"You know... I'm starting not to like this idea." Isaac admitted as he paced another lap in front of the large window in the loft.

Pausing he looked over to Sam who was lying across the bed on her stomach with her laptop open in front of her, as he said, "It sounds kind of dangerous."

She glanced at him before looking back down to her computer.

She agreed with him entirely, she didn't like this plan –in fact she hated the plan. But Derek said this was the only way they could figure out which memories the alphas stole from him.

When Samantha didn't answer him, Isaac spun on his shoes and turned to walk back the other way as he looked over to Derek who was sitting on the couch looking through a book and continued, "Yeah, I don't like this idea... and I definitely don't like him."

"No one likes him." Sam agreed nodding, as she raised up and peered over the top of her screen in Derek's direction. Feeling her gaze on him, he raised his head and looked back at his girlfriend as he assured her, "He'll be fine."

"Will I?" Isaac exclaimed, pausing for a moment to look out of the window in the early morning sun, glancing over his shoulder he continued, "Is this even what we should be focusing on? I heard you guys talking last night and Sam has a point, she might be losing her mind."

Her jaw dropped and Derek sighed heavily as he dropped the book with a loud thud to the table and argued, "She's not crazy."

Shooting Isaac a look Sam said, "And what happened to those headphones you bought? Didn't you buy those so you wouldn't be eavesdropping on us?"

Turning his head to the side and he ginned, "Actually I bought those headphone so I wouldn't have to listen to you and Derek-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She quickly hissed cutting him off as she knew exactly where the conversation was headed. Her face flushed in embarrassment as Isaac continued to stare at her with a knowing expression, looking like he was going to sneak in the end of his sentence just to make her die a little more inside.

With a helpless expression and darkened cheeks she looked over to Derek for either support or for him to threaten Isaac if he finished the sentence, but instead she saw him pick the book back up as he tried to hold back a laugh at her expense.

Groaning, Sam lowered her head hiding behind her computer screen, hoping if she tried to make herself invisible –they'd forget she was there.

The lighthearted tone of the conversation was broken as Isaac's shoulders tensed back up and he asked, "Does it have to be him?"

"He's the only one who knows how. It would be more dangerous if I tried to do it myself." Derek answered not looking back up from the old, leather bound book in his hands.

Sitting up on the bed and closing her laptop, Samantha flashed Isaac a teasing smile as she cheerfully said, "Oh don't worry Isaac, if he ends up paralyzing you –we'll find a really good home for you. And I'll even come visit you once a week."

Derek looked at her with raised eyebrows and Isaac was in the middle of crossing the room but stopped and spun around as he pointed a finger at her and accused, "That's not funny, that's really not funny! Me –joking about your sex life is funny... but you just took it too far."

Folding her hands in her lap and giving a small shrug of attempting to act like she wasn't cringing and dying inside, she countered, "Oh, I'm sorry... would it be more appropriate if I joked about your nonexistent sex life?"

With a look of shock on his face, Isaac looked from Sam to Derek who shrugged his shoulders with a small nod to agree that she had a point.
Sighing the beta looked back at her and said, "What happened to the sweet, little innocent, Sam? Huh? What did you do with her?"

With a small laugh she arched a brow and pointed out, "I've lived here with the both of you all summer, you're rubbing off on me."

Just as she started to reach for her computer, Isaac took advantage of her words and said, "Well, technically... Derek is the only one who's been rubbing-"

"Isaac!" She shrieked, her eyes wide as she threatened, "I swear to god if you finish that sentence, Peter will be the least of your worries..."

Hanging his head he walked over to the table near Derek and picked up an old book as the beta pointed out, "You know Scott doesn't trust him, right? And personally, well I... I trust Scott."

Raising his head up and looking at Isaac, Derek asked, "Do you trust me?"

There was a slight pause before he nodded and said, "Yeah."

Isaac waited until Derek was nose deep into the book again before he added, "I just still don't like him."

With a sigh the alpha dropped the book to the table, it was clear neither one of his betas was going to let him concentrate at all.

"Nobody likes him." Derek repeated Sam's earlier statement just moments before the large, heavy, metal door slid open.

Peter stood at the top of the few stairs that led down into the loft surveyed the remains of his nephew's pack before he shot Sam a smile that sent a chill up her spine and he greeted, "You're looking well, little wolf."

Rolling her eyes she stood from the bed with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Boys." He greeted the other two before saying, "It's true that coming back from the dead has left my abilities somewhat impaired... but the hearing still works. So I hope you're comfortable saying whatever it is that you're feeling straight to my face."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Sam dropped her arms to the side and stared up to the ceiling with a look of pure annoyance on her face. No matter what, Peter always had to make himself the center of attention.

Looking at his uncle, Derek blatantly stated, "We don't like you."

Sam glanced over at him and stifled a laugh as Derek stood up and ordered, "Now shut up and help us."

"Fair enough." Peter agreed, as he held his arm out to the side and with a flick of his wrist extended his razor sharp claws.

Isaac fearfully took a few steps back until he was standing next to Samantha as he glanced over at her with a look on his face that clearly read 'no way in hell'.

"You'll be fine." She was quick to assure him. Derek said this plan would work and she believed and trusted in him entirely –both as her boyfriend and her alpha.

Once they'd gotten Isaac seated in a chair, Peter could feel the tension pouring off of the young beta and he explained, "You have to relax, I can get more out of you if you're calm."

Isaac looked down to the floor, thinking there was no way he could be calm about any of this. If it wasn't the lives of two of his pack mates on the line, he never would have even considered the plan. But this might be their last and best hope at bringing Boyd and Erica back alive.

"How do you know how to do this again?" Isaac questioned, as he gripped onto the sides of the metal seat to his chair –looking as nervous as a kid being told he was going to have to get a shot.

Pulling in a deep breath Peter launched into his explanation of how it was an ancient ritual used mostly by alphas. "It's a skill that requires quite a bit of practice." He added as he stepped up behind Isaac and eyed the back of the teenagers neck.

"Sam..." Isaac managed to squeak out, "You were kidding about the whole penalization thing, right?"

Before she could answer Peter said, "Nope. One slip and you could paralyze someone... or kill them."

Sam's lips pressed into a thin line as she watched them, wishing she could do something to ease Isaac's nerves but she was just as scared as he was and now that she was also watching Derek's face she saw he wasn't looking so confident either.

"You've had lots of practice, though... right?" Isaac's words hung unanswered in the air before Peter leaned down, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a smile as he admitted, "Well, I've never killed anyone."

Samantha's eyes widened and she looked over to Derek who's eyebrows lowered in confusion and a look of uncertainty spread over his face.

This was a bad idea, a terribly un-thought-out idea that they needed to abort and find another plan. But just as she opened her mouth to say that, Isaac made a pained noise as Peter grabbed onto him and inserted his claws into the back of the beta's neck.

Sam gasped and took a step forward as Derek jumped to his feet, when Isaac continued to thrash around and groan out in pain –his eyes glowing a warm amber-yellow, while Peter's eyes glowed their usual cold blue.

"Stop it!" Sam yelled as she started towards them but slid to a stop as Peter called out, "Wait, I see them-"

Isaac's body twitched and jerked involuntarily from the agonizing pain and the situation didn't seem to be any easier on Peter, who's veins in his neck protruded. Until finally he broke the connection with Isaac, and almost collapsed before holding onto the table for support.

Isaac slumped forward in his chair, relieved that both the pain had stopped and that he could still move.

"What did you see?" Derek asked his uncle as Sam knelt down next to Isaac to check on him.

"It was confusing... um, images. Vague shapes." Peter stammered, his hand opening and closing into a fist as if he were still in pain.

"That's it?" Sam growled, standing up and turning to face him as she continued, "You put Isaac through that for some vague images and shapes?" A look of disbelief spread over her face as he turned and faced her saying, "It's a supernatural ritual; not an exact science."

"But you did see something?" Derek pushed, needing every little detail he could get on where his missing betas were.

"Isaac found them." Peter finally admitted, seeming confused as he blinked his eyes several times.

"Erica and Boyd?" Derek's voice was gruff as he spoke.

"I barely saw them... I mean glimpses." He stammered, still shaken up from the encounter.

"But you did see them?" Samantha questioned, the anger was gone from her voice now and was replaced by a hopefulness that they could be found and saved.

"And worse."

"Deucalion?" Derek guessed, already having his answer as Peter lowered his head and sighed.

"He was talking to them, something about time running out."

"What does it mean?" Isaac finally got his voice to work as he looked over to his alpha for answers, hoping that the excruciating pain he'd just gone through was worth it.

"He's gonna kill them." Derek guessed, sitting back down on the couch.

Sam's legs felt shaky and weak as she slightly stumbled over next to him and dropped down onto the cushion beside Derek.

"No, no, no... no, he didn't say that. He did make them promise though –a promise that they'd both be dead by the full moon." Peter continued to relay the information to them.

"The next full moon?" Derek asked, as he looked over at Sam who swallowed hard and stared back to him.

"Tomorrow night." Peter clarified.

~(Later that day)~

"Samantha, can I speak to you a moment?" Ms. Blake questioned as she finished passing out the assignments for the day and instructed the rest of the class to use the last several minutes of class to get a jump start on their homework.

With a sigh, the teenager slid out of her desk and slowly approached the desk where her new teacher was sitting.

"Look, I know you're probably still mad at me from the other day when I wouldn't shut my phone off but-" Sam launched into an explanation and apology at the same time but was quickly cut off by her teacher.

"That is partially what I wanted to talk to you about." She nodded but then gave a small smile as she added, "I'm not mad, I just think we got off on the wrong foot and I wanted to let you know I'm not going to give you a detention over it."

When she was met by a confused expression that quickly graced the teenagers face, Ms. Blake continued, "When you didn't show up the past few days for school I figured you were avoiding the detention or maybe even me. So, I got your contact information from the office, hoping we could work things out... I got in touch with your aunt." Her smile fell as she continued, "She filled me in everything that's happened, if I'd known any of that I wouldn't have been so strict my first day here. I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal." Sam shrugged, fighting the urge to yawn even though she'd barely logged five hours of sleep over the past few nights.
She was glad to have avoided a detention.

Ms. Blake nodded and lowered her head to get back to grading the tests she'd collected that day and Sam started to turn around to head back to her seat but was brought to a stop when the bell rang to signal the next class and for some reason it sounded a million times louder than it normally did.

With a gasp of pain she double over and held onto her head, trying to control her breathing and her now racing heart.

"Are you okay?" Ms. Blake asked, starting to stand up from her seat.

"I'm fine." Samantha replied, her voice strained and almost had a slight growl to it as she walked back to her desk and started to gather her belongings, a familiar feeling started to take over as she couldn't control her heartrate at all.

Gripping onto the sides of her desk, her claws started to extend and scratch into the wood surface. It felt like her first full moon all over again; her gums ached as her fangs started to extend and she couldn't find an ounce of control over her werewolf side.

"Samantha?" Ms. Blake's voice rang through the almost empty class room, and suddenly became the single most annoying sound on the entire planet. And in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to kill her teacher –fillet the flesh from her bones and feel her blood dripping between her fingers.

But before she could spring into action and maim anyone like her animal side was itching to do, someone grabbed her arm and started to pull her from the room. In the distance she heard Stiles assuring their teacher that they'd get her to the nurse.

The next few seconds passed in blur as Scott pushed her into an empty class room, where she quickly twisted out of his grip and moved to a corner away from him and Stiles who had just entered the room with both his own books and Sam's book bag.

One of them was saying her name repeatedly but she couldn't decipher which one it was and honestly she didn't care who it was, her hearing was focused on their heartbeats and using every ounce of strength she had to not tear them to shreds.

Sensing one of them was coming closer, she yelled for them both to stay back and held onto her head. Somewhere in the rage filled haziness and the struggle over her animal side she remembered one of the many things Derek had taught her –pain keeps you human.

With that thought in mind she grabbed onto the fingers of her left hand and without a second thought snapped them all backwards letting out a cry of pain as she did.

"Sam?" Scott asked, as he knelt down next to where she'd slid down the wall to the floor.

"I'm... I'm okay." She breathed opening and closing her fist as her fingers finished healing.

"What happened?" Stiles questioned, finally feeling safe enough to move closer now that he knew she wasn't a danger to them.

Brushing her now sweat-dampened hair out of her face, she shrugged with embarrassment and admitted, "I don't know, I guess I've not really been sleeping and the full moon's tomorrow."

"Yeah, but I thought you could control it." Scott reasoned, concerned as he watched her.

Looking up at him with a broken expression on her face she breathed, "So did I..."

"Well you're not doing a good job." Stiles pointed out the obvious and when his best friend shot him a look over his shoulder, he backtracked, "Uh, I mean... at least you didn't kill anyone."

"This time." She muttered under her breath, with an overwhelming sense of disappointment in herself. She'd managed to get control back her very first full moon after being turned and now she was losing control the day before one.

"I'm okay." She exclaimed louder as Scott helped her get to her feet. Nodding he took a step back and tried to make her feel better as he said, "It's okay... it just happens sometimes when you least expect it."

Her eyes locked with his before she quickly looked away; he had no idea what was really going on with her –in truth, neither did she.

"How did you know?" She was finally able to ask.

Stiles looked over to Scott as he said, "I heard your heartbeat..."

"And growling." Stiles added in causing Sam to groan as she looked at them and asked, "Did anyone else hear me growling?"

"I don't think so." Scott answered, giving Stiles a look from the corner of his eyes to show he wasn't helping the situation at all.

Rubbing her face she pulled in a deep breath and thanked them both for helping her, before she started to pick up her bag to head to her next class that she was already late for.

"Actually, I kind of need your help with something."

Sam turned around with a confused expression as she looked at Scott and said, "Okay?"

"I think Allison and Lydia have something that might help us all find Boyd and Erica, I've been texting Derek for the past hour but he hasn't gotten back to me." Scott admitted.

Her eyebrows furrowed wondering how out of everyone it was Lydia and Allison who'd managed to get a lead on her missing pack mates. Maybe it was Allison's way of trying to make up for some of the stuff she'd done.

"What did they find?" She questioned, trying not to get too hopeful.

"It will probably be easier to have them explain it to you both." Stiles reasoned.

Samantha pulled her phone from her pocket and paused as her thumb hovered over the touch screen where his name was. When Stiles asked her what she was waiting for she looked between the best friends and wagered, "Okay, I'll call, but only if you guys promise not to tell Derek."

Her eyes lingered over to the corner where she'd been on the verge of completely turning just minutes prior.

"Don't tell me what?"

Scott's eyes widened and he looked back behind Sam to where Derek was standing in the doorway and Stiles nervously looked around, kicking at the carpeted floor with the toe of his shoe.

Letting out a heavy sigh she pinned her eyes shut and refused to look to where Derek was standing.

She hadn't wanted him to know she'd almost lost control for a multitude of reasons; top of that list being that he was already worried enough about her with the strange nightmares she'd been having and he knew she was barely sleeping anymore.

Things were falling apart faster than she could keep up with, her world felt like it was crashing and burning most of the time and she was starting to doubt her own sanity –the last thing she wanted was for Derek to think she was crazy too.

"What's going on?" Derek asked, his voice gruffer as he walked further into the room and looked at the three teenagers.

Nervously, Stiles ran a hand through his hair as he stammered, "H-hey Derek... what are you doing here?"

With raised eyebrows the alpha held up his phone showing the almost never ending stream of texts Scott had sent him.

"Heh, right..." Stiles laughed, shaking his head and looking around the room.

"Sam?" Derek asked, walking up beside her.

"Scott thinks he may have a lead on the rest of our pack." Sam finally spoke up, but didn't answer his question.

Derek looked her over; she was a slight mess before she left for school that day with slightly wrinkled clothes and dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep –she'd been chalking it up to normal stress with everything that was going on.
But now she looked almost completely disheveled as some of her damp hair still clung to her face and she nervously avoided eye contact with him.

Whatever was going on with her, he'd get her to tell him when they were alone and not her school in the middle of the day. Blowing out a defeated breath he looked to Scott and nodded for him to explain what new information he had.

As Stiles left to get Allison and Lydia, Scott filled them in on how the girl who'd saved Isaac had been at the school and grabbed onto the girls' arms leaving a distinct bruise.

Sam looked up smiling at Lydia as her redheaded friend entered the classroom. Her smile fell when Allison walked in behind her and offered Sam a hopeful smile –wishing her friend could forgive her for everything she'd done.

Stiles climbed up onto a desk and sat with his legs in the seat of the desk in front of him and Allison and Lydia pulled their sleeves up, both of them revealing a bruise.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Derek stubbornly said, "I don't see anything."

"Look again." Scott pleaded.

Refusing to look back down the alpha sighed, "How is a bruise gonna tell me where Boyd and Erica are?"

"It's the same on both sides." Scott said, and Sam stepped closer looking at their arms.

"Look closer." Lydia nodded as she reached into her bag and pulled out a tube of red lip stick and traced over the bruises on her own and Allison's arms.

"Derek..." Sam started to say when she realized the symbol was the exact same one that she'd drawn after the nightmare she'd had of Erica being killed.

"It's nothing." He cut her off.

"No, it looks the exact same as-"

"I said it's nothing, Sam."

Lydia's lips fell into a thin line for a moment before she smugly said, "Pareidolia. Seeing patterns that aren't there."

When Scott shrugged; she continued, "It's a subset of apophenia."

Derek rolled his eyes and looked over to Scott, the teenager sighed, "They're trying to help."

"These two?" Derek asked with raised eyebrows before pointing to Lydia and saying, "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle... thank you." He ended sarcastically, causing Lydia to roll her own eyes before she glanced over at Samantha.

Derek wasn't done though, as he pointed to Allison and said, "And this one; who shot about thirty arrows into me and my pack."

"Okay, yeah, come on. No one died, alright? There may have been a little maiming, okay? A little mangling, but no death. That's what I call an important distinction." Stiles chimed in, trying to lighten the mood.

"My mother died." Allison reminded the group as she looked back to Derek.

"Those bruises-" Sam started to speak again, but Derek talked over her in response to what Allison was accusing him of.

"Your family's little honor code killed your mother; not me." Derek reminded her.

"That girl was looking for Scott, I'm here to help him, not you." Allison retorted and Sam hung her head, feeling almost as invisible as she was before she'd been bitten but she pulled in a deep breath intending to say what she'd been trying to for the last ten minutes until Derek talked again.

"You wanna help, find something real." Derek gruffly said.

Samantha stared at him, not sure if he was intentionally trying to keep her from talking in front of everyone or if he was just being rude; just as she'd started to completely give up on the idea that anyone cared what she had to say, Allison cleared her throat and said, "What were you trying to say, Sam?"

She raised her head, surprised out of everyone Allison wanted to hear her thoughts –especially after the encounter they'd had days before where she'd told her she might never be able to forgive her.

"Don't you think that symbol looks familiar?" Sam asked Derek, nodding to her friend's arms.

"No."

Not wanting to admit in front of everyone that she'd drawn that exact same symbol after a nightmare, her eyes silently pleaded for his understanding as she said through her tense jaw and gritted teeth, "Look closer."

"I don't need to look. It's nothing." He sternly said.

"Have you seen it before?" Lydia spoke up, trying to get Sam to tell the rest of the group since she was clearly hiding something.

"I... I don't know." She softly said as she looked down to the floor, in the beginning she was so sure that it was the same symbol but now with the way Derek was acting she was doubting herself.

"Let's go." Derek said, nodding for Sam to follow him. Without a word to anyone else she grabbed her book bag and started to follow him out of the room until Scott caught the couple by the door and said, "Can you just hear them out? They're on our side now."

"Then maybe you should tell Allison what her mother was actually trying to do that night." Derek angrily replied; referring to the night that he'd bit Allison's mother when she'd tried to kill Scott.

Shoving the door open Derek walked out of the room, making it clear to everyone that he felt this was a huge waste of time.

Scott wasn't willing to give up so easily as he tried to stop Sam by saying, "You know something don't you?"

Shaking her head and now not feeling like she knew anything at all; she quietly replied, "Derek's right, you need to tell Allison the truth."

~()~

A/N - Thank you all so much for reading! I really hope you guys are all enjoying the sequel to Phase, I've still got so much planned for Samantha and I can't wait to share it all with you! ^_^