow reluctance.
"I-" She started.
"It was me." Stiles announced quickly, "Yeah, I'll stay for detention."
At the end of the school day, Amber ran down the hall when she saw Scott take off down the stairs.
"No, no," She muttered to herself, pushing past a few students with mumbled apologies as she ran after her best friend, "Scott, wait up!" She yelled with the hope he'd be paying enough attention to hear her.
She stumbled down the staircase near the school's side entrance, nearly losing her footing a couple of times. When she got to the end of the hallway, she pushed through the metal doors and toppled outside, running straight into Scott's back and catching herself with her hands on his shoulders.
She spotted the Sheriff's cruiser finally pulling away from the school, Isaac Lahey looking out the back window at them worriedly.
"Oh, shit." She muttered, "I guess they think he might've done it?" She questioned, not really expecting an answer.
Scott looked down at her with wide eyes and she grimaced, unsure what to do next.
There was a sudden squeal of tires against the pavement as a familiar black Camaro skidded to a stop in front of the building.
Derek leaned toward the open passenger window and called out to them, "Get in. Both of you."
"Funny. I could've sworn you didn't need my help." Amber reminded him snarkily.
"This is your fault!" Scott snapped at Derek from beside her, pointing at the police cruiser that was pulling out onto the main road, "You did that."
"I know." Derek said generically to the both of them, "Now get in the car and help me."
"No, I've got a better idea," Scott said as the two of them walked closer to the idling car, "I'm gonna call a lawyer, because a lawyer might actually have a chance of getting him out before the full moon."
Amber raised her eyebrows at the decent suggestion from her best friend, lifting a thumb to point at Scott while sending Derek a nod of agreement.
Derek shook his head, "Not once they do real search of the house."
"What d'you mean?" Amber questioned.
He sighed, "Whatever Jackson said to the cops, what's in the house is worse. A lot worse."
Her stomach turned uncomfortably, mind racing as Derek threw the passenger door open and looked at them expectantly. She met Scott's gaze and he sighed with a frown, dropping a hand between her shoulder blades to guide her into the backseat of the car.
It didn't take long for nightfall to set in beneath the early winter sunset once they pulled up to the Lahey house. Under the cover of the darkness, they crept into the house, their path dimly lit by the flashlight Derek had handed off to Scott.
"I thought Isaac was supposed to be a safe bet?" Amber asked Derek quietly as they moved through the dark front hallway, "What happened to that, huh? He's a werewolf for less than a day and he kills his dad?"
"Isaac didn't kill him. He told me he didn't." Derek said assuredly.
"Well if he didn't, then who did?" Scott asked, turning back toward them in the dark as he walked.
Derek frowned, eyebrows furrowing in frustration, "I don't know yet."
"Well then how d'you know he's telling the truth?" Scott questioned disbelievingly.
"Because I trust my senses," Derek said easily, "It's a combination of them, not just your.. Sense of smell." He emphasized with a knowing look.
"Huh?" Amber asked in confusion, looking between Derek's raised eyebrows and Scott's ashamed grimace, "What did you do? What'd I miss?"
"You.. Saw the lacrosse thing today." Scott realized quietly, focused on Derek.
"What lacrosse thing?"
"Yeah." Derek told Scott, unimpressed.
"Did it look that bad?" Scott questioned.
"Yeah." Derek repeated.
"Wh- What lacrosse thing?" Amber asked again desperately.
Scott winced, "Stiles got me in goal, so I could sniff some of the guys on the team, so that I could-" He caught her incredulous look and continued dejectedly, "So I could figure out who the new werewolf was. By scent."
"Dear God, Scott." She breathed, patting his shoulder.
"I was surprised you didn't tell them about Isaac." Derek commented to the girl as they approached a closed door off of the kitchen and slowed to a stop.
"Yeah, well. I trusted that you knew what you were doing," She scowled at him in the dark, "Evidently that was a mistake." She said pointedly.
Derek shook his head, resting on hand on her shoulder as he pulled open the door in front of them, revealing a dark stairwell that led down into the basement. He turned his attention toward Scott, grabbing the flashlight and nodding toward the open doorway.
"You wanna learn?" Derek prompted, "Let's start now."
"What's down there?" Amber asked nervously, following behind Scott as he began to descend the stairs.
"Motive." Derek said simply.
"And what am I looking for?" Scott asked as he got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around.
"Follow your senses." Derek told him.
Amber examined the dark cellar with slow steps, squinting at the mess of old furniture and stored junk. She fought the urge to run her finger through the dust on the worktop along the wall, turning in a slow spin as she looked around. Her eyes caught on a large chest freezer that was unplugged from the wall and she frowned at it in confusion.
"What happened down here?" Scott asked.
"The kind of thing that leaves an impression." Derek answered ominously.
Amber felt the warmth of Scott's body when he came to stand beside her in the cool basement. He too frowned as he looked down at the freezer in front of them. Her hand trailed over the top of it, fingers toying gently at the open padlock secured to the front. Scott pulled the lock into his own hand and he let out a shaky breath as his fingers came into contact with the metal.
Just as she was about to question his reaction, Derek shined the flashlight in their direction and spoke up from behind them.
"Open it."
Scott unhooked the padlock from the staple and flipped the hatch before slowly lifting the lid to the freezer. Derek helpfully shined the flashlight around the inside of the chest and Amber gasped, her stomach twisting sickeningly as her eyes took in the sight in front of them.
The inside of the freezer was covered in small, shallow, very human, claw marks. Someone had raked their fingernails along the walls and the top of the freezer in deep scratches. There was red caked into some of the gouges where fingertips had bled as they'd scratched painfully against the hard plastic.
"God." Amber whispered, reaching out to touch one of the marks gently, her fingertip running over the indents on the inside of the lid. She turned to Derek with a horrified look, "Isaac's dad locked him in here?"
Derek nodded, "Among other things."
"This is why he said yes to you." Scott stated, turning to look at Derek.
"Everyone wants power." Derek told him.
"If- If we help you, then you have to stop," Scott demanded, "You can't just go around turning people into werewolves."
Derek looked at him incredulously, "I can if they're willing."
"Did you tell Isaac about the Argents? About being hunted?" Scott questioned.
"Yes," Derek replied, "And he still asked."
"Then he's an idiot!" Scott snapped.
"And you're the idiot dating Argent's daughter." Derek raised his eyebrows when Scott looked at him in surprise, "Yeah. I know your little secret. And if I know, how long do you think it's gonna take for them to find out?" He asked, "You saw what happens to an Omega."
"Wait, what Omega?" Amber interjected, "There was an Omega? What happened to them?"
"The Argents cut him in half." Derek explained quickly. He moved to speak again and Amber gaped, looking between the two werewolves.
"What!" She squeaked, "Th- They.. When- Who-"
"The Omega was the one stealing and eating the organs. At the graveyard, the ambulance-"
"We- We desperately need to work on your information redistribution skills." Amber told Scott in disbelief.
"Enough." Derek interrupted before focusing on Scott, "With me, you learn how to use all your senses. With me, you learn control." He stepped closer to them and grabbed Scott's hand, lifting it as the boy's claws emerged with his budding anger, "Even on a full moon."
Scott pulled his hand from Derek's grip, "If I'm with you, I lose Allison."
"You're gonna lose her anyway." Derek told him, "You know that."
A moment of silence passed before Scott spoke, "I'm not part of your pack. But I want Isaac out. He's my responsibility too."
"Why?" Derek questioned, "Because he's one of us?"
Scott shook his head, "No. Because he's innocent."
"So, what do we do?" Amber asked after another few moments of silence between the two boys.
"We need to break Isaac out." Derek said simply.
"But Stiles and I were gonna lock Scott up at the school." She stated, looking over at her best friend worriedly, "How are we gonna get Isaac out of a cell and get you taken care of?"
"I'll have Alison lock me up." Scott told her easily. She frowned and he continued, "It'll be fine, I promise. I can have her lock me up down here."
Her eyes drifted back down to the freezer and her stomach churned nauseatingly at the thought of her best friend locked inside, "I don't know, Scott-"
"Look, there's no time to come up with anything else. We have to do this." Scott reached out to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly, "You and Stiles help Derek get Isaac out. I'll be here. And when the moon goes back down, Allison will let me out."
She frowned but nodded at him, even as her eyes drifted back down to the freezer, "Okay."
She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone, sending a few texts to Stiles to explain the plan and telling him to meet them at the Sheriff's Station. When she was finished, Derek gestured for her to follow him back upstairs and she looked between the two boys hesitantly before throwing her arms around her best friend in a quick hug.
"I love you." She told Scott softly, hand ruffling the fluffy hair on the back of his head, "I'm sorry we can't be here with you."
She pulled back and Scott released her with a small reassuring smile, "Dude, I'll be fine." He promised, "It's just one full moon."
She frowned as she recalled the last two full moons they'd experienced and Scott grimaced.
"This time will be different. I'm sure of it." He said.
Derek reached out to grab her shoulder and she let out a long-suffering sigh, "Alright, yes. I'm coming." She said, taking a step back toward the stairs with the older werewolf.
"Good luck." Scott called out in a hopeful tone.
"You too." She replied, shooting him one last look before she climbed the stairs back up to the main floor.
Stiles threw the Jeep into park outside the Sheriff's Station and Amber climbed into the vehicle quickly, Derek following close behind. As soon as she was settled into the center seat, Stiles reached out to take her hand in his, already angled toward them in his own seat with an elbow propped up on the steering wheel.
"What's the plan?" She asked him automatically.
"Okay, well. The keys to every cell are in a password protected lock box in my father's office," He explained, looking between Derek and the girl sitting between them, "The problem is getting past the front desk."
They all turned to peer out the passenger window at the young female deputy behind the desk who was typing away at a computer.
Amber chewed on her lip in thought, "Well, I could-"
"I'll distract her." Derek said easily, already reaching for the door handle.
"Woah, woah, woah! You?" Stiles asked incredulously, reaching across the cab of the vehicle to pull Derek back, "You're not going in there-"
Derek scowled at the hand Stiles still had stretched across Amber's chest to hold the werewolf's shoulder.
"I'm taking my hand off-" Stiles conceded quickly, dropping it to land in Amber's lap.
She let Stiles rest his hand palm down over her denim-clad thigh and rubbed her own hand over the backs of his fingers soothingly as Derek continued to glare at the boy. The werewolf's narrowed eyes dropped to where Stiles' hand was now draped over the girl's leg before he looked back up to address them.
"I was exonerated." He reminded them.
"You're still technically a person of interest." Amber shrugged with a wince.
"An innocent person." Derek reiterated.
"An inno- You?" Stiles scoffed, laughing sarcastically, "Yeah, right!"
Derek's jaw clenched as he looked between them, thoroughly unimpressed.
"Okay, fine," Stiles sighed, "What's your plan?"
Derek looked genuinely stunned at the question, "To distract her." He said slowly.
Amber snorted, "Okay, but how?"
Stiles looked at Derek in disbelief, "Uh huh. How?" He questioned, "By.. Punching her in the face?"
"Ha." Derek said sarcastically, "By talking to her."
"Oh! Gimme a sample." Amber suggested excitedly, turning toward Derek, "Pretend I'm her. What're you gonna say?"
Derek tightened his jaw silently and looked between them with his eyebrows raised and a long moment passed before Stiles spoke.
"Dead silence.. That should work beautifully." He observed sarcastically, "Any other ideas?"
Derek looked up at the roof of the Jeep and tilted his head in thought with a small shrug, "I'm thinking about punching you in the face." He admitted.
"Okay, alright. No one is punching anyone in the face." Amber interrupted, turning and pushing her hands up against Stiles' chest to urge him out the driver's side door, "Let's just.. Get inside. I'm sure Derek will figure something out."
"Yeah, we better hope so." Stiles muttered under his breath as he opened the door of the Jeep.
The three of them snuck in quietly through the front entrance and while Derek went through the main doors and up to the front desk, Amber and Stiles peered around the doorway to wait for an opportunity to pass through the without being seen.
"Hi, how can I help-" The deputy looked up from the folder in her hands and caught sight of where Derek was leaning up against the desk with a charming smile, "-You?" She finished weakly.
"Hi." Derek smiled, teeth on display and pulling his handsome features into an open, friendly expression.
"Hi." The woman breathed, stunned.
Stiles rolled his eyes in annoyance at how easily Derek's plan seemed to be working due to his good looks alone, and Amber reached up to pat him on the back consolingly.
"Um. I had a question," Derek said in feigned distraction, "Uh, sorry. I'm a little- A little thrown."
Amber urged Stiles forward with her hand on his back and they took slow, careful steps through the main entrance toward the back hall as Derek continued.
"I wasn't really expecting someone-"
"Like me?" The deputy asked softly.
"Well, I was gonna say, 'someone so incredibly beautiful' but I guess that'd mean the same thing." Derek flirted just as Amber and Stiles disappeared down the hall.
Stiles took her hand and led her down the hall toward his father's office, leaving the lights off as they crept into the room. When they got to a small lockbox hanging on the wall behind his dad's desk, Stiles dropped her hand to flip the cover up and reveal the keypad, his thumb quickly moving to type in the code, a quiet clicking filling the room with the press of each button.
2 - 6 - 1 - 9 - 9 - 1
The tiny door on the box opened with the release of the lock, but the space inside was decidedly empty.
"Isn't there supposed to be a set of keys in there?" Amber questioned obviously.
"Yeah." Stiles murmured, looking at the empty box in disbelief, "Oh, no. Allison was supposed to- Oh, no."
Amber dashed back toward the door and Stiles followed only half a second behind her. They stumbled out into the hallway and moved in the direction of the holding cells at the back of the building.
When they rounded one of the final turns, Amber tripped over her own feet in surprise and froze as they came face to face with another uniformed deputy. Stiles nearly rammed into her back when he stopped abruptly behind her and she took another cautious step forward, laughing awkwardly and feigning innocence.
"Uh, we were just looking for, uh-" Stiles trailed off.
Amber followed his eyeline down to the small syringe in the man's hand and their eyes widened in realization.
Not a deputy. A hunter.
Upon further inspection, the man was also bleeding badly from a small arrow wound in his upper thigh.
"Oh, shit." Amber and Stiles both muttered, the latter pulling on her shoulder as he started to step away.
As they spun the hunter managed to grab Stiles around his chest, knocking the boy from his feet so that he dragged along the ground backwards. In the same quick moment, the man caught a handful of Amber's hair and yanked her back with them.
Still on her feet, she yelped and stumbled backwards as she followed the painful tugging of the hunter's fist in her hair and she could hear Stiles struggling against the man's tight, one armed grip around his chest as he tried in vain to get his own feet back underneath him.
Amber whined quietly as they were dragged around a corner and her eyes caught on the fire alarm on the wall. They moved further down the hall and she flailed her arms, her fingers managing to catch on the small red lever and pulling on it roughly just as she was yanked away.
A shrill alarm sounded out through the building as the hunter threw them into the back room of holding cells and he released them carelessly. Amber gasped as her hair was finally freed and she instinctively reached up toward the sore spot on her scalp as Stiles fell to the ground.
The hunter fiddled with the syringe of wolfsbane in his hand and Amber caught the moment that the man's eyes drifted up to where the holding cell's door was already broken and swung open.
"Shit-" She exclaimed just as Isaac growled loudly and tackled the hunter beside her down against the desk at the front of the room.
She stumbled back a step where she tripped over Stiles' feet and tumbled to the ground beside him, landing painfully on her backside. He grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back along the floor as Isaac threw the hunter against a wall.
The hunter went to thrust the syringe into Isaac's shoulder but his arm was caught by the werewolf with another angry growl.
As soon as she was close enough, Stiles wrapped an arm around her stomach from behind, pulling her between his legs as he continued to scramble backwards. She fell back against his chest and they finally came to a stop when they thumped against the wall on the opposite side of the room.
They watched with wide eyes as Isaac gripped the hunter's head in his hand, slamming it back with a loud crack and dropping the hunter in a heap onto the ground.
Derek finally ran into the back room and stopped in the center of the space, stomping down on the forgotten vial of poison on the ground and causing it to shatter loudly beneath his foot. At the sound, the younger werewolf turned suddenly and Isaac's attention was drawn to the two teens on the floor as he growled again.
Amber pressed herself back against Stiles more firmly and her heart raced violently in her chest in fear. Isaac's clawed hands twitched at his sides and he stepped toward them with a low rumbling sound in his throat, eyes still glowing bright gold.
Derek side-stepped in a quick movement to block the path to them and he growled loudly in Isaac's direction, the sound rumbling and furious. The younger werewolf whined, falling to the ground on the other side of the room as his arms came up above his head to protect himself from an anticipated blow. After a second, Isaac looked back up from behind his shaking arms to he peek out at them, his face distinctly human once again.
Stiles was breathing heavily against the back of Amber's neck, arm still wrapped tightly around her stomach as he held her against his chest.
"H- How did you do that?" He asked Derek.
The older werewolf turned slowly to look down at them, "I'm the Alpha." He supplied as explanation.
Isaac flinched when Derek went over and held out a hand in offering to help him to his feet. Without a word of goodbye, Derek led Isaac out of the back room and the two were gone.
Amber scrambled to get to her feet in their absence, pulling Stiles up with her before spinning around to face him.
"Are you okay?" They asked each other at the same time with worried expressions.
She laughed quietly and Stiles brought a hand up to the back of her head, gently smoothing down the mess where the hunter's hand had been fisted in her hair.
She placed a hand on his cheek and stroked her thumb over his mouth softly, "How exactly are we gonna explain this?" She asked suddenly.
He dropped his hand from the back of her head and tangled their fingers together with a frown, "Shit. I actually hadn't thought that far ahead yet."
"That's okay. We'll uh, we'll just say that we came to see your dad.. And we'll explain that, y'know.." Her eyes drifted over to the hunter, "That guy must've broken in disguised as a deputy, attacked us, and let Isaac out." She said quickly, "I mean.. That- That's somewhat believable, right?"
She looked up at Stiles with wide eyes and he made a face as he very clearly tried to think of something better. His fingers tightened around hers and suddenly the fire alarm cut off, plunging the building into a silence that left their ears ringing.
Stiles opened his mouth to say something but didn't get a chance to speak before his father stepped into the back room. The Sheriff looked between them, the uniformed man sprawled beside the wall, and the empty holding cell at the back of the room. His eyes narrowed in an angry glare of disbelief as he took in the scene in front of him.
"Uh," Stiles swallowed heavily, pointing toward the unconscious hunter in a deputies uniform, "He did it."
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