chapter three
pack mentality
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"Figure out what?" Lydia asked as she and Blair walked up the table that Stiles and Scott were sitting at. Stiles, startled by the appearance of his crush, especially considering she's choosing to sit next to them at lunch, stammers nervously. "Ha...uhh..." Stiles says nervously. Seeing that Stiles is unable to come up with a decent answer, Scott quickly lies to cover up the real topic of their conversation. "Just, uh, homework..." Scott says, hoping they'd believe it as Stiles nods in agreement. Yeah." Stiles nodding and while Lydia is distracted by someone passing the table, Stiles leans forward to whisper to Scott.

"Why is she sitting with us?" Stiles whispers to Scott, unaware that Blairs is next to him, hears him. Shakes her head in amusement. Scott just gapes at Stiles and shrugs, as if to say 'I don't know!'. "Well for one, Scott's dating my sister so," Blair says to Stiles, gaining his attention as she tilted her head with an amused Smile as more people started to sit down at their table. An unknown boy sits at the head of the table, while Danny takes a seat on Stiles' right. Scott turns to see that Allison is sitting down on his right and smiles before moving his backpack so she can sit down.

"Thanks!" Allison says to Scott with a smile as Jackson approaches the table and stands next to the unknown kid, glaring at him intensely before ordering him away as everyone watches the conversation. "Get up." Jackson demanded as the student groaned in annoyance. "How come you never ask Danny to get up?" The student asked, annoyed and not wanting to move as Danny smirks at him.

"Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." Danny shoots back, causing Blair to laugh as the student gets up to move, and Jackson shoves him out of the way before taking his seat, causing Scott to scowl at Jackson's rude behavior. "So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar." Danny says, starting a conversation.

"I heard it was a mountain lion." Jackson added, as he looked at Danny with Lydia, staring at her tray. "A cougar is a mountain lion." Lydia deadpanned, in an annoyed tone causing everyone to stare at her, surprised by this answer. Lydia, realizing she's dangerously close to revealing just how smart she actually is, quickly backtracks as she puts on a false smile. "...Isn't it?" She asked dumbly which caused Jackson to raise his eyebrow and scoff at her.

"Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway." Jackson said, making Blair roll her eyes, not understanding why Lydia went out with him, he's a jackass. Stiles, who had started to look up the case on his phone, suddenly speaks up when he gets more information.

"Actually, I just found out who it is. Check it out." Stiles says as he pulls up a video on his phone and turns it so the others can see it. It's from a news website, and a reporter can be heard narrating the story. "The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Myers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition." The Reporter said in the video.

Scott gasps when he recognizes the name of the man identified as the victim. "Wait, I-I-I know this guy." Scott said as he looked at the video as everyone looked at weirdly. "You do?" Allison and Blair said, in a shocked and suspicious tone.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver." Scott confessed as he and Stiles shared a pointed look before Lydia spoke up. "Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like..." Lydia said in a bored, annoyed tone before she gasps when she gets an idea and turns to talk to Allison, talking right over Scott, who is seated between them.

"Oh, where are we going tomorrow night?" Lydia asked as she looked between the new couple causing Allison and Scott's brows furrow, making it clear they have no idea what she's talking about. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow, right?" Lydia asked, making Blair chuckle quietly making Stiles stare at her a moment, not realizing it.

Allison raises her eyebrows and gulps nervously, realizing exactly what Lydia's about to do and trying to keep it casual in hopes of Lydia staying out of it. "Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do..." Allison trailed as she looked at Scott apologetically, knowing Lydia is about to invite herself and Jackson into their plans, and Stiles' eyes widened when he had the same realization.

"Well, I am not sitting home again, watching lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun." Lydia said with a wide smile as Scott is completely stunned at this turn of events, gapes helplessly. "H-H-Hanging out? Like, the four of us?" Scott stutters as he turns to Allison, who has covered up her displeasure at their plans being crashed by drinking out of her water bottle.

"Do you wanna hang out?" Scott asked nervously as Blair watched the scene, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing. Stiles, knowing this is about to be a disaster, covers his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from interjecting as he and Blair share a quick look, knowing neither Allison nor Scott wanted to hangout with Lydia and Jackson.

"...Like, us... and them?" Scott continues, digging himself deeper into the hole he's already in as Allison looks about as excited by this prospect as Scott is but clearly doesn't want to be rude to her new friend, either. "Yeah!...I guess...sounds fun..." Allison stuttered out making Blair hide her face in her shoulder as she giggled, trying to not draw attention to herself, she didn't wanna be involved in this hangout and definitely didn't wanna be set-up on a date by Lydia.

Jackson's annoyed expression makes it clear that the only person excited about this double date is Lydia. "You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork." Jackson said as he raised his fork in the air to emphasize his point.

Lydia who was annoyed by his rudeness, grabs the fork out of his hand, while Stiles, taking a drink from his own water bottle, rolls his eyes and gesticulated wildly with his hand, not liking his friend being disparaged like that making Blair smile at his humor while Lydia ignores Jackson and continues planning their date like he hasn't spoken.

"How 'bout bowling? You love to bowl." Lydia says with a smile as Stiles shoves a french fry into his mouth and tries to get Scott's attention, shaking his head wildly as if to communicate that Scott needs to put the brakes on this plan as soon as possible. Jackson scoffs in annoyance. "Yeah, with actual competition." Jackson said, annoyed that he has to hangout with Scott McCall but Allison is now offended on behalf of her and Scott speaks up, trying to keep her tone of voice friendly.

"How do you know we're not actual competition?"Allison asked, annoyed at what Jackson is suggesting as Allison turns to Scott with a look. "You can bowl, right?" she asked while Scott shrugs. "Sort of..." Scott replies uneasily as Jackson gives Scott a pointed look and responds in a patronizing tone of voice.

"Is it-is it sort of, or yes?" Jackson demanded and Scott clearly doesn't want to be shown up by Jackson or made to feel any more inferior than he already is, so he lies instead. "Yes." Scott says, as he straightens his back to appear more confident. "In fact, I'm a great bowler." Scott continued as Stiles gave his friend a look, one Blair noticed, it was one Allison gave her often. Scott had lied about being a great bower making Blair sigh.. She was glad she wasn't involved in this hangout.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Allison has just opened up her bedroom closet to find an outfit to wear to their double date, flipping on the light so she can get a better look and parting the clothing on hangers down the middle. She picks out a brown and black tie-dyed top and turns to show it to Lydia and Blair, who were sitting behind her on the bed. Lydia's face screws up in obvious judgment at her fashion sense while Blair shakes her head.

"Mmm," Lydia hums as Blair sighs. "Pass." Blair finishes. Her and Lydia were both trying to help Allison but it was hard when they all had different styles. Allison turns, rolling her eyes once Lydia can no longer see her face, and starts rifling through her hung-up clothing before picking out a hippie-style, empire-waist shirt-dress that is gold, red, teal, green, and blue in a paisley pattern, at which Lydia also turns up her nose.

"Pass." Lydia said distasteful as Allison sighs and scratches the back of her head as she turns back to the closet, and Lydia sighs before getting to her feet and forcing her way into the space as well to find something for Allison to wear herself. "Let me see..." pushing both twins aside as she starts looking through the hangers, one by one, immediately moving the one she just vetoed to the side. "Pass." says distastefully as she looks at a blue and white, floral, short-sleeved dress and moves it to the side.

"Pass." she says again as she takes one look at a thin, grayish-green hoodie and scoffs before pushing it to the side as well. "Uh, pass on all of it." she says as she turns to Allison and starts patronisingly fluffing her curled hair with a sigh. "God, Allison, respect for your taste is, uh..." Lydia looks at Allison and lets out a breath between her teeth that almost sounds like a hiss making Blair stifle a laugh. "Dwindling by the second..." she adds as she smiles fakely at Allison before turning back to the contents of the closet, stumbling upon a short-sleeved black top covered in black sequins that could be a very long shirt or a very short dress, depending on how it is worn.

She takes it out in satisfaction before walking back to the bed so she can hold it up in front of the mirror, gesturing to Allison to come so she can hold it up and see how she looks in it. "This." Lydia says as Allison does as she's instructed and walks to the full-length mirror so she can hold the shirt up against her body as a makeshift "try-on."

But before she can remark on it further, her father, Argent, walks in the door, looking at a green jacket in his hands. Allison smiles fakely at him and greets him in a pointed fashion in an effort to indicate to him that he kind of just barged into her room. "Dad! Hello..." she said as Chris smiles at her, oblivious at first to her implied hint as he puts on his jacket. After a moment, he looks up to see her pointed expression and realizes that he forgot something, giving Allison and Lydia a sheepish and apologetic look.

"Right. I'm sorry. I completely forgot to knock." Chris apologized as Lydia flops onto Allison's bed, landing on her right side and propping her head up on her hand with her elbow leaning against the bed itself. She looks at him with a suggestive smile on her face. "Hi, Mr. Argent." Lydia said in a flirtatious tone, making Blair cringe at her new friend.

Chris completely misses the flirtatious tone of voice Lydia is using, and Allison turns the topic of conversation to why he is currently there. "Dad? Do you need something?" Allison asked Chris as he finished putting on his jacket and looked up at Allison with a calm expression.

"I wanted to tell you that you'll be staying in tonight." Chris said, making Lydia roll her eyes as Allison immediately scoffs and starts to protest as Blair sat down on the end of her twins bed. "What? I'm going out with my friends tonight." Allison said, hoping her father would change his mind but Chris doesn't budge on his position. "Not when some animal out there is attacking people." Chris said, making Blair sigh, knowing he just crushed her sister's plans for the night. Allison, appalled by this short-notice change of plans, starts to beg instead.

"Dad. Dad, I'm, uh–" Allison started to say but Chris quickly cuts her off in favor of giving his reasoning in a defensive tone of voice. "Hey, hey, hey! It's out of my hands. There's a curfew. No one's allowed out past 9:30 PM." Chris informed the girls making Allison rolls her eyes as she throws her sequined top onto her bed. "Hey, no more arguing." Chris said as Blair looked at Allison who sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, and Chris smiled weakly at the girls before turning and walking out the door, closing it on his way out.

Lydia stands and makes a 'hmph' noise as she watches Chris leave before making a snarky comment. "Someone's Daddy's little girl," Lydia says as she makes a teasing face as Allison nervously bites her fingernail for a moment before coming to a decision, a rebellious glint evident in her eyes making Blair curious.

"Sometimes...but not tonight." Allison says as she walks over to her vanity and puts on her purple knit cap before heading to the window, parting the curtains when she gets there. Blair watched her sister from the bed, since she wasn't going out tonight, she had to be Allison's alibi.

Allison looks back at Lydia to make sure she's understanding the plan, then turns to open the window before slinking out of it and onto the roof. Lydia rushes over to the window and watches as Allison walks to the edge of the roof, right in front of the small porch. "What are you doing?" Lydia asked nervously but Instead of responding, Allison simply leaps off of the roof, doing a front flip and landing lightly on her feet in the grass next to the garage. She looks up at Lydia, who is gaping at her as though she's lost her mind and Blair who ran to the window, worried for Allison despite knowing her sister could do that Allison just shrugged nonchalantly, as though what she did is no big deal.

"Eight years of gymnastics." Allison whispers to Lydia, who continues to gape at her, her eyes wide in shock, before Allison snaps her back to reality. "Are you coming?" Allison whispered to her, loud enough for her to hear, making Lydia roll her eyes in exasperation. "I'll take the stairs." Lydia says as she says bye to Blair before going to meet Allison.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Derek and Kendra had decided to get snacks. So while Kendra was getting snacks, Derek was outside filling up his tank, trying to act as though he's unbothered, but it's obvious that he's on guard with the Hunters who have just surrounded him. He has Chris in front of him, and two other Hunters leaning against the silver SUV behind him as well. After a moment, he removes the pump from his gas tank and returns it to the holder, closing the lid on his gas tank, which is when Chris decides to strike up his conversation.

"Nice ride!" Chris complimented, with a fake smile as he walked toward him, trailing his fingertips across the hood of Derek's Camaro. "Black cars, though..." he trailed off as he reached out and rubbed a non-existent smudge off of the hood with his thumb, clearly trying to intimidate Derek. "Very hard to keep clean." Chris said with a faux smile. Kendra could see this from outside, she tried to hurry outside and help, knowing Derek might lose it. "I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance." Chris said.

Derek watches Argent with a blank expression as he goes to the side of the gas pump and grabs the complimentary windshield wiper cleaner and squeegee, flicking it to get the excess cleaning fluid off of it as Kendra leaves the store, bags in hand. She knows the hunters notice her but they stay focused on Derek. "If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it, right?" Chris asks as he starts to clean off Derek's windshield as he continues talking in a light-hearted but unmistakably threatening voice.

"Personally... I'm very protective of the things I love. But that's something I learned from my family." Chris said, trying to be threatening as Derek continues to watch Argent warily as he cleans his windshield. "...And you don't have much of that these days..." Chris said, hinting at his family, making Kendra angry as the air began to shift, making the hunters spare her a look as Chris finishes his work and looks at Derek with a pointed, barely-concealed smug expression.

"Do you?" Chris questioned smugly as Derek's left hand clenched into a fist under the long sleeve of his black leather jacket, which didn't escape Argent's notice or Kendras as she put the bags on the floor and walked next to Derek. The Hunter watches Derek, seemingly expecting a fight, but after a moment, Derek releases his fist, his fingernails still blunt and human. Argent nods, pleased that this conversation didn't escalate, and returns the squeegee to its holder. "There we go. You can actually look through your windshield now." Chris said with a fake smile towards Derek.

Chris gestures toward the windshield for emphasis. "See how that makes everything so much clearer?" Chris asks as his fake smile finally falls into a threatening sneer, and he stares at Derek for a long moment before he determines that his message has been successfully delivered, ignoring Kendra, knowing he shouldn't make an enemy of a guardian angel. He turns and walks back to his car, the other Hunters following suit. However, Derek, unable to help himself.

"You forgot to check the oil." Derek says in a sarcastic tone making Kendra pinch the bridge of her nose as Chris stops walking, his back still turned to Derek, and he smiles, pleased that he clearly seems to have gotten to Derek. He then turns back and nods toward one of his Hunter companions. "Check the man's oil." Chris said, nodding towards the car.

The shorter of the two Hunters reluctantly walks over to Derek's car, with both Kendra and Derek watching intently the entire time. However, instead of walking around the front of the car to pop the hood, the Hunter stops at the driver's side door and grabs a semi-automatic gun that was concealed on his side, hidden from Derek. He uses the butt of the gun to smash the driver's side window before looking over at Chris. "Looks good to me." the hunter said as Chris smiled fakely at Derek. "Drive safely.Chris said as turns to get into his SUV, and he and his Hunters left in their respective SUVs. Derek grits his teeth angrily as Kendra snapped her head towards him. "You just can't keep quiet can you?" she asked, irritated.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Scott, assuming that Derek was the one who attacked and killed Garrison Myers, rushes into the Hale House, where he and Kendra where, getting the rest of Derek's stuff. Scott immediately starts yelling for Derek. "Derek! I know you're here! I know what you did!" Scott yells into the house but Derek is out of sight, with Kendra but his calm voice can be heard echoing through the ruins of the hale house. "I didn't do anything." Derek said, trying to stay hidden, not wanting a fight.

Scott, not believing him, walks up to the bottom step of the burned staircase as he tries to get a read on where Derek is hiding. "You killed him!" Scott yelled out causing Kendra to look at Derek who continues to respond to the boy, but his tone is getting more impatient. "He died." Derek said, hoping he'd leave but Scott wasn't listening, he was looking for any hint as to where Derek is, keeps him talking as he walks up the steps, covered in sweat from the exertion it took to bike all the way to the house.

"Like your sister died?" Scott says, taunting Derek making Kendra sigh softly, he didn't need to go there. "My sister was missing. I came here looking for her." Derek said. "You found her." Scott replied as he was almost at the top of the steps, listening carefully for any movement on Derek's part, as Derek loses his temper entirely and yells, clearly pained by the topic of conversation. "I found her in pieces! Being used as bait to catch me." Derek snapped as Scott is the one who is talking calmly. "I think you killed them both. I'm gonna tell everyone, starting with the Sheriff." Scott said, trying to get Derek to come out of hiding.

Scott reaches the top of the staircase and turns to the left, not noticing until the last minute that Derek has been on the right side the whole time. Derek appears behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders and tossing him down the staircase. He stands at the top of the staircase as Scott finally lands on the ground floor in a heap.

Scott's fury has finally caused him to transform, and he turns to roar at Derek and this causes the older Werewolf to leap down to the bottom of the staircase to join him. Before Derek can react, Scott grabs him by the front of the jacket and shoves him clear through the burned remains of the wall beside them, causing him to crash through it and land in a pile of broken wood and drywall.

Once Derek gets his bearings, he spits the drywall dust out of his mouth and stands to his feet as he dusts himself off, shaking out his jacket, before letting out a grunt, impressed by Scott's boldness. "Huh." Derek hums out as he shakes out his leather jacket one last time before deciding to shrug it off entirely, muttering under his breath.

"That was cute." Derek commented as he tosses aside his jacket, as he walks back toward what used to be the foyer of the house, passing a door with a mottled glass window through which we see Derek roll his head and neck from side to side as he transforms for the first time that the audience has seen. The sound of bones crunching can be heard as he finally makes it past the door, in his full werewolf form.

Derek's eyes flash blue as he growls at Scott menacingly through his fangs which causes Scott leaps through the hole Derek made when he flew through the wall making Kendra move out her hiding spot in case she needed to stop the fight, despite not wanting to expose herself to a student. The two circle each other for a long moment as they wait for one of them to make the first move, Derek continuing to growl lowly at Scott.

Scott finally roars at Derek and lunges for him, but Derek is too quick this time, grabbing Scott by the front of the shirt and pushing him backwards against the wall before yanking him the other way and tossing him aside. Scott rolls over the coffee table and lands in a crouching position, growling softly as Derek leaps toward him, but managing to roll to the side before Derek can land on his back.

The two stand up, and they each manage to get a couple hits against the other before Derek shoves him across the room, where he lands flat on his back on the floor. Derek stands in a hunched over position as Scott gets to his feet and stumbles over to the coffee table, using it as leverage to stand up to his full height. Derek growls loudly.

Derek runs over and uses the coffee table as a vault, kicking out so that his feet make contact with Scott's chest so hard that he flies backwards once again. Scott quickly gets back up to his feet, and Derek kicks out at the nearby wall and flips as Scott picks up a nearby wooden beam to use as a weapon.

He hits Derek with it hard, and he falls onto the ground and rolls backwards several times, landing on his back as Scott rushes toward him, the beam raised like a baseball bat. Derek rolls to the side before Scott can hit him in the face with it and then gets onto his knees so he can use his arm to hit the back of Scott's knees, causing him to flip backwards and land hard onto the ground.

Derek takes advantage of how disoriented Scott is to grab him by the throat and pick up his entire body before slamming him down on the ground twice in a row. Scott groans and he rolls to his knees, but before he can grab the beam he was using as a weapon, Derek kicks him in the gut and causes him to roll over a nearby wooden chest before landing on the floor behind it. Scott quickly recovers and leaps onto the chest, perching on it, but when he lunges toward Derek, the latter hits him in the chest so hard the sound of bone crunching can be heard.

This seems to be the final blow in the fight, as Scott, moaning in pain with a human voice, staggers toward the nearby couch and braces his hands on it, the pain seemingly causing him to turn back. Behind him, Derek stands with his back to Scott and rolls his neck again, bones cracking as he shifts back into his human form as well.

Scott looks back at Derek, a look of betrayal evident on his face, and Derek, exhausted from the fight and tired of arguing with Scott, finally sets the record straight with a sigh as Kendra rushes to help him.

"I didn't kill him. Neither of us did. It's not your fault, and it's not mine." Derek sighed out. These words only make Scott more furious, and he manages to stand to his feet to turn to face him with an incredulous and loud tone of voice. "This? This is all your fault! You ruined my life!" Scott yelled out as Derek and Scott were now in each others' faces. "No, I didn't." Derek snapped, making Scott scoff in disbelief, but his voice is no longer a half-scream as he talks more calmly.

"You're the one that bit me!" Scott exclaimed, making Kendra sighed and closed her eyes. "No, I'm not." Derek said irritably. Scott's eyes widened in shock at this revelation. "What?" he asked in disbelief. "I'm not the one that bit you." Derek admitted making Scott's eyes frantic as he processed this information. He looks down at his chest, where there is a set of shallow claw gashes, and touches them gently, the sight of the blood on his fingertips triggering a memory from the previous night.

FLASHBACK

Scott is approaching the bus, his vision red around the edges as he uses his Werewolf sight. On the bus, he finds the monstrous, large, wolf-man creature attacking Garrison Myers, who is screaming in fear. "ahhhhh!" Myers yelled out in pain as he reached out for Scott, hoping Scott would save him, and when Scott tried, the large Werewolf claws Scott across the chest, just like he's hurt now, only deeper.

END OF FLASHBACK

Scott looks down at his bloody fingertips once again, the wounds on his chest already mostly healed, when he realizes the truth of the matter. This shocks him to the point where he has to sit back on the couch to catch his breath.

"There's another." Scott breathed out as Derek nodded as he shared a quick look with Kendra. "It's called an Alpha. It's the most dangerous of our kind. You and I? We're Betas. This thing is more powerful, more animal than either of us. My sister came here looking for him. Now I'm trying to find him. But, I don't think I can do it without you." Derek confessed to Scott as he continued to pant for breath, completely overwhelmed by this information. "Why me?" Scott demanded making Derek look at him as Kendra sighed and fixed her glasses.

"Because he's the one that bit you. You're part of his pack." Derek admitted to Scott as he looks up at Derek with a devastated expression, and Derek's own expression is grim as well. "It's you, Scott." Derek said, making Scott look at him confused as Kendra stepped forward. "You're the one he wants." Kendra said softly as she put a hand on his shoulder gently. "Miss Rosewell? How do you–are you a werewolf too?" Scott asked, making her chuckle and shake her head no, but not giving him an answer.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

After the conversation with Scott, they headed back to Kendra's house to try and unwind from the rough day they've had. "You never told me why you didn't leave after graduation? You hated this place as much as I did, especially after me and Laura fled, after the fire." Derek said as he and Kendra sat in her living room. The Roswell woman sighed as she faced her friend.

"When i turned eighteen, i started getting these powers, and i-i didn't understand it, then i started having dreams on my mother, and she told me the the Rosewell bloodline were born to protect and i didn't understand so i asked her and she told me that i was a guardian angel." Kendra said as she watched her friend's face contort into one of confusion.

"I know it-it's weird but–" she cut herself off, trying to gather her thoughts. "She was also one, and the person she was protecting died. frontotemporal dementia. I met her a few times, she was a lovely woman and her son was so energetic and it rocked my mother to her core when she died, so she vowed she stop, she's never take on another charge, but she'd still protect, just never like that." Kendra said as she took a breath as Derek moved to hug his friend.

"I got my charge when I turned nineteen. It's why I stayed, I needed to keep an eye on him. I needed to protect him, that's why I teach at the high school." Kendra said as she rested her head on his shoulder. She wasn't used to being so open with people, she didn't have many friends in Beacon Hills, despite being close with Melissa McCall and Noah Stilinski, Kendra was younger than both, it felt good having Derek back.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
I love Kendra and Derek's friendship <33 also the hints in this, i-i love it :)