After finally being able to pry Lydia's hands from her arm, Samantha rambled off an excuse of having somewhere she needed to be and Lydia left with Allison.

Sam took a deep breath of the cool night air and looked around Scott's street before racing towards the side alley where she'd parked her car, out of sight from her pack members.

Her tires screeched against the pavement as she pulled out onto the street so fast, she'd almost went up on two wheels as she sped off in the direction Derek had left, followed moments later by Scott and Stiles.

Jackson's fate had been sealed now. He was, without question, the kanima.
Which meant Derek wouldn't stop until he was dead.

But she was worried Derek would get killed in the process.
And a small part of her, a part she was trying desperately to ignore was also hoping there was some way to save Jackson.

She'd never liked him and it was obvious he thought very little of her, and even knowing if the situation was reversed he wouldn't lift a finger to help her; it was still hard to stomach the thought of killing him, he didn't ask for this to happen to him.

Her shoes pounded against the dark abandoned parking lot under an empty overpass as she raced towards the sounds of fighting.

As she approached the fight she saw Derek pinned against one of the cement support beams, the only thing between him and the deadly claws of the kanima was an old car door he'd found.

Within seconds Sam shifted into her werewolf form as she raced at the kanima and dug her claws into his back, throwing him backwards away from her pinned alpha.

Even with her werewolf speed and senses, somehow the kanima was faster and stronger. Sam was tossed to the side just in time to look up and see Derek get thrown several feet away from her.

She heard a car extremely close to them, but ignored the sounds as she started to make a run at the kanima again.

Before she even got close Derek grabbed her and pulled her to the other side of the wide, large cement supports from the overpass above.

Not understanding what was happening she tried to pull away and go see where Jackson had gone, she could the reptilian hissing nearby.

But Derek quickly pinned her against the beam and growled, "Be quiet."

Her face shifted back to human and she heard a gunshot, followed by another, and then several more as Chris Argent unloaded an entire clip into the kanima.

Sam stared up to Derek as he still had her pinned, and her heart picked up even more speed.

He'd been looking around, keeping alert to make sure neither the kanima nor the hunters sneaked up on them.

But when he heard her heart change, he glanced down at her.
His face now human as he watched her, but she quickly averted her eyes.

They were both just feet away from hunters and the kanima, yet her heart rate reacted to him more than anything else in the moment.

The gunshots stopped and they both heard footsteps approaching.

She opened her mouth to ask if they should run or fight, but he shook his head back and forth, a sign that she still wasn't supposed to make a noise.

The footsteps got even closer; their eyes locked and Sam held her breath as they waited for what would happen next.

When the footsteps continued, she couldn't hold her silence. She needed to know a plan, if they got attacked were they going to flee or fight?

"Are we fleeing or..." Her voice trailed off when his eyes started to glow red as they bore into hers.

There was another footstep, in the silence of the night and to her werewolf ears it sounded like it could have been made by a dinosaur.

Leaning in his forehead touched hers as he whispered, "You are."

She swallowed hard and she was sure her heart was beating loud enough that even a human could hear it.

Then it dawned on her what he said; she was fleeing but not him?

Her eyes narrowed at him as she realized that meant she was fleeing and he was fighting, probably to cause a distraction she'd have a chance at making it out alive.

No way, she wasn't about to flee and leave Derek to be killed.
She might have had a problem with them killing Lydia on the suspicion that she might be the kanima, but this was different.

She was about to run off and leave her alpha to be killed.
She'd never do that to Derek, even if he'd ordered her to do so. And if that meant she had to kill, including some humans, then so be it.

Soon her focus was back on external sounds when she heard the sound of a gun click, but no gunshots.

Did the hunters really need to use anymore ammo on the kanima? When she heard a loud hiss, it occurred to her that apparently they did. Somehow an entire round hadn't killed it.

Is that even possible, she wondered as she stared at Derek with a confused expression. But she could tell by his face that he had no idea how it was happening either.

Once the hunters left, they assumed to follow the kanima, Derek moved and let Sam out away from the pillar.

"How is Jackson still alive after that?" She breathed looking around them.

"Jackson? You saw that thing, it isn't Jackson anymore." He argued, still not understanding her need to humanize it.

"He's in there though." She fought back, shaking her head at his willingness to dismiss the fact that under that reptilian skin there was a teenage boy.

"Is he? You don't know that." He said, watching her closely.

She shrugged, she didn't have a response. She truly had no idea if there was any trace of Jackson inside of the kanima.

"Exactly." He said as he turned to walk away.

When she started to follow him, he turned and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Helping you..."

"You've done enough, just go home." He ordered as he turned back around but stopped when he heard her still following him.

Looking over his shoulder his face had shifted and his eyes glowed bright red as he growled, "Go home, Sam."

She came to an abrupt stop and stared at him with a hurt expression on her face.

~()~

It was well over an hour later that Sam slowly descended the steps to Derek's hideout.

She'd managed to pick on Stiles' scent and followed him to a gay club where she'd stayed in the background, watching everything play out but not intervening.

As she closed her eyes she could still see when Derek had slit the kanima's throat with his claws. She'd hoped that he would have listened to her, or at least realized for himself that killing him was wrong.

After she'd seen that, she found a back exit from the club where she saw the kanima stumbling around until it collapsed on the ground, and turned back into Jackson.

Just as Scott and Stiles found them by following the blood trail, Jackson managed to take a breath and his gruesome wounds healed on their own.

She'd helped them load his nude, unconscious body into the back of Stiles jeep before she fled the area, ignoring Scott asking her for her help and to stay.

If she didn't know where they were keeping Jackson then she wouldn't have to tell Derek and maybe they could manage to save him instead of kill him.

"Look who it is." Isaac grumbled as he spotted Sam.

She looked around the room, realizing immediately Derek wasn't back yet.

"Hey..." She greeted, hoping by some chance that the bitter scent of anger wasn't directed towards her.

"Hey? That's what you've got to say to us?" Isaac asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and shot her a look.

She diverted her gaze from his angry eyes and looked to Erica in hopes of a friendly face, but was met by the same angry, betrayed expression that Isaac had been giving her.

She saw Boyd standing against the subway car staring down to the ground.
Not necessarily as angry at her as everyone else was, but also not willing to step up and come to her defense.

"I know you're mad, but come on guys." She pleaded, after the events of the day she just needed the friendship and support from her pack mates.

"Mad? Mad oesn't even begin to cover what I am." Isaac growled, his eyes briefly flashing to their golden yellow, before back to his normal blue hue.

With a defeated sigh she dropped her arms to her sides and shook her head.

"You fought against us." Erica accused as she moved and stood beside Isaac.

Sam shifted uncomfortably.

"You're supposed to be my best friend." Erica snapped. She wasn't upset about not being able to kill Lydia, she was hurt and felt betrayed that Sam had stood by hidden way in the house somewhere while her pack was fighting.

"You lied to us." Isaac added.

"I didn't mean to."

"You're the one always going on about how a pack is a family and loyalty is important. You went against every single one of us tonight." Isaac continued.

Feeling attacked, she defensively retorted, "Are you mad because I helped save Lydia, or are you just mad because they outsmarted and beat you?"

Taking a step forward he scoffed, "Maybe they wouldn't have gotten the upper hand if you'd been on our side for a change."

Sam looked around the hideout, a space where she'd spent so much time with Derek and then the rest of her pack.

There were still blood stains on the cement from her first full moon when she'd managed to break free and hurt Derek.

The last few months, the place had felt more like home than her own house. This was the one place she could fully be herself. Not have to worry about anyone seeing she was a werewolf.

But now the abandoned subway stop felt cold and uninviting.
She'd weighed the risks and made a decision, knowing the consequences and now she had to deal with her pack's wrath.

"You're missing the point here. You almost killed an innocent person today." Sam stood her ground even though she wanted to turn and flee.

Erica couldn't help but let out a laugh, "Lydia Martin is not innocent."

"Alright, so she's not been the friendliest person to any of us in the past. And honestly, so what if she turned you down freshman year?" Sam asked, facing Isaac.

Erica spoke before anyone else could, "It's not about Lydia. This is about you working against us. Sam, I trusted you more than anyone else... and you let me down."

"You let us all down." Isaac agreed.

"This is ridiculous." Sam breathed out, feeling like she was on the verge of tears.

"No, what's ridiculous is that you're always preaching to us about pack loyalty and doing what Derek says, then you go and undermine us. We all know you've been sucking up to Derek because you want him to notice you." Erica snapped.

Several rude comebacks that would hurt Erica came to mind, but Sam bit her tongue.
Maybe it was that she was so mad at them, or the fact that she'd been through more in that one day than she could handle, she wasn't sure but she was losing her grip on her emotions fast.

"You got what you wanted, Lydia is still breathing... so why are you crying?" Erica asked, her expression stone cold.

"You know what I saw today? I saw a group of people team up to protect one of their own, risked their lives to save Lydia. And then you know what is the most mind blowing thing of it all? They find out that Jackson is the kanima, none of them like Jackson, but they still teamed up to try and save him. Not only is that a real pack, but none of them had to go against something they knew was wrong. You all just expected me to go along with this and sit back while Lydia was murdered? How sick is that?" Sam yelled at them.

For the first time Boyd looked up, slowly nodding with what Sam was saying.

Isaac opened his mouth to say something but then stopped as his gaze fell past Sam.

She didn't even have to turn around to know it was Derek behind her.

Without even looking at him, she turned and headed back up the stairs.

~()~

For the next few days she didn't go to school or work. She was helping her Aunt Alice and Uncle David move into their new house.

She'd left strict instructions with her family to not tell anyone where she was, the truth was she didn't want to be found.

A part of her was stubbornly thinking as long as she kept her distance from her pack they couldn't officially kick her out.
The idea of being an omega in a town full of bloodthirsty hunters was terrifying.

And then there was the fact that she didn't want to face Derek at all. Even though everything she did was because it felt like the right thing to do.
She still felt bad about going against him.

Even though their relationship had just started, Sam was realizing it would be challenging in ways she hadn't originally expected.

That was if there was still even a relationship between them, at this point she didn't know.
She felt like her entire pack turned their backs on her.

Sam was sitting at the kitchen island in her Aunt's kitchen as she slowly took glasses out of a box and removed the newspaper around them, her eyes kept drifting back to her phone.

She'd gotten more calls and texts in the past few days than she had in her entire life.
She'd had missed calls from Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Isaac, Erica and Boyd.

Not to mention the few texts she'd gotten from Derek telling her to come by the hideout before school each day.

But since she wasn't going to school, she didn't see much of a need to go see him either.

"David is at the old house, getting the last of the boxes loaded into his truck." Alice said as she walked in the room giving her niece a smile.

"Okay." Sam nodded.

"You know I've got a little while before I need to leave for work." She said, her voice trailing off and leaving the sentence open.

She'd been trying to get Sam to open up to her since she'd started to help them move and get settled in, but obviously Sam couldn't tell her much.

Sam shook her head back and forth.

Alice nodded and laid her work bag up on the counter to get her name badge and other work necessities out.

She worked as a nurse at the hospital with her ex-sister-in-law, Sam's mom.

"Just remember, contrary to what you may believe it hasn't been centuries since I was a teenager. I know how confusing it all can be... I'm here if you need to talk." She urged causing Sam to give her a small, but genuine smile.

Once she was gone, Sam was in the house all by herself. She'd put the cups in the cabinet and returned to her seat at the island with her cellphone.

Maybe it was time to call someone back.

Erica had left numerous messages apologizing for everything that had happened and wanted to talk to her.
She seemed like the safest start to initiate contact with.

But before she could call her friend back, the doorbell rang.

Sam answered the door, a stunned look of shock on her face as she stared back at Matt.

When she didn't greet him or say anything really, he stumbled over his words, "Oh uh-hey, you're probably wondering why I'm here...er, or how I knew you'd be here..."

He stopped as she was shaking her head back and forth.

"Actually, I'm just kind of happy to see a friendly face; someone who doesn't completely hate me." She admitted, dismissing the fact that no one should have known where she was except her family who wouldn't have told anyone.

A brief relieved expression fell over his face as he nodded and said, "I just came to check on you."

"You wanna come in?" She asked as she stepped to the side and he walked in nodding in thanks to her.

"You haven't been in school or at work." He stated.

She paused and looked at him, "How did you know I haven't been to work?"

"We're in the process of getting a new stove, my family's just been eating out this week." He lied.

She started to ask him how he even knew where she worked in the first place, but he held up a folder as he said, "I went ahead and picked up your homework."

"Oh... well, thank you." She said smiling as she took the folder and lead him in the kitchen.

"Nice house." He observed from the ornate wood work and the vaulted ceilings

"I've been helping my aunt and uncle get moved and settled in." She explained as she looked around the large kitchen with a few empty boxes sitting around.

They talked about school for a little while and then he asked, "You wanna talk about why you went M.I.A?"

Letting out a small, dry laugh she hung her head as she said, "it's a really long, really complicated story."

Keeping eye contact with her he said, "You know... lacrosse and photography aren't my only talents. I also happen to be an excellent listener."

"There's just... some stuff going on right now that I can't really talk about." She vaguely answered, knowing how cliché that sounded.
But it was the truth, she couldn't really open up to anyone about this.

After a few moments of silence she quietly asked, "Do you think everyone can be saved?"

Matt turned in his seat at the kitchen island to face her more as he questioned, "You mean like, does everyone have something redeemable inside of them?"

She nodded, thinking he'd worded it a lot more eloquently than she had.

"Is this about your dad?" Matt asked.

Sam's eyes widened as she breathed out, "What? No..." She hadn't known Matt had even known about her family.

"Oh." He said, before letting out a small nervous laugh.

Sam listened to his heart rate jump a few times, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not sure what was going on or why'd he even asked her about that.

"It's getting pretty late, my uncle will be home soon. But I'll see you tomorrow at school." She politely said as she stood up and motioned for him to follow her to the door.

"You're actually going to be at school tomorrow?" He joked.

"I think so." She laughed, trying to ignore the eerie feeling she'd had a few moments prior.

Her skin still felt prickly.

As they walked out onto the dark porch, Sam surveyed the moon in the sky. It wasn't long until she realized it would be a full moon in just a few short days.

It would be Erica and Boyd's first full moon, and if she didn't go back to her pack Derek would have to try and contain them all by himself, including Isaac.

She considered that maybe there was some agreement that could be reached in the pack. She wouldn't interfere with their plans, and they didn't involve her in any schemes to kill anyone.

"What do you say?" She heard Matt ask, but his voice sounded distant.

"Huh?" she asked, shaking her head back and forth trying to clear her mind.

"I said it sounds like you could use some fun. There's going to be this underground show and I could get us tickets." He offered for the second time.

"An underground show... like a rave?" She asked with a laugh, "Those are still a thing?"

She could see someone like Erica at a rave, but not herself.

"If you want to call it that, yeah." He said, laughing with her.

Taking a deep breath she declined, "It sounds like a lot of fun and it's really sweet of you to ask... but, I'm kind of seeing someone right now." She said and then closed her eyes for a few seconds as she thought of how she wasn't even sure where she and Derek stood now.

"You're talking about Derek?" He asked, as his jaw tensed in anger.

When she shot him a confused look he sighed and said, "I saw you guys at the hardware store, remember?"

"Oh! Yeah." Sam nodded waving a hand in front of her.
Where was her mind, lately?

"As friends then?" He pushed.

She started to decline his offer again, but then she thought about it more.
Maybe that's what she needed, was a night out with a friend. A non-werewolf friend.

"As friends." She agreed, then thanked him for the invitation.

After saying their goodbyes he started down the stairs, stopping when he reached the ground.

Turning around he said, "About what you asked me earlier, about if everyone can be saved. No, I don't think they can. There are some people who have done unforgivable things."

His mind flashed back to a past traumatic experience as he continued, "The things some people do are so terrible that they deserve to die."

It felt like the wind have been knocked out of her as she watched him turn and get into his car without so much as a glance back in her direction.

~()~

A/N- Thank you all for reading.