ೃ⁀➷ ˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
sirens, sirens
( teen wolf. s3A )

chapter seventeen.
mothers

     BEFORE any of them could even consider their options with the return of Jennifer Blake, demanding to be kept safe so they could save two people they cared about from her, Derek charged. In his anger, he had stormed past both Stiles and Alani, the former moving away as quickly as possible so as not to get trampled on. The werewolf threw things to the ground in his haste, not caring whether they were important or not. All he wanted to do was wrap his hands around the woman's throat until the life faded from her eyes.

     If it were any other circumstance, that thought would've terrified Alani Mordor. She had never been one for violence━━ever. Hell, it wasn't even until she turned up at Beacon Hills and met everyone else that she'd been involved in such things. But, with her new reality slowly beginning to sink in as each day passed, each each new problem raised up from below, she came to terms with the fact that she didn't care━━at least, not right then.

     She wouldn't care if Derek Hale succeeded in his haste to kill the woman who had managed to deceive them all. She wouldn't care if Derek Hale chocked the life from his eyes, letting her soul float away into the dark abyss. Jennifer Blake had dragged everyone through hell and back for weeks━━it was the least she deserved; no mercy.

     But, then another thought crossed her mind. No matter how satisfied she'd feel with Jennifer Blake no longer on the playing board, they needed her. The woman said it herself━━without her, none of them would be able to save Cora from whatever was slowly tearing her insides apart and killing her; they would knew find out where Sheriff Stilinski was being kept, unable to save him from such a terrible demise. They needed her, which meant they couldn't kill her.

     Coming to that exact same conclusion, Scott rushed forwards to stop Derek's attack, wrapping his arms around his former Alpha and encasing him within his grasp, not allowing him any movement. "Derek, wait━━!"

     "She was trying to get out," Derek accused the woman, who only continued to stand nonchalantly, completely unfazed by the previous attack on her.

      She sighed. "I was trying to keep from getting killed━━you can't blame me for that."

     Alani had no idea what to feel; she was at a crossroads. On one hand, there was no way they could trust her━━any of them. She had deceived every single person in that very room using any excuse she could, and even tried to kill one of them... she'd tried to kill Lydia! Jennifer Blake was a woman of deception, and they couldn't take her words as the truth until they saw some sort of evidence.

     Yet, Alani understood what she meant. Maybe she knew the powerful the Alpha twins had, and knew both Scott and Derek surely wouldn't stand a chance against them. Maybe she knew they'd be after her in a millisecond, activating her fight or flight response. If it was Alani in that situation, she'd have run, too. But, then again, Alani could exactly imagine herself in such a situation━━she'd never kill someone for a human sacrifice, no matter the rewards at the end.

     Taking his hold off from her, Stiles tracked forward, one slow step at a time, but his words held meaning. "If you want to show you're one of the good guys," he gestured to the left of him, at Cora, "then heal her."

     The woman shook her head, shrugging indifferently. "Not until I'm safe."

     A scoff fell from Alani's lips before she could stop herself. With the silence within the room, the sound was heard from all of them. However, it was only Jennifer who called attention to it, the others continuing to stare her down.

     Alani suddenly felt sheepish when their gazes met. A smirk tugged at the woman's lips, tilting her head to the side. For a brief moment, Alani noticed Scott tense from up in front of her, moving slightly to try and block Jennifer's gaze from the girl. "Why don't you have a look, Alani?" she taunted. "Have a look and tell them I'll stay true to my word."

     She shrunk back, hating the way the woman was speaking to her, like she was a little girl who still had so much to learn. In a way, she supposed she was━━but she didn't like the be treated like one. Alani practically had everything to learn when it came to her seeing abilities, and right in front of her could be the all the answers she sought, all the lessons she'd want to learn. But, she couldn't━━she could give Jennifer Blake the benefit of the doubt of knowing that everything person in that room needed her, in one form or another. She didn't want to know anything, not if it came from her.

     In response, Alani narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw, doing her best to appear pissed off with the woman. She wasn't quite sure whether her expression worked or not━━the woman bit back a chuckle, and that was that.

     Alani just hoped she'd stop talking to her altogether.

     Walking up, Peter spoke casually. "I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion." Wasting no time, he cut off all the bullshit of beating around the bush. "Let's torture her."

     "Works for me." Derek agreed.

     Scott was just moments away from attempting to stop both the Hale's from doing something they'd no doubt regret when someone they cared about was moments away from death, when a sound drowned out every movement. It was the P.A system, squeaking as it brought an announcement to them all.

     She didn't know what it was, but Alani didn't like the idea of the P.A system suddenly turning on. The last she heard, everyone was leaving, having all plans set out and ready to go. They wouldn't need it unless something hadn't gone according to plan, unless something extremely bad had occurred in the time they'd been running away from the twins.

     "Um, can I have your attention?" a shaky voice rose through the speaker,  distress and unease clear in her voice. In an instant, they all knew who it was━━Melissa McCall. Alani's head shot over to Scott, finding her face suddenly pale. "Mr. Deucalion..." she breathed, trembling, "excuse me, just Deucalion, requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the E.R. reception." The woman in question shook her head, looking down at the floor. "Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."

     They should've known━━they should've known something was bound to happen when they left Melissa McCall and every other innocent resident within the building. They knew the Alphas might come after Cora, and yet they'd taken that chance anyway. And, this was the price to pay━━

     ━━Melissa McCall.

     Alani couldn't imagine the thoughts beginning to swim and fluster around inside Scott's mind. That was his mother━━the only blood relative he had left, and now she was with Deucalion, someone who would stop at anything to get what he wants, even if that means killing someone so purely innocent.

     The blonde imagined her own mother━━Rose━━and what she would be filling if the McCall's roles were swapped with the Mordor's. The pair had always struggled getting on with one another, and they always blamed it on the fact that they were biologically related━━maybe all families that consisted of adopted children struggled like they did. But, then Alani could suddenly do things, see things, and they blamed it on that instead. Because no young child should be able to see things so far into the future━━no person should━━but she could, and it caused a strain on their relationship.

     Alani was too hard on her mother━━because that's what she was; her mother. Rose Mordor had always been her mother, and always will be. She never got angry with her when Alani needed space, or when she yelled or refused to call her mom; she never tossed her aside when Alani started doing things that should've been considered impossible. She stuck by her side, comforting her, when she had every chance to throw her back into the system and be done with her.

     Alani Mordor loved her mother, and it was then she truly realised she needed to show it more.

     Swallowing, Jennifer decided to try her best at convincing, despite the solemnness surrounding within the atmosphere. "He's not gonna hurt her━━"

     "━━Shut up." Derek snapped, pointing an accusing finger at the woman. Alani would've laughed if bile hadn't been slowly rising in the back of her throat at the prospect of Scott's mother getting harmed.

     "He won't." The woman insisted, adamant in her thoughts. Alani couldn't understand how she'd know that━━none of them could. From everything each of them knew about the pack of Alphas, it was they were insistent on getting what they wanted, tearing anyone down who made the wrong decision to get in their way. They were brutal, vicious and dangerous... who knew what he might do to Melissa if they didn't act quickly. Jennifer sighed, turning to Scott. "Scott... you know why. Tell them it's true."

     Confusion settled within each of their bones as they looked towards the culprit. None of them liked listening to her for a single second, cautious so as not to give in to her deceptiveness once again. But, Scott's expression drew them all away. "What does she mean?" Derek asked.

     It was clear Scott didn't want to speak up, didn't want to face the truth of another stupid situation they found themselves in again. Whatever it was he didn't want to admit to must've been serious━━he hadn't told Stiles, for one thing, she noticed, as the boy stepped a little forwards, but making sure to stay close to the blonde.

     Looking back and forth at their silent conversation, Jennifer sighed, coming to the realisation that Scott wouldn't admit it himself. "You're not the only one he wants in his pack."

     For a second, Alani was confused, not completely understanding what Jennifer meant by that. But, then it all hit her at once. Deucalion had been trying to get Derek to join his pack for the past couple weeks, forcing him to kill his Betas off one by one, until there was nothing left and he almost had no choice but to succumb. But, Deucalion didn't just want Derek━━he wanted Scott, too.

     They had no idea why he'd want Scott━━the boy wasn't an Alpha; he wasn't even apart of a true pack anymore. What rewards would Deucalion get out of forcing Scott on his side?

     And, then another thought crossed her mind... If Derek's Betas were being killed just so they'd mentally tear him down enough to join them, what did that mean for Scott... and them? Were they all in danger now? Would Deucalion try and force Scott to kill his friends once he refused?

     Because he'd no doubt refuse━━Scott would never join Deucalion... right?

     "Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack," Jennifer continued, ignoring the curious and surprised looks everyone wore, "he wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks."

     "...A true Alpha..." Peter mumbled under his breath.

     A crease littered between her brows in confusion as she thought about their words. What did that have to do with Scott? "What's that?" Stiles questioned from beside her.

     "The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another. One that can rise by the force of his own will..." he paused for suspense, before finally dropping the bomb on them all. "Our little Scott."

     A disbelieving what?! fell from her Alani's lips, quiet as a hushed whisper, not truly being able to understand what it all meant. Scott was an Alpha by his own right━━he didn't have to kill anyone for the position, because he was just meant to be one.

     That's why Deucalion wanted Scott to join him, because, by the sounds of it all, with a true Alpha on his side, he'd be unstoppable.

     Everyone was looking at Scott, expressions of shock, bewilderment and anxiety clear on every face. Who knew how long Scott knew about this new thing regarding his status; who knew what had been going through his mind when he realised Deucalion wanted him just as much as he wanted Derek. Scott hadn't told them, and they couldn't blame him for it. If he couldn't admit to himself, how could he admit to others?

     Scott's eyes focused on each person in the room, choosing to ignore the smirk residing on Jennifer's face at the idea of revealing something so harrowing. "It doesn't matter," he whispered, shaking his head gently, like he was shaking all the thoughts from out of his head. He turned sharply back to Jennifer, focusing back on what needed the most attention right then. "We still need to get her out of here."

     "Scott━━" Alani began.

     "Scott, your mom━━" Stiles cautioned.

     "My mom," Scott agreed, nodding at both of his friends as if to reassure them everything was okay, that he was sorry for not telling either of them sooner, and that he had a plan worth following, "said there's one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes. And, I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here."

     God, getting out of there sounded like a great plan to Alani.

     But, Peter had to pop her bubble of optimism. "The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out."

     Scott shrugged. "I'll distract them."

     "You mean fight them?" Derek bounced back.

     The boy paused, considering, before coming to a conclusion. "Whatever I have to do."

     Derek nodded, impressed. "I'll help you."

     Alani felt ease run through her system at the idea of Scott fighting the twins with someone else. The idea of him going against them alone was enough to make her heart race. She cared about Scott━━she looked at him like a younger sister would to an older brother, and she appreciated him for everything he'd done for her. She wasn't about to lose him... She'd lose herself before she lost Scott McCall.

     "Um, sorry," Jennifer spoke up, false remorsefulness within her tone, "but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek."

     For a moment, Alani was about to speak up. She was about to tell their former English teacher that she could, quite politely, go and fuck herself for having so many demands when they were putting their lives on the line for her, just so she eventually save two people she had threatened in the first place. Alani didn't want Scott alone, and if she'd have to verbally abuse the woman to get that in their favour, she would.

     But, Peter beat her to it. "I'll do it," he sighed, exasperated. The others looked at him, slightly shocked at his willingness to agree so quickly. "But, I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage."

     "Advantage?" Alani echoed.

     "Like, what? Like, a weapon?" Stiles questioned.

     Peter looked over at the two, eyeing them up and down before he smirked, shrugging. "Something better than a baseball bat."

     Immediately, the man started looking through every draw he could get his hands on, motioning with his hands for the others to join in and help him in his search for something dangerous.

     Drawer after drawer, Alani couldn't find anything━━at least nothing that could harm a set of Alpha twins. Considering they were currently residing in a morgue, Alani would've expected things of a more sinister nature hiding within the confines of the drawers, but all she seemed to come across we folders and paper towels.

     "Hey, wait," Stiles called, gaining all of their attentions. Alani stopped searching, turning around and standing straight as she watched him hold up a defibrillator. "What about these?"

     Alani thought it might've been a good idea━━shocking them continuously, but Derek was quick to shut it down. "Do you know how to use those?"

     "Well, no."

     "Then, put 'em down."

      Taking one last look at the medical tool he was holding, Stiles pursed his lips, nodding in agreement and put them back where they belonged. Alani emitted a small chuckle at the boy's actions, watching him struggle throw another series of drawers, before returning to her own. But, she only continued to find folders. It seemed her side of the room held folders only, It was a morgue━━how many folders did they need?

     "Epinephrine?"

     Alani turned around when she didn't recognise the word Scott had questioned, and found him holding a gigantic needle. She'd never seen one like that before━━she thought they were only like that in cartoons, but clearly not.

     "That's only gonna make them stronger." Derek commented, shaking his head.

     Peter's head perked up, looking at the needle with idle curiosity. "How strong?"

     His intentions were clear behind his question that he intended to inject it in both himself and Scott to give them a much better advantage against the twins. Alani didn't know how safe it was to be doing such a thing, but didn't speak up as she watched the needle poke through Scott's skin gently, the liquid coursing through. In a matter of moments, Peter stole the needle, before plummeting into his chest. A wince left Alani's mouth at the sight, eyes scrunching shut.

     No words of encouragement were able to be said to Scott as he and Peter made their way from the room, standing in the doorway and looking down the corridor at what she could only presume were the twins. This was their distraction so the five of them could get down to the garage in time━━Alani just wished it didn't involve putting her friend in harm's way.

     They couldn't see what was going on, but they could definitely hear it. Growl after growl, roar after roar, Alani was glad she couldn't see the fight taking place━━the shredding of tear, the dropping of blood and the gnashing of teeth.

     Hearing the fight commence slightly down the corridor, the group took that as their chance to leave. Stiles was up front, opening the doors and peeking down the corridor, only to be met with a tumble of wolves as they fought. But, they didn't stop to watch for very long. They crept past unawares, sneaking down to the other corridor and out of sight, the fight continuing to echo against the walls.

     No one spoke as they all rushed through the corridors, turning corners sharply, and feet clanging against the stairs in a hurry to depart from the danger as unscathed as they could be. The only noise you could hear was their panting breaths and frantic footsteps.

     Making it down to the ground level, they pushed open the doors in hopes of their plan succeeding. "It's still here!" Stiles exclaimed, and a weight Alani didn't know she held had been lifted off her shoulders at those words. They couldn't afford for anything else to go wrong, not with so much at stake━━so many lives.

     Herself and Stiles held the doors open for Derek to make his way through, carrying an unconscious Cora across his shoulders, Jennifer following close behind him. Everything felt weird━━just earlier they were going to let Derek kill the woman, before she revealed that each of them needed her alive so they could save those they cared about. How did things drastically change? How did they go from hating so venomously to allowing her to help with their plan?

     Once both adults were through the doors, Stiles ran over to the ambulance, opening it up and placing Cora inside. Stiles had already climbed in, helping from the inside, whilst Alani hopped from foot to foot in a form of restless anxiety.

     "Derek," Jennifer called, and it was only then Alani realised the woman had moved from where she'd last seen her, "over here."

     Immediately, Alani thought her call was a red flag. They couldn't trust her, and she could be using that moment to lure Derek some place else and immobilise him so she had the opportunity to run away.  With both teams off the board, she could.

     Walking over to where Jennifer stood, Derek paused in his place, something clearly having taken him aback. When the woman started walking closer to whatever they had found, the werewolf motioned towards Alani. "Get in the ambulance."

     She didn't need to be told twice.

     Alani hurried in, trying to make as little sound as she could in hopes of not causing to much attention to them. She didn't know what they had found━━she hadn't seen it━━but she didn't want to take any chances, either.

     As she sat down, Stiles gave her questioning look, one she could only shrug to in response. They were sat opposite one another, Cora in between them, lying lifelessly on top of a gurney. Alani fidgeted with her hands, nervous, wanting nothing more than for Derek and Jennifer to get back to them, even if she hated the latter. Those two could protect them if anything were to go south━━Alani and Stiles could barely hold up their own body weight.

     "Hey, what do you━━"

     Stiles' quiet whisper was drowned out when another voice tore through their surroundings. "Julia." The voice sang, menacing, taunting, sounding way too close for their liking. She had no idea who this Julia person was, and she didn't want to know. Alani had a feeling it couldn't mean anything good.

     The two conscious teens shared a look of pure terror, before Stiles shot up and gently closed the ambulance doors, careful not to make a single sound. The last thing they needed was to be found out by whoever was outside, potentially threatening Derek and Jennifer. Nothing could be heard from outside the vehicle, having no idea whether they were conversing or not, until a roar clawed through and the two adults ran past the ambulance. Quickly following behind them was Kali, teeth sharp and bared, venom clear in her blood-red eyes.

     Too stunned to speak, neither teenager moved a muscle for several seconds, being extra cautious of every little thing surrounding them. They only stared, open mouth and wide eyed, before letting out a shaky breath once deeming it might be okay to breathe.

     Alani sat, hands resting on her legs and head hanging low and thoughts began to consume her. Was Scott okay? Had he won the diversion against the twins? Would they be able to save Cora in time? Noah? Was Melissa okay━━?

     Melissa.

     Her thoughts only spiralled back to her own mother again, dread and guilt consuming her for having taken the woman for granted for so long. She shook her head, a bitter chuckle echoing throughout the vehicle, and she could suddenly feel Stiles' eyes on her figure, curious. "I can't imagine what Scott's going through... with his mom and everything..." she explained, her voice barely above a whisper, a gentle wisp floating in the air around them. She didn't know what came over her, but before she knew it, Alani couldn't stop talking. "I've always been so hard on mine━━I used to blame it on the fact that she's not my biological mother and she never really cared about me 'cause that's not how it worked." A just-visible line started to appear underneath her eyes where the tears formed, but she willed herself to hold them back as best as she could. She'd rather not cry in front of Stiles Stilinski, even if they had slowly learned to grow closer together. "But, she brought me up━━" she continued, an earnest smile playing at her lips, "━━she's my mother, and I couldn't I couldn't imagine losing her, not like Scott might."

     Alani was surprised with herself. She'd only really just learned to admit that to herself━━after so long of holding some stupid grudge against the one person who loved her dearly , her mother deserved better, more than what Alani was giving her. There wasn't a single instance the blonde could try to think of where Rose hadn't been there for her, holding her hand or comforting her when things got too hard. And, suddenly, she was admitting it all to someone else━━to Stiles, of all people. If anything, she thought it would've been Scott she'd be telling it all to, but he wasn't there. Maybe everything just slowly built up within her to the point of sudden explosion, and she needed to get everything out before she mentally cracked, and that person just so happened to be the one sitting right in front of her.

     Who would've guessed, at the start of the academic year, that Alani and Stiles would be as close as they were now?

     "My mom died around eight years ago, or something like that," Stiles' voice broke through the atmosphere, causing Alani's head to snap up in his direction at such a revelation. She hadn't known anything about his mother, and just automatically assumed that she was out of the picture━━she wouldn't have guessed something like that. "It was a form of dementia." The boy explained, fiddling with his fingers and not daring to look up and face the one person he slowly started to find comfort in. "I loved her━━I really did, like any child would... but, I guess I never really knew how much I loved her, how much I relied on her and needed her, until she was gone." Silence enveloped the pair as each of them thought about their mother's and their significance in each of their lives. That was when he finally looked up at her, intense in his words. "Talk to her━━tell her you love her, because if it's not the supernatural world that'll take her, it might the real one."

     His words caused something to click within Alani's mind, because he was right (like he always was). Alani needed to talk to her mother before it was too late and all her guilt and regret consuming her would end up killing her. She needed to tell her she was sorry for everything in their past, she needed to tell her that she loved her, and that she appreciated everything she did for her. If they didn't have long left together, Alani wanted to make it worth it; she wanted to show her mother━━her real mother━━how much she meant to her.

     They didn't say anything after that. Alani only sent him an sympathetic smile, tense and calculated, before nodding gently. She was grateful for Stiles' words━━all of them━━because whilst he gave her good advice on what to do with her own life, he always revealed hidden secrets from his own. He hadn't needed to━━he probably could've just told her to appreciate her mother a bit more━━but he got personal, and that meant he trusted her.

     Alani Mordor hadn't felt more towards Stiles Stilinski than she had in that moment.

     "Right," Stiles sighed, shifting in his seat as to shake off their personal moment and move onto something else, "how you doing? You doing good?" He was looking down at Cora's unconscious form, rubbing his hands together like he was about to be the one to save the girl's life himself.

     A chuckle escaped the blonde's lips at his antics, shaking her head softly. But, when she looked down, she noticed something wrong. Cora's chest was no longer moving. "Stiles..." she warned, words coarse and strained, panicked.

     The boy appeared confused, before following Alani's line of sight, and finding the same thing she did. "Why do you look like you're not breathing?"

     "I don't think she is."

     They hadn't completely panicked yet, because that could only lead to more things going wrong if they weren't completely focused and in their right mind's. Stiles hesitated, his hands moving back and forth like he didn't want to find out the truth, and placed his fingers against her neck. Alani couldn't tell the verdict from his reaction immediately, only watching as he seemed puzzled, then leaning down so as to catch her breathes from her exhales. Eyes wide, his head shot back up. "Oh, yeah, she'd definitely not breathing."

     This couldn't be it━━this couldn't be how everything ended. Not when they had put their asses on the line just so Jennifer would be safe to eventually help them all out, and not when Scott's mom was currently in danger. If Cora died now, a lot of the things they had done may have been for nothing.

     "Uh━━" Alani stressed.

     "What do we do━━what do we do?" Stiles' questions were frantic, hands moving unceremoniously and eyes roving through the inside of the ambulance like something was going to appear and save them all.

     Alani racked her brain for an answer, trying to think about all those times she watched those stupid television shows about real life situations. When she got it, she clapped her hands, looking expectantly towards the boy. "CPR."

     But, Stiles only appeared flabbergasted. His mouth hung open, eyes narrowed as he thought her idea over and over again. Then, he shrugged his shoulders, stuttering. "I don't━━I don't know━━"

     "Oh, my God, move." Alani stood straight, forcing Stiles back against the wall of the vehicle to give her enough room to hopefully save Cora's life. She wondered what she'd think if she told her past self she'd be saving someone she previously didn't like, especially after the way she'd talked about her in the locker rooms.

     The blonde couldn't a whole lot about what to do to perform CPR, and it was in that moment that she wished she'd paid a lot more attention to those stupid shows━━but, she also never would've guessed she'd be having to use it one day, either. The one thing she did seem to remember was blowing air into the person's mouth. So, with careful fingers, Alani positioned Cora's head correctly, at the right angle, and began mouth-to-mouth. She blew a few times, also not remembering how many you were supposed to give━━could giving too many be harmful?

     "What about the chest?" Stiles questioned, his own words panicked as he watched on and hoped for the best. "Don't you do compression thingys?" When Alani looked up at him, she found him to be gesturing to his chest, pressing down stupidly against it.

     The blonde looked back down at the unconscious girl, trembling. Her voice was just a quiet mumble as she realised she was way in over her head. "I don't know."

     "You don't know?" Stiles questioned, voice incredulous and agitated. "What do you mean you don't know?"

     "I mean I don't know, Stiles!" she explained, her voice gaining volume as the words fell from her lips. "I'm not a doctor━━I'm barely a person!" Her hands were gesturing about the place, completely in disbelief at the situation she had managed to find herself in.

     But, this was for Cora━━she had to remind herself of that. Not only would it technically be their fault if Cora died, considering they were too stupid to figure out a way to start her breathing again, but both Peter and Derek would kill them. And, no matter how much her life seemed to be spiralling out of control recently, she'd quite like to stay alive.

     So, she took Stiles' idea to mind, clasping her hands together and beginning to press down upon Cora's chest. She thought a couple of pumps would do━━making sure to be firm, but not to hard so she wouldn't harm anything else internally. After that, Alani decided to give her mouth-to-mouth again, hoping the combination of both would restore some form of life back into the girl.

     And, by some miracle, it worked. When Alani pulled away, Cora let out a ragged breath━━a strangled one, but a breath, nonetheless. Her chest had started moving, and the blonde had never felt such relief in her life. She had saved a person━━she had actually saved a person.

     "You did it," Stiles said breathlessly, leaving his own relief leave his body, too. He watched as Alani slumped back against the wall, suddenly too tired and out-of-breath from such a strong amount of panic in one moment resonating around them. "You did it!"

     A small laughed bubbled up the blonde's throat, unable to swallow it back down. "Yeah," she agreed breathlessly, pride swelling up within her both at the idea of her not being totally useless, and Stiles being impressed with her.

     But, their happiness died down when Stiles' face fell. Alani was about to question him on his sudden mood change, when someone else filled her ears━━footsteps, heading their way. They couldn't hear anything else━━no hushed voices, no grunts of pain... nothing. With it just being footsteps, Alani thought the worst, and imagined one of the Alphas finally finding their hiding place due to their panicked fumbling of trying to save Cora.

     The two teens shared a look, Alani reaching further back into the ambulance to seal her presence, whilst Stiles did the opposite, and got slightly closer. She couldn't quite believe the boy's idiocy━━she could understand if the culprit had definitely heard them and knew for a fact they were in there, but what if they hadn't? What if Stiles getting closer to the window and revealing himself only made everything worse for them?

     She was moments away from calling out to him and dragging him back towards her, away from the window, when a hand smacked against it, two faces appearing straight afterwards━━Scott, and Peter.

     "Stiles━━Stiles, open the door!" Scott's words rushed out, holding a clearly injured Peter against his arms.

     The boy was quick to move, forcing the doors open. "Sorry," he apologised in a mumble, not acting quick enough to get the two of them to safety. With the doors open, Scott gestured Peter in, the former helping him settle inside as he grunted and groaned in pain. Alani wondered what had happened out there during their diversion? "Where's Derek and Jennifer?"

     Scott sighed, slowly coming to terms with what he would have to do next. He looked from his best friend, to a new friend he knew would slowly become someone close to him. "I have to go back for them and my mom."

     "But, that's too dangerous," Alani stressed.

     He nodded, understanding, but determined all the same. "I have to try."

     Alani knew there was no point in arguing with him━━this was his own mother and former Alpha, they were talking about. He'd go to the ends of the Earth for them.

     "Okay," Stiles breathed, slightly dejected, "two problems. "Kali's got the keys to this thing, and I just saw the twins, like, thirty seconds ago."

     The blonde furrowed her brows. "Wait, you did?" She couldn't remember that happening, and she knew she definitely would have, considering the sheer size and power of them.

     "Yeah."

     "Why didn't you tell me?"

     "So, you wouldn't panic," he shrugged, nonchalantly.

     A small smirk slowly began to play at Scott's lips as he watched their interaction play out before him, but a loud bang in the near distance cut off anything he would've said to them. They all turned in that direction, wondering what else would come next to wreak havoc on their lives.

     Scott turned back, sharing looks of reassurance to all of them, nodding. "Stay here." 

     And, off he went, intent on saving everyone he could.

♡

      Alani wasn't entirely sure how long it had been since Scott had left to save everyone else, leaving the silence to envelop the rest as they waited everything out in the ambulance, the only sounds being that of breathing, and thankfully, one of those had included Cora's.

     The two teens had come up with a silent agreement to not admit to almost killing Cora through panicking when she stopped breathing━━there was no point in making them angry when they no longer needed to be.

     A sound of a screech could be heard, causing all of them to perk up and look out towards the window, finding a car swerving around the corner━━their ticket out of there. Stiles forced the doors open, allowing Peter to jump out first and grab Cora as Isaac, leaving the vehicle, yelled for them to hurry up.

     The blonde jumped out the vehicle, before closing the doors and looking behind her, finding Cora safely inside the car. But, one things made her pause━━Stiles was looking around at them all, confused and distressed. He yanked back open one of the doors, before finding some sort of form plastered on the inside of it, one Alani couldn't see, but one that caused Stiles to immediately tense in his place.

     "You two, let's go!" Isaac yelled, gesturing them to hurry up. Alani started to move towards the car, agreeing with the werewolf and wanting to leave as quick as possible, hating every moment they stayed there longer than they needed to.

     But, Stiles didn't move. Alani stopped in her tracks when she watched his eyes scan back across the form, eventually landing back on her. There was something hidden behind his eyes, like he was trying to tell her something, but she didn't have time to figure out what it was, when he ran off in the opposite direction and back into the hospital building.

     Dread consumed her, imagining the worst if she were just to allow Stiles back in there on his own. She wouldn't be able to do anything to protect him, but being on his own was worse than being there with someone else. She started to run forwards, too, desperate. "No, Stiles, you can't━━" Yet, she wasn't allowed any more freedom other than where she had managed to move to, for some had grabbed a hold of her arm and held her in place━━Isaac. His jaw was tense and his eyes narrowed as they flickered back and forth between the girl in his arms and the retreating figure of Stiles. "Let go of me," Alani seethed.

     Isaac shook his head, insistent, but still ruthlessly stoic. "I can't do that, Alani."

     "You don't even like me," she pointed out, anger tearing through her veins as her adrenaline of not allowing Stiles to be alone in such a dangerous environment began to kick in. "Why do you care if run back in there and die━━?"

     "Because you're still a part of the pack, okay?" he exclaimed, his voice rising his volume. She could tell she had hit a soft spot, one she hadn't even been targeting, and suddenly she felt bad. "And, I can't face another one of us dying."

     Her body slumped within his grasp against her own will, defected and guilty, not having realised how much they all truly meant to someone like Isaac. They hadn't gotten along from the very beginning━━the boy having been fiercely protective over the rest of his pack, including the non-werewolves━━and, yet, here they were, Scott's words ringing in the boy's head that she was one of them, part of them.

     She was part of the pack, and that meant he'd protect her, too.

     Still not having released her arm, but still keeping a firm hold of it, Alani faced the doors leading in the hospital, watching aimlessly and waiting for Stiles and Scott and the rest of them to come back out, safe and sound like nothing had even happened.

     She wouldn't leave without them━━she wouldn't leave without Stiles.

     "Get in the car," Peter ordered, waiting by the vehicle.

     "No."

     She heard him sigh, and could only imagine him rolling his eyes at her, too. "Isaac, get her in this car, now!"

     There was a clear moment of hesitation in both the boy's features and his movements, understanding the way she was feeling in that moment━━not wanting to leave those they truly cared about behind. But, he also knew it was stupid for them to stay any longer than they needed to be there. This was their first opening at an escape, and one they couldn't take for granted.

     His grip tightened on Alani once more, before moving her in the direction behind them, away from the hospital, away from Stiles. She thrashed about, relentlessly trying to worm her way out of his hold, but it was no use━━he was still a werewolf, and she still only a girl who could see.

     Isaac tried his best not to harm the blonde as he forced her into her seat and making sure to firmly close it behind him. She tried to open the door, but, sat right next to her was Peter, compelling her back in her place and not allowing her attempted escape to play out. Isaac rushed in, too, and she heard the click of a lock as the doors willed their way shut, completely disregarding of what Alani wanted most right then.

     "You can't make me do this," Alani shook her head, a tremble in her voice as the emotions started getting to her. But, she wouldn't cry━━that was one thing she wouldn't do. Sure, she'd cry in front of Scott, and Stiles, and Lydia and Allison, but not in front of Isaac, and not in front of Peter. They'd only think she was weak. "They're still in there; we need to at least wait for them."

     Peter looked behind, out of the back window of the car, worried for something or someone to turn up out of nowhere and ruin their chance of escaping safely. "Come on, we gotta go," he urged Isaac. He turned back around when he couldn't hear the start of an engine and the hospital slowly leaving in the distance. "Drive, you idiot!"

     "Not without Scott," Isaac denied, hands firmly gripped along the steering wheel, pink turning in the white at the edges.

     Clearly fed up with everyone around him, Peter growled. "Make a choice!"

     Isaac hesitated again, and for a moment, Alani thought he had turned onto her side, not allowing themselves to leave the others, those they cared about. "Isaac, don't, please," she begged.

     But, one look in the rear-view mirror, he made up his mind. Scott would kill him if he didn't get both Cora and Alani to safety when he was given the perfect opportunity. No matter how much he didn't want to leave Scott, he knew he was doing this for him.

     And, he drove off━━leaving Derek behind, leaving Scott behind, and leaving Stiles behind.

NOTE
can you tell i have absolutely no idea how to perform cpr despite doing several courses on it??
i also changed the sad scene in the ambulance to one talking about their mothers, purely bc i feel like stiles wouldn't have the conversation he had in the show with cora, with alani there, so they had a little moment.
also?? speaking of moments?? isaac & alani 🤍🤍