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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

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Meilani had never expected in a million years that she would be face to face with Gerard freaking Argent again. The man that should be dead was sat before her looking like he did before he did, black goo dripping from his nose and all. How the man even survived was a question that Allison couldn't provide for her. Her body still ached from the healing she had to do on him when she got to the Argent's apartment. It was the only way he would talk to Meilani about everything and anything he knew. As much as she hated the man and had half a mind to just grow her claws out and slash it across his throat, Meilani stayed civil.

They needed answers and this was the only way to get them with Derek being awol. The attack at the loft had took a drastic turn when Kali shoved Boyd through the claws on Derek's hands. He wasn't taking it well. Isaac wasn't taking it well and, if Meilani was honest, her own heart ached any time she thought of the fallen wolf. Too many people - and wolves - were dying and Meilani just wanted it to end already. She couldn't handle another person dying, especially after another body had been found after she rescued Deaton.

"They found a third body?" Gerard asked, dabbing a rag underneath his nose that continued to leak black goo like a runny faucet.

"Another doctor, right after Meilani found Deaton," Allison explained from her spot near the window in the darkened room, the only light coming from the moon that hung high in the sky. Her hair was still in a messy knot on the top of her head from when she rushed out to grab Meilani from Stiles' place to bring her back to the apartment while Stiles went to Cora for answers on Derek.

"Right after? Almost like it was expected he'd survive," Gerard commented.

Meilani furrowed her eyebrows and absentmindedly fiddled with the crescent moon shaped necklace that sat around her neck. Stiles had given it to her as a gift for her new True Alpha status, a gift that was supposed to be for their anniversary next week. However, he decided to give it to her early because she truly deserved it. 

Meilani smiled down at Stiles as she leant down to press her lips to his, her hair surrounding them like a curtain to hide them from the world. Stiles' hands gripped Meilani's waist as she straddled him and pressed her hands to either side of his head on the plush mattress. They finally had a moment where it was just the two of them and Meilani took the opportunity while she still could. With all the craziness the alpha pack brought, Stiles and Meilani haven't had much time to be a couple and with no one bothering them, Meilani had made her way over to Stiles so he could have at least some attention.

Stiles' hands slipped underneath Meilani's shirt and every inch of skin he touched set her skin alight like a fiery blaze. She was just glad that Noah was out on one of his overnight shifts because he wouldn't walk in to see them in their heated position. He had walked in on them once where Meilani's shirt was already off and Meilani couldn't look Noah in the eye for a solid week. Noah had eventually turned and promised to never speak of that moment again if she promised not to bring it up.

Stiles had slowly pulled away from Meilani who pouted down at him, finally getting into whatever they were about to do. He pushed himself up so he was leant his against his headboard and his thumbs rubbed her sides. The way he stared at her was like Meilani had put the stars in the sky and then some. She had been getting that look a lot more lately and she wasn't sure why. Not that she was going to complain about it because the look made her heart swell with love and adoration of her own. God, was he handsome.

"I have something for you," Stiles eventually said, still sounding a bit breathless from their heated make out just moments ago.

"It's not our anniversary yet," Meilani had replied, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

Stiles reached for his nightstand to the right of his bed and pulled out a small velvet box from the drawer. He shut the drawer on the nightstand and leant back against the headboard, holding out the box to Meilani who gingerly took it from him. "I know, but I want to give it to you now. Just open it, babe."

Meilani opened the box and gasped at the piece of jewelry that sat inside the casing. It was a  silver chain with a crescent moon riddled with tiny diamonds and a small rose gold star hanging from the tip of the moon. Her necklace perfectly reflecting the moon that sat high in the sky currently. She took the necklace out of the box and placed the cold silver into her hand. "Stiles, it's beautiful."

"Just like you," Stiles replied softly, the love in his tone was enough to almost knock Meilani over. "I got it because I'm really proud of you for how you've handled this werewolf thing, especially after your mom and Scott found out. You're the strongest person I know, Mei, and I couldn't be more proud of you. The decisions you've made so far with the alpha pack, I don't think anyone else would have done what you did. You deserve that True Alpha status."

Meilani felt tears well in her eyes as Stiles' words warmed her heart and threw herself at Stiles, crashing her lips to hers. The collision earned a small grunt from Stiles but his gripped her waist once again to keep her from toppling over and his lips moved against hers softly. She slowly pulled away and held out the necklace to Stiles to place around her neck, the coolness of the silver shocking her currently heated skin.

"Meilani!"

Meilani snapped out of her momentary daze and blinked up at Allison who stared at her oddly. She blinked a few times and shook her head to rid of the memory from just an hour ago. She needed to focus. "Sorry, sorry. What were you saying?"

"I said, how do you know your dark druid isn't your wise veterinarian himself?" Gerard repeated, fiddling with the rag in his hands now that his nose stopped leaking for the time being. "Maybe he knew you'd find him. Maybe he planned it that way."

"He would never let anyone innocent die," Meilani defended her boss, dropping her hand from the necklace.

"Don't be so sure. You'd be surprised how far some people would go to get rid of someone like Deucalion."

"Or someone like you?" Allison quipped and Meilani nearly flung herself across the room at the Argent girl to hug her. The raven haired girl was still extremely pissed at her grandfather for nearly getting her killed and Meilani didn't blame her. Gerard was just lucky Meilani was still letting him breathe. If her moral compass wasn't strung so tightly in the right direction, he'd probably be choking on blood already.

Gerard chuckled softly at Allison's comment, not sounding offended in the least bit. "I don't go easily, though, do I?" He brought the rag up to his mouth and spit more black goo out of his mouth, earning a grimace from both of the girls. "You know, Meilani, you've made me something of a celebrity here. I'm a medical mystery. The cancer is now virtually undetectable, but the doctors have no clue why my body keeps producing and ejecting this bizarre black fluid."

"I did what you wanted me to do. Tell us how to beat him."

Gerard scoffed and dropped the rag into his lap. "You can't. I've tried."

Allison crossed her arms and Meilani could smell the annoyance coming off Allison in waves. "Then this was a complete waste of time. He doesn't know anything. I'm sorry you did this, Meilani. Let's just go."

Meilani went to stand up to follow Allison who had already begun to make her way towards the door of the bedroom when Gerard yelled for the two girls to wait. 

"I can tell you one thing. Deucalion may have lost his eyes, but is not always blind."

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Gerard had explained to Meilani and Allison how the Argents had killed someone from Ennis's pack. His beta had accidentally killed one of hunters one night and the Argents retaliated by killing the beta that had killed one of their own. It was before that the alpha pack had formed and each alpha had their own pack to lead.

"They were all there - Ennis, Kali, Deucalion - each with their own packs, before they'd kill them all and decided to form their little all star team."

"But they didn't all live here, did they?" Allison inquired, now sat in a chair next to the one Meilani sat in.

"No, but there was an exceptionally powerful alpha who did live here. She had a capacity to shape shift that was rare among her kind. That made her something of a leader, the kind of person that they would go to for advice and guidance... Talia Hale."

Gerard went on to explain that the hospital wouldn't even allow Ennis to see his beta's body. That with how he was murdered, the police dubbed it a homicide and Stiles' father had been the deputy to stop Ennis from going ballistic in the hospital on Melissa. Ennis wasn't considered family so no one would let him through to see what had become of the beta even though Ennis claimed the beta's body belonged to him. Then, Gerard and Chris had gone to a place called the Nemeton, a sacred meeting place. A place that Celtic Druids would choose with a large, old oak tree that would represent the center of the world.

"How does Dad know all about Celtic symbols and Druids?" Allison asked.

"Know thy enemy, Allison. The older wolves had a relationship with the Druids. They called them Emissaries."

Meilani perked up at the term, recalling Deaton mentioning that once to her. "Like my boss, Deaton."

Gerard shakily pushed himself out of his wheelchair and walked over to his nightstand, flipping open a book that rested there. "Do you know the myth of Lycaon?"

"I know there's where we get the word lycanthropy," Meilani responded, getting out of her chair with Allison and walking over to where Gerard stood.

"According to myth, some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than to the gods of Olympus. Some followers even took names to honor the titans instead of the gods."

Meilani's eyes widened as realization dawned on her where Deucalion had gotten his name. "Like Deucalion. The son of Prometheus."

"Very good, Meilani. Lycaon didn't just refuse to honor the gods. He challenged them," Gerard informed, flipping the page to a photo of a drawing. It was of a banquet hall with a bunch of Greeks dressed in their togas and a man sat at the table with what looked like a pair of human legs and arms on a silver platter. "He invited Zeus to a banquet and then tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves."

Gerard flipped the page once again to another drawing. Zeus stood with a bright circle around his hand to signify the use of his magic and multiple bodies with the top part of a wolf and bottom half human legs littered the room. "The part that's lesser known is how Lycaon sought out the Druids to help turn him back to human."

"Why druids?" Meilani questioned.

"The belief was that the ancient Druids knew how to shape shift. They couldn't make Lycaon and his sons human again, but they did teach them how to shift back and forth. So the Druids became important advisors to the packs. Deaton being the one for yours and Derek's little pack. It is usually unknown to the pack who the Emissaries is, only the alpha would know."

Shakily, Gerard made his way back over to his wheelchair and collapsed back into it, grabbing the rag to dab at the black liquid that began to come out of his mouth once again. "I wasn't really surprised when Deaton came to arrange a meeting with Deucalion. As William Blake said, any sinister person who means to be your enemy always start by trying to become your friend."

"How do you know he wasn't going there to make peace?" Meilani challenged, sitting back down in her seat next to Allison.

"Because I'm not an idiot. Do you know the sanskrit fable of the scorpion and the turtle?"

"Yeah, the scorpion asks the turtle for a ride across the river."

"And when the scorpion stings the turtle, dooming them booth, what does he say to explain his behavior?" Gerard prodded.

"It's in my nature."

Gerard nodded and placed the nearly full black rag down in his lap. "I know a werewolf's nature. I knew exactly what was coming - a trap."

"They attacked you?" Allison shot up in her chair, sounding a bit shocked.

"It was an ambush. Lucky to have made it out alive after that."

"Wait, wait. You said Deucalion isn't always blind before. What did you mean by that?" Meilani cut off Gerard, that little piece of information like a little nag in the back of her mind.

"I stabbed him in the eyes with my electric arrows, but I did it while he was human and not transitioned. Deucalion is blind as a human but..."

Meilani felt her blood run cold in her veins. Deucalion was blind when he was human, but if he shifted.... "He can see as a wolf?!"

Allison was quiet for a long moment, her eyes staring at a small stain on the carpet that was more than likely from Gerard's never ending nose bleed. She was clearly lost in her thoughts as multiple of them raced across her mind. "Maybe we can use it against him."

Meilani scrambled out of her chair, the new information pounding in her head. She needed to get to Stiles, Scott or to the Hales or someone. They needed a plan and they needed it quickly if they wanted to stop the alpha pack from plaguing Beacon Hills. However, before she could take more than two stops, Gerard called for her. One glance over her shoulder showed Gerard holding his arm out, expecting Meilani to heal him one more time for a moment of peace from the constant black liquid.

Sighing, Meilani walked over to Gerard and gripped his forearm in her hand, grunting when the pain Gerard felt shot through her body. It was more of an ache this time, now that she was used to it from when she had done it when she first arrived. However, that didn't mean the feeling wasn't uncomfortable in anyway and almost made Meilani drop Gerard's arm before she properly finished.

"Oh, I think about you sometimes, Meilani," Gerard said when Meilani let go of his arm and shook out her sore one. "I do. I wonder, what if I'd done things differently? Getting the bite to cure my cancer. I wonder when it became my nature to believe most things couldn't be asked for but had to be taken."

Meilani dropped her hand back to her side and held back the scoff that desperately wanted to come out. If Gerard thought for one second that she believed he was guilty for all the crap he pulled on her and Derek last year then the black liquid must have leaked into his brain. Hell, she honestly didn't even believe half the story that Gerard told her and Allison. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, which now is pretty far, but still. 

"I don't believe you. The whole time that you were telling your story, I was listening to your heartbeat. It never went up. It never went down. It was steady the whole time," Meilani admitted, crossing her arms with narrowed eyes. She knew that Gerard knew she could hear his heart beat so she was willing to believe he learned to keep his heart rate steady for when he lied. As if that would work on her at all.

"Because I was telling the truth."

"Or because you're a really good liar," Meilani took a threatening step forward and gripped Gerard's hand in hers, using her werewolf strength to pull a pained groan from the older man. She bent at the waist so she was eye level with Gerard and could keep her voice low. "If you lied and it gets people hurt... I'll be back to take away more than your pain."

Without sparing Gerard another look, Meilani stood back up to her full height and followed Allison out of the room and leaving behind the man that she probably should have shoved her claws through.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

(THE NECKLACE STILES GAVE TO MEILANI)

Can we just talk about that Stiles and Meilani bit? I originally wasn't going to put it in because I didn't want to ruin the flow of Gerard's obvious lies and slander, but I think it fit right where I put it. Plus, we could all use some Stiles and Meilani content right now with how crazy everything has been and they don't get enough time to be a couple. SO I GIFTED YOU ALL WITH THAT CUTE CONTENT! YOU ARE WELCOME!

Also, this was kind of a filler chapter so sorry not much happened besides the whole thing between Gerard, Allison and Meilani. We'll get into more of the good stuff the next few chapters since there are only FOUR CHAPTER LEFT FOR PART ONE!