—

Ryder heard the vehicle pull into her driveway but made no move to get up as she layed in her bed next to Austin.

The George teen was fast asleep, his body sinking into her mattress as he snored away.

She rolled her eyes before she looked down at the small child in her arms, shaking her head slightly,

"Can I come over, Ry? We'll go out for icecream, Ry. Let me take a power nap before we go." She mocked her boyfriend's previous words, "Its been forty five minutes."

Jesse cooed up at her, his dark eyes shining brightly as he looked up at his big sister.

"Longest power nap i've ever seen."

"Ryder, Scott's here!" Ramona's voice rang from downstairs.

"I wonder what he wants." She said, narrowing her eyes at Jesse, "He probably ran out of options for help and came to me."

As if he were agreeing with his sister, Jesse gave a gummy smile.

A knock on her door pulled her attention before the knob twisted and Scott walked in.

"Hey."

"Hi." She decided on a polite greeting, not wanting to show just how much she wanted to kick him out and tell him to stay away from her.

Scott inhaled softly, looking over at Austin's sleeping figure before his eyes landed back on Ryder and Jesse. He smiled at the baby before clearing his throat awkwardly, "How are you?"

"What do you want, Scott?" She had no time for the sweet talk. Ryder knew Scott was only here for one thing.

"I need your help."

"When don't you need someone's help?"

He sighed softly, "Ryder, please--"

"Can't. Busy." She shrugged, "Once Austin wakes up, we're going on a date."

"I have no one else to go to—"

"And whose fault is that?" She asked, rhetorically, "You'd have other people if you weren't such an asshole."

Scott didn't respond, only lowering his head in shame.

"I bet the first person you thought to go to was Stiles, right? And then you remebered that you chose someone that you haven't seen since fourth grade over your actual lifetime bestfriend."

Scott wanted to question why his problems with Stiles had such an affect on Ryder, but he knew better than anyone that she was sensing a bit of deja vu from when he and Stiles chose other people over her once upon a time. He could only imagine that she knew how Stiles felt.

"I regret it."

"I know you do." She hummed, "But I don't think you regret it because you actually feel bad. I think it's because Theo nearly killed you and without any of us there, you realize that you're practically useless by yourself."

It was harsh, Ryder knew that.

But she was at the point where sugar coating was the least of her worries. If no one else was gonna help Scott get the stick out of his ass, she'd gladly be of assistance, regardless of if her cruel words left him with a tear stained pillow at night.

And it wasn't like Scott didn't know what he'd be walking into when his mind traveled to Ryder.

He had mentally prepared himself for the bashing he'd get when he entered her house asking for help. In fact, he would have been more terrified if she had simply agreed to work with him without belittling him in the process.

•••

Ryder blew out a heavy breath as she tossed herself onto Scott's bed, her hair sprawling out against the sheets, her eyes following her boyfriend as he made himself comfortable with digging through Scott's belongings.

The McCall was more than grateful that Ryder put aside her disappointment for him to help him take down their next threat.

He would have asked if Josie could come along, the sophomore having the observation skills they needed in this situation, but a glare from Ryder let him know that he was pushing it.

Luckily for him, Austin also tagged along.

Not only would he need the George teen's brains, but he was also there to stop Ryder from attacking Scott if he managed to slip up again.

Austin pulled his face back with a wince as he knocked off the head of a bobble head he found, his blue eyes widening before they darted to Scott who was too busy cleaning the wound on his chest to notice.

His head snapped to the bed at the unmistakable sound of Ryder's giggle.

He had grown used to the sound, having been the main reason she laughed at all over the past two years.

Austin hid his own smile as he looked at the girl, narrowing his eyes at her as if to appear threatening. He placed the bobble head back in its previous spot, balancing the broken head on the body before he moved towards his girlfriend.

"You broke it." She laughed out, earning a gentle shove before his body was laid over her.

"Shut up." He muttered.

The sound of footsteps entering the room took everyone's attention away from what they were doing, their eyes glancing towards the door.

Stiles walked in, sending Ryder and Austin a nod in greeting before he turned to Scott,

"Hey. Still not healing?"

Scott nodded to Stiles, "Sometimes it just takes a little longer. What are you doing here?"

Stiles gave a brief look over to Ryder, the girl sending him a closed lip smile. Scott caught onto the look, nodding in understanding.

"She convinced me."

"Convinced, or threatened?" Scott joked, pulling his shirt over his head.

Stiles chuckled, "Is there really a difference with her?"

Ryder's eyes narrowed in slits, "Do they think I can't hear them?"

Austin pecked her lips, pulling her to sit up. His lack of response told her that he agreed with them, though before she could comment on it, Stiles spoke up,

"Ah, you heard about the guy who got killed out at the communication towers, right? I think I may have figured something out."

"What, you want my help?" The alpha looked shocked for a second.

"Yeah, well you said you can find the clues that I can't." His voice was slightly hesitant but he nodded. Stiles gestured for Ryder and Austin to come forward, pulling out his phone,

"Here, take a look. This is when the technician first arrived. You see him going in? Then Deputy Clark goes in. Then something really big and really fast comes charging out. And now comes Clark. Eventually, technician's body is carried out by paramedics."

"Okay, what am I missing?" Scott asked.

"Two people go in. Three come out." Austin said, earning a nod of confirmation from the Stilinski.

"Exactly. I checked all the footage. Not a single person enters that building before the technician the entire day. So where does that something really big and really fast come from?"

"There's another way in."

•••

"It stinks in here." Ryder felt the need to comment, her face scrunched up as she said so.

Austin held her hand tightly, his footsteps slow and calculated as he looked around.

"You see that?" Stiles pointed the flashlight.

"I see blood."

"Clearly." The Anders teen slapped her free hand against her leg, "Do you see where it's going, by chance?"

"Look where it leads to."

Scott stepped forward, his hands making their way under the large locker that prevented them from moving further. He grunted as he attempted to lift it, blinking quickly in slight embarrassment when he realized he barely made it budge.

Ryder let out a sigh, pulling her hand from Austin's before kneeling down to help.

She gave Scott a look, a silent count to three going through both wolves heads before they lifted the locker with ease, soft grunts escaping their lips as Stiles and Austin moved to help keep it steady.

A large hole in the floor caught Austin's attention, "Hey. Take a look at this."

Stiles' auburn eyes went back and forth between the hole and his friends.

Austin blew out a breath, "We're doing down there, aren't we?"

"Don't worry. I'll hold your hand." The Stilinski joked.

•••

"It smells even worse down here."

Austin and Stiles shared a look, both teens confused on what she picked up on that their human noses didn't.

Scott didn't seem at all phased by what she was smelling, in fact, it seemed like he was just as curious to what she got a whiff of.

Damnatio Memoriae

Scott asked the question everyone was thinking, "What is that?"

"It looks like Latin."

"It definitely is." Austin nodded, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared at the words.

"Hold up that light. I'm gonna get a picture of it." Scott whipped out his phone, "Stiles, hold the light still."

A hissing, followed by the sound of Stiles' body hitting the ground with a thud alerted them.

Austin's body followed shortly after.

Ryder and Scott turned, their eyes landing on Tracy Stewart.

The Ander's face twisted,

"Well, there's that smell."

•••

It felt like barely a second before Ryder was holding back Josh, who suddenly had the power of electricity, allowing Scott to shoved Tracy's kanima claws into his chest, the teen falling limp next to Stiles.

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

Almost in unison, the werewolves eyes shined, landing in one particular spot that, to the naked eye, seemed completely empty.

Not even a second later, Corey appeared. No doubt, scared, of what was to come.

Austin couldn't blame him. He had just watched his pack members get beaten by a weakened alpha and someone who didn't even seem to be trying.

"Okay!" A familiar voice cut in before any further attacks were made, "Maybe they're not ready to take on an Alpha. Especially one that can smell fear."

Ryder's eyes narrowed at the sight of Theo.

"He's got fangs." Corey defended.

"Yeah? What's your excuse for her?" The Raeken gestured to Ryder. He was well aware that the girl also had the fangs that Corey was so afraid of, but he wanted to make his 'beta' look stupid for failing him.

He took a minute to respond before settling with, "She's scary."

"What did you do?"

"I found some new friends. I don't take rejection well." Theo shrugged, looking down at the temporarily paralyzed humans.

"Hey, Theo!" Stiles greeted, while Austin simply rolled his eyes.

"Stiles. Austin." He acknowledged their existence before looking to the obvious leaders, his foot creating a crack in the ground the second his foot stomped down on the words the group of four had spotted earlier,

"You're going to leave here thinking that you need to worry about me. But you're wrong. We're actually back on the same side. Because that thing... That's what we need to worry about. Your pack and mine. We're gonna go back to school and pretend like we're normal teenagers, but at night, we're going to be fighting for our lives."

Stiles gave Ryder a look of appreciation when she lifted his body into a sitting position, "What is it?"

"It's not a Chimera."

"Didn't think it was." Ryder said, unaware of the look Stiles gave. At some point, he assumed the beast was a chimera, but no one had to know that.

"But it's just a kid underneath. Someone like us."

"Not anymore."

•••

"He knew what it meant and I can't remember the words." Scott mumbled, shaking his head in thought.

"Damnatio Memoriae."

"It means the condemnation of memory." Austin said, all eyes landing on him as he spoke, "It indicates Roman practice of erasing a person from public memory."

When he received deadpanned looks, he continued.

"Basically means cutting someone's existence from history."

A collective nod and soft hums of understanding was given.

"I think it also means that whatever the Dread Doctors created, whatever this last Chimera really is, it's not something new." Stiles added on, "It's something old. Really old."

"So they didn't create a new creature..."

Ryder's head fell back, "They resurrected one."

"We need help. If Theo's got his own pack now then we need ours. We have to get the others back." Scott drew a circle in the dirt.

"Great observation, McCall." Austin huffed, his head laid back against the wall.

"The others?" Stiles almost scoffed, "You mean Kira who's currently battling a homicidal fox spirit inside of her, Malia who isn't even speaking to either one of us, Lydia who's stuck in Eichen House, Liam who almost killed you, Isaac who seems to be enjoying time outside of pack drama, and Austin and Ryder who, despite being sat right in front of us, clearly want nothing to do with this?"

"All gone for valid reasons." Ryder couldn't help herself.

If Scott's horrible decision making wasn't enough of a reason for their pack to separate, each individual member still had good reasons for not being around anymore.

Whether it was because they were in search for their biological mother with the intent to kill her, or if it were because they were convince the drama was causing stress wrinkles, she completely understood why they wouldn't want to be involved.

Unfortunately, for her, Ryder had grown accustomed to cleaning up the messes made by Scott and Stiles. And as for Austin, he would follow Ryder anywhere. Even if that meant putting his own human life at risk to keep her safe.

"Plus, Isaac's ready to come back when everyone else is. He just didn't want to be around for the trouble of getting the pack back together."

Austin was well aware that his brother wasn't in the mood for the unnecessary amount of pit stops there would be with gathering everyone.

Isaac called it "staying out of the way" and "being mature", while Austin simply thought he was being lazy.

Scott wasn't in the mood for pessimism, "Also known as our best friends."

Austin raised his hand, "I, personally, believe that Ry and I being here speaks volumes for where we stand."

"I agree."

"Of course you agree."

Ry sent him a mocking smile, "You're on thin ice, McCall. Remember who you came crying to when you realize no one liked you anymore."

"Okay, how?"

"One by one."

"You're not seriously going to make me do it?" Stiles squinted.

"You're part of the pack, right?"

"Okay." The Stilinski finished the pack mark, drawing a larger circle around the one Scott did. He raised his hand to hit his fist against Scott's, earning a smile from the brunet.

Austin blew one a breath of air when the boys looked in his direction, following Stiles' actions before all eyes landed on Ryder.

She chuckled humorously, "Oh, i'm not doing that. We've rekindled, that's enough."

Knowing there was no point in arguing, the boys shared a chuckle, taking their hands away from each other before standing.

"We need to find Kira."

"I still hate that tattoo."

"I know."

—
A/N: it's been too long