My eyelids are too heavy to open.

I can feel every other sense coming to me but they're disjointed, almost as if they're cuts of different movies mashed together to create one massive hodgepodge of confusion.

My head bobs up and down as if I am on a boat. Each time my body jolts at the cause of a bump, I feel a sharp stabbing pain in my head. My tongue is parched and my mouth tastes metallic. Blood. I make an effort to open my eyes but they wilt down again unconsciously.

"Arden?" I furrow my eyebrows. The word swims through whatever is clouding my mind and worms its way into the small part of my brain that is actually working. I make a small noise in my throat, almost like a whimper.

"Arden?" There it is again. Someone is calling my name. I muster up enough strength to raise a finger just slightly. "Arden." It's not a question anymore. They know I'm awake. I make that small noise in my throat again. "Arden," they repeat again.

Theo. My brain is making vague sense of what's happening now. I'm in a car. Theo is here. My whole head feels like it's about to explode but I'm alive. I made it.

I gather up all of the energy that I can. I open my eyes. It's only a slit, but still enough to make out my surroundings. Theo is holding me in the front seat of his car. I attempt to raise my head, but it lolls back onto his chest. I don't mind. I like being in his arms, my head on his chest.

"Oh, god, you're okay," he says. His voice is drowned out by the beating down of rain on the roof of the car. He strokes my face and I lean into his hand.

"Hayden?" I rub my head gently.

"Not so good," someone says from the back seat.

I prop myself up. "Easy, there," Theo mutters and puts a hand under my arm.

"Liam?" I croak out. "Are you alright?"

He nods slowly. "I could ask the same about you."

"I'm alright," I say, even though my head is swimming. I don't want anyone to waste any of their time on me when Hayden could be dying.

I rest my head back on Theo for the rest of the ride. He sometimes brushes his fingers across my cheeks, my jaw or my neck. I intertwine my fingers with his.

The car comes to a stop. Liam carries Hayden out to the animal clinic. Scott looks back at me and Theo before getting out. "You'll be okay getting her in there?" he asks. Theo nods.

Theo places his hands under my arms and lifts me as if I weigh no more than a doll. He leans over me slumped in the car seat. "I'm sorry," he mutters.

I tilt my head to the side. "Don't be sorry, Theo. You're not them."

"I should've done something to stop it," he says.

I plant my fists on my seat and move to push myself up. I groan. Theo holds his hand out. "Are you sure you're alright to walk?" He raises his eyebrows.

I nod. Theo puts an arm around my waist and helps me up. As soon as my feet are on the ground, I begin to waver. I take shaky steps across the pavement, leaning on Theo for stability. The rain douses me in wetness, chilling me to the bone.

I grunt as the ground seems to tip under my feet. My vision is slightly blurry at the edges.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk?" he asks again.

"I'm sure," I say, and I project vomit right across the parking lot.

My first instinct is to let out a shrill shriek of disgust. "I'm so sorry," I say. My voice is slurred.

"Oh, my god, okay, let's get you inside," he says. I clutch at my stomach. My head is feeling heavy again and my eyes feel like rolling back into my head.

I take another step, my knees weak. I feel my legs give way and my knees strike painfully against the ground. Theo slides one hand under my waist and another under my thighs. I feel myself being lifted off the ground.

I try to hold in the next round of bile that rises in my throat with the steps that Theo takes. The door opens and Theo sets me down in one of the back rooms, away from Hayden and Liam. He puts a hand on my back. "Do you want some water?" he asks and I nod. He brings me a glass and I gulp it down gratefully.

"Thank you," I say when I've finished downing the glass.

He looks at me, his head cocked to one side. "We should get you out of that," he says, his eyes shifting to my puke covered shirt.

His hands are gentle as they brush under my shirt and lift it over my head. I cross my arms over my chest uncomfortably. My wet hair clings to my shoulder blades and I shiver slightly.

"I wasn't acting," he says softly, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I look up at him. "What?"

"In the locker room. I wasn't acting. I wanted to kiss you."

I gnaw on the inside of my lip. "I wasn't acting either," I say,

He looks at me and, to my surprise, breaks into a grin. "I know," he says. "You're a terrible actor, you know that, right?"

He takes his jacket off and drapes it over my shoulders. He pries my arms away from my chest and slides the sleeves on. His hands are gentle when they touch my bare skin. He zips up the jacket and pulls my hair out of the collar.

"Better?" he asks.

I nod. He discards the soiled shirt in the bin in the corner of the room and gives me a hand up. I hobble down to the room with Hayden and Liam in it.

Liam is holding Hayden in his arms. She looks to be in immense agony and her face beads with perspiration. I crouch down beside the pair. "What happened to her?"

"After you got knocked out," Liam begins, "the Dread Doctors, they injected her with mercury."

Hayden is struggling to keep her eyes open. I press my lips into a firm line. She doesn't look like she'll make it.

"Keep her awake," Theo says. "I don't think it's a good idea to let her fall asleep."

"Hayden," Liam says. "You gotta stay awake."

"I'm so tired," she says, her whisper barely loud enough to make out.

"I know," Liam says, "but you can't go to sleep."

"How do we help her?" I ask, looking at Theo for an answer.

"I don't know," he says. "If it's wolfsbane, you burn it out, but I don't know about mercury. Especially the type that's been altered by them."

"Can't she heal?"

"Liam, she's not like us. None of them are. They're more like...cheap knock offs. She may not be as strong as us." His eyes flicker with momentary...what? Discomfort? Dishonesty? It's so brief that no one catches it but me.

His eyes meet mine and he looks pointedly at me. I shake my head slightly. I won't tell.

"What if we turn her into one?" Liam asks.

"Great idea, except you and I can't do that," Theo replies.

"But Scott can."

We sit in silence and words fail us. After a while, Theo stands up and moves to the doorway. "Where are you going?" I ask him.

"I'm going to go watch out for Scott." I push myself up and go after him.

"What are you doing?" I hiss.

He turns around. "Stiles and Scott," he whispers back. I strain my ears and hear a faint conversation happening through the furious sound of the rain.

"What are they saying?" I say under my breath.

He holds a finger up to shush me. After a short time, he responds. "Scott's angry at Stiles for killing Donovan," he whispers.

"He had no choice," I mutter.

"I know," he says. "But Scott's still scolding him for it."

"You know," I begin, biting my lip. "Sometimes I think I never belonged in Scott's pack. That I wasn't as noble or honourable as them. I had friends, sure, and I loved them all, but I felt like an outcast more often than not. Sometimes I felt like I'd never be as strong or as good as them. I didn't like feeling like I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't like having to kill people because I wasn't as powerful and honourable as Scott."

Theo raises his eyebrows at me. He leans over and whispers, his lips brushing my ear. "When I get my pack, I will make you the strongest member. I will make sure that you're the most powerful siren to ever live. And when we take Scott's pack, we'll do it together."

I'm frozen on the spot. I don't know if I want that much power all at my fingertips. He brushes past me wordlessly and I'm left to stare into the dim room, wondering if I've made the right decision.

I follow Theo into the room where Hayden's being kept and we wait patiently for the alpha. Soon after, Scott comes barging through the door.

"She's getting worse," Liam announces, his voice hoarse. "I think she's dying."

"It's gotta be some kind of mercury poisoning," Theo contributes softly.

"Remember you said you promised you'd do anything to save her. If she's a real werewolf, we can save her. You need to give her the bite."

Scott's lips part slightly and he says the one word I was least expecting.

"No."

Liam gets to his feet, approaching Scott with his shoulders squared and teeth clenched. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Liam, look at her. She's too weak," Scott says. "It could kill her. We don't even know what the mercury's doing to her. We don't even know if it's mercury." He pauses. "There has to be other ways to save her life."

"It saved mine," Liam points out.

"That was...different. You were on the ledge."

"You promised," Liam growls through clenched teeth. "You said you'd do everything you could to save her."

"I'm not going to do something that I think is going to kill her!" His voice softens. "There has to be...there has to be...there..."

His voice dissolves into a fit of asthma, his breathing deep and laboured. I thought werewolves were supposed to heal, I think to myself. What was really going on with Scott?

"Scott," Theo sings out, holding up Scott's inhaler.

Theo tosses Scott the inhaler and Scott takes a long gulp of air and begins again. "There has to be another way to save her."

I look down at Hayden, who is gasping loudly for breath and grimacing in pain. "Guys," I call out. "I don't know what the statistics are for surviving a werewolf bite, but she's not surviving this."

"We need to do something," Theo says.

Scott looks thoughtfully at Hayden. "My mom might be able to help her," he says. "I'm going to call her. Tell me if anything changes." He slips out of the room.

I get on my feet and my head spins slightly. I squeeze my eyes shut and when I open them again, Theo's face is inches from mine.

"I think you should get some sleep," he says softly, placing his hands on my shoulders. He rests a palm on my back and guides me into the waiting room.

I drop down onto one of the soft chairs and curl up, nestling my head against my arm. "Wake me when she arrives," I tell Theo.

Theo smiles slightly. "Goodnight," he whispers and turns to make an exit.

I feel my eyelids becoming heavy. "Stay," I murmur, my voice muffled from my face being in my elbow.

He looks at me, his lips twisting into a small smile. "Okay," he says, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Okay," he repeats. He eases himself down onto the couch beside me and snakes his arms around my waist. His body fits with mine, my back again his torso, my legs tangled with his. He nuzzles into my neck. His lips press against my neck and I smile slightly.

"Goodnight, Theo."

"Mm," he hums against my skin.

I get awoken a short while later. "She's here, Arden," Theo croons into my ear. "You told me to wake you up."

I glance around and my eyes fall on Theo's. "Good morning," I say quietly.

His lips raise into a small smile. "Happy birthday, Arden," he says.

I had almost forgotten. My mom would be worried sick. I smile and give him a peck on the lips. "How'd you know?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "I stalked your Facebook."

I let a laugh escape through my lips and push myself up. My head has stopped being plagued by those stabbing pains but when I brush my fingers over the place on my scalp which the Dread Doctor targeted, I predict I'll have a nasty bump there for the next week.

It's light outside but considering how much went down last night, I'm positive I didn't get any more than two hours of sleep. I pull out my phone and check my messages from my phone.

Happy Birthday!! Where r u?

"One sec," I say. "I need to call my mom."

Theo nods. "We'll be in the back," he says.

As soon as Theo slips out of the room, I dial my mom. The line rings three times before she picks up.

"Hey, listen, I'm really sorry about not getting home last night. Lydia wanted me to sleep over and I forgot to tell you," I say in way of greeting. I feel bad about lying but I can't just tell my mom that I was out fighting leather clad supernatural doctors and getting headbutted with a metal mask.

"No, no it's fine," she says. The line goes silent for a few seconds and I'm left listening to static until my mom talks again. "Listen, I'm going to make time in the evening to take you out. Just the two of us. A girls night out."

I smile even though she can't see me. "That'd be fantastic. Thank you. And I'm sorry if I haven't been, well, around lately. A lot is going on."

I hear her sigh over the phone. "If there's anything you need to talk about, I'm here," she says gently.

"Thank you," I say. "Listen, Lydia's nagging me to get off the phone. I have to go. Bye." I shut the phone and head into the room where Mrs McCall is trying to save Hayden's life.

"...It's used to remove heavy metals from the blood," I catch Melissa saying as I slip into the room. "The only problem is that it can injure the kidneys and Hayden only has one to begin with." Melissa is toying with a plastic bag filled with clear liquid. The bag is attached to a tube which ends in a needle.

I take my place beside Theo, grabbing his hand in mine. Scott's mom jabs the needle into a vein on the back of Hayden's hand and she whimpers.

Liam clasps a hand around Melissa's wrist. "You're hurting her," he warns.

Melissa looks defiantly at the boy. "And you're hurting me."

I keep my eyes on Scott to glimpse at his reaction. He widens his eyes at Liam, who recoils his hand.

"We're here to save a life," Theo says. "Not kill each other."

"It's the full moon," Scott says. "It's affecting all of us, even during the day."

"And it's a super moon," Theo points out.

"What's that supposed to make you guys like?" Melissa asks. "Super strong? Super aggressive?"

"Both," Scott says.

Melissa asks us to clear out of the room so she can start the procedure and I fall into file behind Theo and Scott.

Theo and Scott take their seats and I'm left to sit on the floor, my legs crossed and my chin resting on my knees.

"Aren't you going to help him?" Theo asks Scott.

"He'll be alright," Scott says.

"He's sixteen and in love. First love. Don't you remember what that's like?" Theo asks.

"Trust me, I remember," Scott says gravely. Allison.

"All those emotions mixed with the super moon tonight isn't going to be good," Theo says.

"Yeah, I know," Scott mumbles.

"You need help," Theo utters. "And not like restraints or chains. I mean Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Arden. You need your pack."

Scott raises his eyebrows. "I'm not so sure I have one anymore."

"Let Arden and I talk to them. I'll see what we can do," he says, getting onto his feet. "Come on," he says to me. I scramble up and make a beeline for the door.

"Theo," Scott calls. "Thank you."

Theo nods and we head for his car.

"What are you going to do?" I ask as he turns the car on.

Theo explains everything. He's going to lure Scott into the school library and trap him using mountain ash. He's going to get the alpha alone, which is where I'm supposed to help. I still feel like I'm doing something unethical by aiding Theo and shift uncomfortably in my seat when he brings up my part in all of this.

"You're going to lock Malia in the abandoned house," he declares.

I look at him warily. "I-I don't know about that," I say.

"Why not, Arden?" He looks at me for a long time, his teeth flashing in a sly grin. "You said you didn't want to be weak. Don't you get it? I'm a chimera. If you're in my pack, you will be twice as strong as you are now."

I purse my lips. "Nobody gets hurt," I say.

He shakes his head. "I'm not making any promises."

"Are you using me to get Scott's power?" I blurt out.

He pulls over in front of my house. "Why would you even think that?" he growls. "I told you I love you."

I push open the door and come around the other side, where Theo is already out. I don't answer as I march past him and up the front steps, unlocking the door and spilling into the hallway.

He grabs my arm. "Just listen, okay? I don't want to be angry at you but everything I said was true. I just need your help. I helped you control your gift. I made sure Brett told no one about Samuel. Please, just do this for me. It'll all be alright after tonight."

"Fine," I say. "But I want something in return."

"What is it?"

"After you get your pack, I want you to help me find my father's pack."

He stares at me thoughtfully. "Deal."

"What about Liam?" I say, bounding up the stairs.

"The super-moon is tonight," he says. "Liam will be furious over Scott not giving Hayden the bite. He'll be uncontrollable and aggressive. Not to mention the super strength."

I push the door open to my bedroom and frown at Theo. "And what makes you think that Scott won't try to fight back?"

"Oh, of course he'll try to fight back," Theo says. "But he won't be able to."

I raise my eyebrows questioningly. "And why is that?"

Theo digs around in his pocket, eventually pulling out a purple flower that he twists between his thumb and forefinger. "Wolfsbane," he says, as if reading my confusion. "I put it in his inhaler."

I intake a sharp breath. "I have a feeling I'm going to regret this."

"Most likely," he says, sliding his hand over mine. "But you'll regret it more if you don't do it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," he begins, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, "that we can finally be together. We can have a pack of our own." I can feel his breath tickling the side of my face. "You still have my jacket," he croons softly.

"Right, sorry," I mutter. "I'll go to the bathroom and ch-"

"I don't think that's necessary," he interrupts in a low voice.

I look up at him questioningly. He nods slowly and my hand goes to the zip. I pull it down slowly, exposing the bra underneath and then the skin across my stomach. He didn't seem to have any real reaction in the animal clinic when he had taken off my shirt, but I was half asleep then.

He pushes the jacket off my shoulders, his fingers brushing over the skin underneath. The leather jacket drops to the ground with a light thump.

His fingers travel down to the top of my breast and the pad of his thumb traces circular motions on my skin. His hand slides down over the bra and fixes itself on my bare waist. He comes even closer, his shirt brushing over my skin.

He smirks slightly before his mouth presses down hard on mine. His kissing is harder this time and his tongue slides through my lips almost immediately. His lips open and shut for mine as he pushes me up against the wall, his body heat burning through his clothes. His teeth run over my bottom lip and he gnaws on it softly.

I gasp slightly when his lips move down my neck, sucking softly on the skin. Almost without me telling them to, my hands slide under the hem of his shirt until my palm is moving over the skin stretched taut over his stomach. I tug his shirt up and over his head and his lips return to my neck. His stubble scratches softly at my skin as his lips explore my neck and shoulders.

I intake a small breath as his mouth starts sucking at the skin on my chest, his lips traveling down in the valley between my breasts. He looks up at me, his hair mussed and his lips slightly swollen. His hand slides down over my bra and my stomach, pausing at the button of my jeans. His thumb brushes over the metal button cautiously before he undoes it and begins pulling them down over my thighs.

His lips push up against mine again, his mouth moving against mine harder than before. His hands travel down my thighs, pushing the jeans over my knees. I slip the jeans off and leave them somewhere beside the discarded jacket.

My fingers fumble at his belt, unbuckling it and tossing it down beside us. He lets out a slight moan against my lips as my hand goes to his crotch, feeling around to unbutton his pants. He pulls them off, leaning over me so that I land lightly on the bed.

I'm breathing heavily and smiling as I look up at him lying over me his elbows next to my waist. His hair is messy and his forehead is beaded with sweat. His body is pressed down on top of mine. It strikes me that I have never really paid attention to his body and how it is muscular in a way that it isn't bulked up too much. His shoulders are broad and his back is covered in muscle.

He rolls over and out of the bed and starts rummaging through his discarded clothes. He eventually draws his arm away, holding a condom wrapper pinched between his thumb and forefinger.

"Birthday sex," he mutters with a grin, lowering himself onto me. "To celebrate being legal." He grins.

"Ah, so that's why you made sure you knew my birthday."

I feel his hands go down and slide my underwear down my thighs. I bite my lip to suppress the moan that comes out as he thrusts himself inside of me.

He clenches his teeth and groans, a low sound coming from his throat. "Theo," I moan between heavy breaths, letting my head fall back onto the pillow.

"Scream it," he mutters against my neck. Theo is screwing up his face, groaning as he pushes himself further.

His hands trail all over my body, touching anywhere and everywhere. My fingernails rake themselves down his back.

He finally climaxes, his lips parting with a loud exhale. He falls into bed beside me and for a minute I can't do anything more than stare at him and admire him, watching his chest rise and fall in time with my own. I grab for his hand underneath the quilt and squeeze it.

"God, I love you," he whispers, staring at the ceiling.

He readjusts himself and leans over, pressing his lips to mine again.