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EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

YOU'RE MY ANCHOR

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Meilani followed Stiles onto the lacrosse field and paused next to him when he stopped near their team bench. "What are we doing out here, Stiles?"

Stiles ignored Meilani's question and dropped himself down onto the bench with his sports bag. He dug around inside it and pulled out whatever he was looking for and held it out to Meilani. "Here, put this on."

Meilani raised an eyebrow at the work out strap he held out to her. It had a small bluetooth heart monitor on it that you could hook up to your phone. "Isn't this the heart monitor for the track team?"

"Yeah, I borrowed it," Stiles replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Meilani scoffed lightly. "You mean you stole it, babe."

"Temporarily misappropriated, okay? Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate on his phone while he jogs. You're gonna wear it for the rest of the day," Stiles explained and motioned for his girlfriend to strap the device onto her arm.

"Wait, Coach's phone?" Meilani asked, freezing in strapping the monitor to her chest.

Stiles smiled innocently at his girlfriend. "I may have stolen that one."

"Dare I ask why you decided to become a klepto?" Meilani questioned after securing the heart rate monitor to her arm and hiding it under her grey knit sweater.

"Well, your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right?" Stiles asked and Meilani nodded in response. "It also goes up when you're around me, playing lacrosse, or even around Scott. Maybe learning to control it is tied to learning how to control your heart rate."

"Like the Incredible Hulk," Meilani stated with a huge grin.

"Yeah, Lani, kind of like the Incredible Hulk," Stiles chuckled and shook his head at his girlfriend's inner geek showing.

"I'm like the female Hulk!" Meilani exclaimed.

"Just shut up and go over there," Stiles said and playfully pushed Meilani towards the middle of the field.

"If you're going to make me run, I really wish you would have warned me before I put my brown boots and cute jeans on," Meilani said and motioned to her brown leather boots and dark wash skinny jeans. The one day she didn't wear her Converses or sweatshirt to school Stiles made her do physical activity.

Stiles walked behind Meilani and opened a roll of tape. "I'm sorry, next time we aren't speaking I'll make sure to call and ask your outfit choices for the next day in case we have to do this." He began taping her wrists together and ripped the tape from the roll.

"I didn't know you had a bonding kink," Meilani teased and looked back to Stiles who winked at her.

"You learn something new every day," Stiles responded and kissed her softly. "Now all I am going to ask is that you don't get mad and kill me."

"Great way to start, Stiles," Meilani remarked.

Stiles walked about ten feet from Meilani and dropped the sports bag onto the grass in front of him. He bent down and opened the heart rate app on Coach Finstock's phone. "I'm going to hit you with lacrosse balls and you just have to not get angry. Simple enough."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Meilani voiced and Stiles shrugged as if to say "not to worry".

Meilani took a deep breath before Stiles began to hit his girlfriend with the lacrosse balls. She groaned as each one hit her hard. He gave her five seconds in between each ball to recover a little before being immersed in pain yet again. She yelped when one hit her particularly hard in the collar bone.

"Okay, that one may have hurt," Meilani grit out as she tried to keep herself calm like Stiles tried to teach her to do.

"Babe, no talking. You should be thinking about your heart rate and keeping calm, okay?"

Meilani tried to give herself an inner pep talk as Stiles continued to pelt her with lacrosse balls. She felt her heart rate slowly begin to rise again as each ball seemed to hurt more than the one before.

"Son of a bitch!" Meilani yelled as Stiles pelted her knee with a ball. "I hate you."

"Lani, I think my aim is actually improving," Stiles beamed and played with the ball currently in his lacrosse stick's net.

"I wonder why," Meilani groaned as she tried to ignore the soreness currently taking over her limbs.

Stiles glanced down at the sound of a beeping sound that came from Coach Finstock's phone. "Hey, no getting angry, missy."

Meilani rolled her eyes and Stiles began the process of hitting his girlfriend again. Each ball seemed to be a button, each one a button closer to detonating her inner bomb. She tried to reign it in as best she could, but no matter what she did, it seemed Meilani couldn't keep herself from wanting to kick Stiles' ass for doing this to her.

Stiles miscalculated on his last shot and got Meilani right in the head. She yelled out and dropped to her knees, pressing her forehead into the cold grass. She hoped the cold would shock her into not going wolf because she could feel her claws start to replace her fingernails. She ripped out of her bindings and gripped the grass and dirt beneath her as she forced herself to calm down. Meilani didn't know what would happen if she didn't calm herself down right then so she tried to concentrate on something, anything.

Stiles cautiously moved towards his girlfriend as he softly called her name. He didn't want to get too close if she had changed into her wolf form. He wasn't sure how far her control went. His voice was like a switch in Meilani's head and she slowly began to calm down. The aggressive beeping from Coach's phone slowly began to quiet down along with her heart rate.

Stiles tentatively touched Meilani's shoulders. "Lani, are you okay? You were beginning to change."

"The anger... it was more than that. The angrier I got, the stronger I felt," Meilani panted as she rolled onto her back to catch her breath.

"It is anger then. Derek's right," Stiles noted as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I can't be around Scott or you then," Meilani sat up and felt her heart break.

"Me? Why me?"

"You both are my weakness," Meilani admitted and pushed herself up from the ground. "When I'm around Scott I feel whole because he's like the other half to me. When I'm around you, you make my heart do things I never knew were humanly possible. I can't hurt either one of you. I should probably stay away from you for a few days too."

"Lani, let me help you figure this out," Stiles pleaded as he took her hand. "There have been several times you could have hurt me but didn't. Don't push me away."

Meilani smiled sadly at Stiles. This would be the hardest thing she had to do because she had to push away both of her boys. However, this was for their own safety until she could figure out how to keep calm and not put them in danger.

"I'm not trying to push you away, Sti. I'm trying to keep you away from danger as much as I can. Just until I can control this, okay?"

"Lani..."

Meilani reached onto her tiptoes to kiss Stiles softly on the lips. She let herself enjoy the feeling of his lips on hers as long as she could because she knew after this it'd be a little bit before she would allow herself to be this close to him. She wasn't going to ignore him, but she wasn't going to let herself be around him when she didn't know if she would snap on him.

"I love you," Meilani whispered once she pulled away and leaned her forehead on Stiles'. "This is for your safety, okay?" She kissed his cheek before slowly turning on her heel and stalking away from her boyfriend. 

Each step added another crack to her heart.

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Meilani dropped into her usual desk in Coach Finstock's class. It was in front of Stiles and next to Scott, which was unfortunate for her because she had to keep both at a distance. Coach liked people in their assigned seats so she couldn't even move her seat to either the back or front like she wanted. She frowned when she saw Stiles walk in and take his seat behind her. He brushed a light hand across her back in greeting, but she forced herself to ignore it. If she was going to get used to not physically talking to him, she might as well get used to it now.

As if ignoring Stiles wasn't hard enough, Scott and Allison walked in a minute later. They held hands and laughed about something that Allison had whispered in his ear. Scott's grin faltered when he saw his twin who had done nothing but ignore him all day. He sat down in his seat next to her as Allison sat behind him.

"Mei, what's up?" Scott asked, turning in his seat so he could properly talk to her.

Meilani was saved from answering as Coach Finstock walked into the room. She silently thanked every god known to man for keeping her from going through that awkward conversation. Granted, she would probably have to deal with that conversation at home, and in front of their mother, but she would worry about that later when she came across it.

"Okay, let's settle down," Coach Finstock ordered as he set down his briefcase and textbook. "Who read the reading from last night?"

Meilani's eyes widened and hid her face in the desk. She completely forgot about doing any of her readings last night after all the stuff with Derek and the spiral. She hoped the gods were still on her side and he would pick on someone other than her. Usually he liked to pick on Scott, and as horrible as it sounded, Meilani hoped Finstock focused his fuel on her twin for the day. If he found out she didn't do the reading, she would face the wrath.

Unfortunately, the gods decided they were done helping her.

"The better McCall, can you summarize the reading for us?" Finstock asked and leaned against the front of the desk.

Meilani slowly sat up and leaned back in her seat. She stared down at her hands on her desk as she nervously fiddled with them. God, she hated being scolded by teachers and she knew it was coming from Finstock. "Sorry, Coach, I didn't do it."

Coach let out a disbelieving laugh. "Yeah, okay, Female McCall. I know you're not your brother and actually do your work. Now summarize it for me."

Meilani shrank down in her seat and shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She didn't even want to imagine how bad it would shake once she opened her mouth and spoke.

Finstock sighed and leaned his hands on the desk in front of hers. "Come on now, Meilani, you know I can't keep you on as first line if you start to slack in school. I thought you were supposed to be smart one in your ragtag group of friends."

Meilani felt her heart rate spike as Coach continued to torment Scott and Stiles to her face. He belittled them to make her feel like crap for not doing her work. It was one time and she knew Coach was a little obnoxious, but she didn't think he would go on this long over her not reading an assignment. She kind of wished he would just yell at her instead and then move onto the next person who actually did read the assignment.

Meilani felt like her heart was gonna burst out of her chest, until it suddenly started to slow down as she felt two hands grasp onto her at the same time. She glanced down and noticed Scott subtly placed his hand over hers. Meilani didn't even realize her hands had dropped from the desk until Scott held her smaller hand in his larger one. She didn't even have to turn to look where Stiles was grabbing onto her because she felt his warm hand heating up her shoulder as he soothingly rubbed the back of it.

After class was finally over, Meilani burst out of the room before Finstock could lay into her or her boys anymore. 

Stiles scrambled out of the room after her and grasped her hand, stopping Meilani from going any further from him. "It's Scott and I."

Meilani raised an eyebrow at Stiles' over-happy expression. She swore she had never seen him this happy before besides the day she agreed to be his girlfriend or she told him she loved him for the first time. "Huh?"

"Remember when you told me about the night of the full moon? You heard voices that brought you back from going full furball?" Stiles asked as he pulled Meilani throughout the hall to their next class. "Scott and I are your anchors."

"It's not always true though. I mean, with you for example, any time you kiss me or even look at me –" Meilani was cut off as Stiles waved his hands in her face.

"That's different, okay? Those times are you just being a normal teenager, you know?" Stiles stated. "Look, back in the classroom, when Scott held your hand or I rubbed your shoulder, that's different. I don't think either one of us makes your weak, we actually make you more in control."

"Maybe because I love you guys and want to protect you," Meilani suggested and smiled softly at Stiles.

"Aw we love you too," Stiles teased and playfully pushed his girlfriend's shoulders. "Now you can stop ignoring us, thanks."

"Just for that, I'm ignoring only you now," Meilani turned on her heel and made her way down the hall to the classroom.

"Meilani, that's not fair!"

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Meilani groaned as she rushed out of her mom's car and over to her job. She couldn't believe she was two hours late to work. This never happened before and she hoped that Deaton wouldn't have her head for being late. She was kind of glad Scott wasn't there because Meilani definitely wouldn't hear the end of it from him. Deaton would be more lenient than Scott.

Meilani furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed all the lights were off. It was odd because they didn't close for another four hours and Deaton never shut all the lights when he leaves anyways. He usually leaves at least the lights by the door on overnight. She walked over to the room and flipped on the switch only to see Derek holding up Deaton who was tied to the chair.

"What are you doing?" Meilani yelled as she stared wide-eyed at Derek.

"Meilani, get out of here! Please, I don't need you getting hurt too," Deaton begged over his shoulder.

Derek dropped Deaton to the ground and Meilani rushed over to the two men. As she got by them, Derek brought his arm back and punched Deaton hard in the face.

"Stop! Stop!" Meilani pushed Derek away from her now unconscious boss. "Are you freaking mental?!"

"Conscious he can keep himself from healing, but unconscious he can't!"

"Are you drunk or something? Deaton is a human, not one of us," Meilani huffed, standing protectively in front of Deaton.

"You want to know what the spiral means, Meilani? It's our sign for revenge. It means he won't stop killing until he's satisfied."

Meilani couldn't help but scoff at Derek. She was really starting to think he drank before he came here. Granted, Meilani couldn't smell alcohol on his breath, but who knew how alcohol worked in werewolves? "You think he's the alpha?!"

"We're about to find out," Derek replied and went to put his claws into Deaton.

Meilani, suddenly morphed into her werewolf counterpart, grabbed Derek's wrist before it could even get close to Deaton. She growled in Derek's face, who stumbled back a step from Meilani's sudden transformation. She retracted her claws and transformed back to her usual self. "Hit him again and you'll see me get angry."

After making sure Derek wouldn't attack Deaton, she turned her back to grab the nearby first aid kit. She popped it open and began to clean the scratches on Deaton's cheek. Seeing them made Meilani want to punch Derek in the face, but she kept her calm and just continued to patch her boss up. She didn't even want to imagine the headache he'll be waking up to when he regains consciousness.

Derek groaned as he continued to pace back and forth. He wanted her to help him find the alpha, but she was too worried about her boss to do anything. He growled to himself before walked over to Meilani. "Do you have a plan?"

"Just... give me an hour," Meilani snapped and went back to her boss.

"Then what?" Derek challenged, his patience obviously having run short. Not like it was ever long to begin with.

Meilani chewed on her lip as she thought of a quick plan so she could Derek away from her. "Meet me at the school... in the parking lot."

Derek huffed before he turned and walked out of the animal clinic, leaving Meilani behind to clean up his mess. Wonderful.

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An hour later, Stiles pulled into the parking lot of the high school and got out of his Jeep with Meilani. He walked around the back to meet her on the other side and gave her a look. "I cannot believe you involved me in this, babe. This isn't even a good idea."

"I know," Meilani sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I got nothing else to go on, so here we are."

"So, we're still going to do it?" Stiles questioned in disbelief.

Meilani crossed her arms across her chest and shifted her weight to one foot. "You want to tell me a better plan?"

"I'm a fan of ignoring my problems until they just go away," Stiles answered, waving his hand in the air.

Meilani shook her head and just decided to ignore her boyfriend's comment. "Just make sure we can get inside, please."

"Lani..."

Meilani stalked over to Stiles and grabbed his face, crashing their lips together in a long, passionate kiss. "How 'bout now?" She whispered as she looked up at him through her eyelashes.

Stiles frantically nodded and dug around in his trunk for the huge pliers they were going to use to break open the locks.

Meilani turned at the sound of a car pulling up behind them. She squinted into the headlights to see Derek getting out of his car. "Where's my boss?"

Derek gestured behind him lazily at the back seat of his car. Deaton was propped up against the door, still knocked out and a piece of tape on his mouth.

"Oh... he looks comfortable," Stiles remarked with a grimace.

Meilani slapped Stiles' back and began to make her way towards the doors of the school with Stiles trailing behind her.

"What are you doing?" Derek yelled after the two.

Meilani stopped a few feet from the door and looked over her shoulder at Derek. "Said he was linked with the alpha. I'm going to see if you're right."

Stiles broke open the locks on the door with the pliers before opening the door for his girlfriend. Meilani walked into the building and Stiles quietly shut the doors behind them, as if someone besides them and Derek could hear them going inside. Meilani lead the way over to the main office and slid inside with Stiles.

"Okay, I have one question," Stiles said as he rounded the desk and handed Meilani the mic used to make the daily announcements throughout the school. "What are you going to do if the alpha doesn't show up?"

Meilani sighed and shook her head. "I don't know, Sti."

"And what are you going to do if he does show up?" Stiles asked as he flipped on all the necessary switches for the mic to be heard around the school and outside of it.

"I don't know..."

Stiles gave his girlfriend a look. "Good plan, babe."

"Shut up, Stiles," Meilani scolded with a glare. "You said a wolf howls to give his location to the rest of the pack, right?"

"Right, but if you bring him here does that make you part of his pack?"

"I hope not," Meilani whispered.

Stiles nodded and turned the knob on the control center all the way up. "Yeah, me too. Now it's all you."

Meilani took a deep breath and gripped onto the mic, sharing a look with Stiles. He gave her a reassuring nod before she gave it her best shot into the mic. However, it sounded more like cub era Simba from Lion King, than an actual howl.

Stiles stifled a laugh behind his hand, which earned him a hard glare from the werewolf girl. He quickly stopped at her death glare and quietly apologized.

Meilani's eyes turned yellow before she let out a roar that could probably battle Derek's. It actually almost scared Stiles. It would have actually scared him if he didn't know it was actually Meilani doing it. He gave her a high five once she was finished and hugged her, spinning her in a circle. "That was great, Lani!"

Meilani grinned at her boyfriend's praise and dragged him outside to Derek who looked like he wanted to bite her head off. "What I do?"

"I'm going to kill both of you! Are you trying to attract the entire state to the school?" Derek growled at the two teens who couldn't keep the grins off their faces.

Meilani scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't know it was going to be that loud."

"It was loud and it was AWESOME!" Stiles sang and pat his girlfriend on the back.

Derek narrowed his eyes at Stiles. "Shut up."

"Hey, don't be such a sour wolf."

Meilani glanced over to the car and noticed Deaton was gone. Her eyes widened as she peered over Derek's shoulder. "What did you do with him?"

Derek furrowed his brows and looked inside the car to see Deaton was no longer there. "I didn't do anything!"

Before Stiles and Meilani could say anything, blood spilled out of Derek's mouth and he was raised from the ground by a six foot werewolf. Meilani grabbed Stiles and quickly rushed back to the school where they both closed the doors to the school, locking it behind them.

So Deaton was the alpha?

EDITED ON: SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2019