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EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

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Meilani's eyes snapped open, but instantly closed them again when the light above blinded her. She sat up on the examination table and turned to see Deaton stood by the counter, his back to her. 

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious," Deaton said, walking over to Meilani as she slid off the table and he held her upright when she stumbled. "You doing okay?"

Meilani chuckled and leaned her weight on the table behind her to give her support.

"Maybe you should sit down, huh?" Deaton stated and when he went to help Meilani sit back on the table, the bell over the entrance door jingled signaling someone walked in. "Hello?"

Meilani froze at the heartbeat she could hear from in the room. Why couldn't Peter just leave her alone? How many times did she have to tell the guy no before he understood she wasn't joining his pack? "Deaton, I - "

Deaton ignored her and walked out of the room and stood in the front. "I'm sorry, we're closed."

"Hi, there. I'm here to pick up."

Deaton stuffed his hands in his pockets and eyed Peter. Meilani couldn't see Peter, but she assumed he was trying to make himself look as innocent as possible and she slowly hid herself in the corner of the examination room Deaton dropped her in the previous night. "I don't remember you dropping off."

"This one wandered in on its own."

"Even if they did, I'm afraid I can't help you - we're closed."

"I think you can make an exception this one time... don't you?"

"I'm sorry, that's not going to be possible," Deaton calmly responded as if talking down a child from a temper tantrum. "Maybe you could come back during regular hours."

It was quiet for a long moment before Peter spoke again. "You have something of mine. I'm here to collect it."

Meilani scoffed and fought against the urge to rush out and rip Peter's throat out. Was he seriously claiming her like she was an object? He also needed to get through his thick skull that she was telling him no. No way she was joining a pack, especially not one lead by Peter freakin Hale that's running around killing innocent people. Plus he threatened her family. Pretty sure anyone else in her situation would tell him to screw off also.

"Like I said... we're closed."

Meilani heard silence and then a low static sound. She furrowed her eyebrows as she didn't see Deaton move to taser Peter from her hiding spot in the corner, nor did she think Peter touched anything to shock himself. 

"Mountain ash. That's an old one."

The sound of a chair breaking caused Meilani to flinch and cover her ears.

"Let me be as clear as possible. We...are...closed," Deaton grit through his teeth.

"There are others that can help me get what I want, Meilani," Peter whispered once he was near the exit, low enough for only her to hear. "More innocent...and far more vulnerable."

Meilani felt her heart stop in her chest as she realized who he was talking about. The only other important person in her life that hadn't been targeted just yet. Another one who didn't know a thing about her being werewolf or of the supernatural world at all. "Scott!"

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"Call it again!" Meilani begged as she rushed around her room, throwing stuff around her room in search of the small device.

"Babe, it's not here!" Stiles argued from his seat on the roller desk chair at the end of her bed. He sat on it backwards with his arms leant on the back of the chair. "So you lost your phone? Just get a new one."

Meilani whined as she dropped to her stomach and moved everything that was under her bed, but still came up empty. Where the hell was her phone? "I can't afford another one, Stiles! I can't do this alone. We have to find Derek before his psycho uncle gets his grubby hands on Scott."

"Well, a)  you're not alone. You have me," Stiles reminded and grinned at his girlfriend as he swung the chair from side to side. If she wasn't so freaked out right now, she'd relish in the fact at how adorable he looked doing it and probably kiss him into the next year. However, her life was too complicated to stare lovingly at her boyfriend. "And, b) didn't you say Derek walked into gunfire? Sounds pretty dead, Lani."

Meilani rushed past Stiles and into her bathroom to dig through her hamper, hoping she left her phone in one of her jeans or hoodies - well Stiles' really because half of them are actually his - pockets. "Argents' plan was to get the Alpha - they're not gonna kill him."

"Alright, so then just let them do what they're planning, you know? They use Derek to get Peter - problem solved," Stiles groaned when a hoodie hit him in the face and he removed it to see it was his old Star Wars one that had MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU ON IT  from when he and Meilani went to the Star Wars convention that came to Beacon Hills on Star Wars day. "Hey, is this mine?"

Meilani stood in the doorway of her bathroom, eyes scanning the whole room and ignoring her boyfriend's protest of her stealing his favorite hoodie. "Not if Peter's going after Scott to find Derek! He has to know Allison's father is a hunter and he also he has to know that Scott is with Allison. Peter will go after the both of them thinking they have information when they don't because neither one of them know about any of this. Was kind of hoping to keep it that way!"

"Babe..."

"I can't protect either of them on my own, which means we need to find Derek first... just - just help me!"

Stiles ran a hand over his face as he sighed heavily. "You probably lost it when you two were fighting. You remember that, when he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behavior here?"

Meilani leaned her hands on her desk and dropped her head, closing her eyes as she tried to think. "He wasn't going to kill anyone and I'm not letting him die."

Stiles pouted and looked at his girlfriend. "Can we at least think about letting him die? For me? The love of your life?"

Meilani's head snapped up when she heard the tires of her mom's minivan screeching quietly outside as her mom parked. 

"What?"

"My mom just got home from work," Meilani whispered and  crept closer to the window when she heard her mom make a phone call instead of getting out of the car.

"Hi. It's me. Melissa McCall. Um... giving you a call," Melissa laughed quietly to herself at her small pun. "That always sounds really weird because of my last name... McCall. So...yeah. Um... you know, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to reschedule dinner or lunch. It doesn't have to be dinner. Lunch is good. Or maybe you would like to do coffee, or maybe you're a tea drinker - I don't know. You know, we could also just go out for drinks. Um... ha. Yeah, 'cause I think I need a few after this profoundly embarrassing phone call. So if this really doesn't freak you out too much after this disastrous call, feel free to, um... give me a call."

Meilani closed her eyes and dropped down to the ground, leaning against her desk as she buried her face in her hands. How was she meant to protect three people alone when she had no idea how to fight to begin with? Her mentor was off the grid and even though she wants to put his head through a wall, she really needed Derek. She felt her head starting to pound with a migraine as the stress just weighed even more on her.

Stiles stood up from his seat on the chair and walked over to sit in front of his girlfriend. He gently pried her hands away from her face and held them comfortingly in his. "Babe, is your mom okay?"

Meilani felt her own tears well up as she heard her mom's sniffles from the car and slowly shook her head.

"What is she doing?"

"Crying."

Stiles sighed softly and brought Meilani into his lap, laying her head on his shoulder as his arms wrapped around her, caging her in his legs and arms. He kissed the side of her head gently and stroked her hair soothingly to help calm her down. "Lani, you can't protect everyone."

"I have to," Meilani whimpered, sniffling softly and running her sleeve across her nose.

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"Jackson, please!" Meilani begged as she slammed his locker door shut in the boys' locker room. Thankfully, most of the boys were either dressed already or at least modest so her being there didn't make it weird. "I need you to help me and watch over Scott and Allison at the dance."

"Why do I need to babysit?"

"I need your help!"

Jackson scoffed and shook his head. "Screw you," he looked over to Stiles who was leant against the locker that was next to Meilani. "Screw you too. Actually, just screw each other."

"Don't have to ask me twice."

"Stiles!"

"What?"

Meilani closed her eyes and calmed her rapidly beating heart before she wound up reaching out and punching Jackson right in his pretty boy face. "I saved your life unless you forgot."

"No, you left for me dead," Jackson corrected.

"I got shot for you!"

"Oh, yeah? Show me the bullet wound."

Meilani huffed and crossed her arms. "You know it healed, Jackson. Over night."

"Mmm," Jackson hummed. "Convenient."

"Just do it for Allison, okay? I know that's why you broke up with Lydia. I know you have a thing for her even though she's with Scott. She's in serious danger and so is Scott. I'm talking around-the-clock danger. I need an extra pair of eyes to just help me make sure her and Scott stay safe at this dance."

Jackson glanced at Stiles who merely shrugged. "Why can't her dad watch them? He's the one actually equipped to handle this."

"How would you like me to do that without him finding out that I'm the beta that him and Kate are looking for?"

"Not my problem."

Meilani shot her hand out, stopping Jackson from storming off. "You're her friend, too. You are. All that time you spend with her, Scott and Lydia? It's Allison. How do you not like her? I dare you to look me in the eye and tell me that you don't care if she gets hurt. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if you actually cared if my twin got hurt."

"What if I get hurt?" Jackson countered.

"Then it's worth it."

Jackson shook his head. "Not to me," he whispered before pushing past the couple and towards the door of the locker room.

Stiles stretched his back as Jackson had pretty much slammed him right into the locker. "Well, I shouldn't say I told you so... cause it's not strong enough. How about I'm always right, and you should listen to whatever I have to say and never disagree ever, ever, for the sake of your wolflihood?"

"I'm not done," Meilani growled and stormed over to Jackson before he could leave. "One more thing..."

Jackson turned to face Meilani with a bored expression but it immediately morphed into fear when her eyes flashed yellow and her canines dropped out. "Okay, okay, McCall!"

Meilani quickly morphed her face back to normal and smiled triumphantly as Jackson scrambled out of the locker room. "It's just too easy."

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"Babe, you have like a million dresses in your closet," Stiles groaned as he followed Meilani around Macy's as she tried to find a dress for the formal dance. "Can't you just wear one of those?"

Meilani turned to face Stiles and raised her eyebrows. "I have one dress and it's from eighth grade prom."

"Yeah, but..." Stiles trailed off as Meilani stepped forward, playing with his flannel that he wore with a blue t-shirt underneath.

"But... I need a new dress and I was thinking you could help me pick a dress that you might be lucky enough to take off later," Meilani looked up at him through her eyelashes as she bit her lip, winking at him.

Stiles instantly melted, his hands rubbing her sides. "So, which dress are you trying on first?"

Meilani grinned and tugged on his hand to pull him behind her. "That's the spirit, Sti!" She cheered, grabbing random dresses off the racks surrounding them and dropping them into Stiles' open arms.

Stiles blinked as more and more dresses piled onto the already decently sized pile. "You're trying all of these on? Is this a twenty-four hour Macy's?"

Meilani went to make her way towards the fitting rooms when she heard Peter's voice talking to Scott and Allison. She froze and peered around a rack to her right and saw him instructing Allison on what dress color she she should get since her complexion was fair. 

"Seriously? Can we ever go five minutes without werewolf business popping up?" Stiles whined and Meilani agreed wholeheartedly. She wanted just a few hours of normalcy as she looked for dresses. 

When an announcement was made about a Blue Mazda being towed, Allison gasped and rushed out with Scott running after her since that was her car. 

Peter watched the couple rush off before he stood in front of the clothing rack that Stiles and Meilani hid behind to see what Peter was doing. "Just remember, Meilani, you can't be everywhere all the time."

Meilani turned to Stiles with a stressed out expression.

"So... no dress shopping?"

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"Baby, you look so beautiful," Melissa gushed as she ran a hand over her daughter's curly hair. "Where did you get this dress?"

Meilani glanced down at her baby blue dress that stopped a few inches above the knee, her white heels sat nicely on the bed since she wasn't putting those death traps on until Stiles got there. "Macy's with Stiles. Deaton paid me a little extra the past few checks so I could get a dress for formal."

"Stiles is going to die when he sees you, sweetheart," Melissa said and smiled gently at her daughter. "I'm glad I have you because your brother would not let me in his room when he was getting ready. I at least get to help you."

As if he heard they were talking about him, Scott rushed into Meilani's room in his suit jacket, white button up, black and gray tie and his boxers. "Mom, did you fix - " 

He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Meilani. Ever since she ran out on him and never came back, he had went back to avoiding her, but she couldn't help but feel some sort of hope when he took in her appearance. Her twin looked at her the way a father would when his daughter was going off to her first dance. It didn't necessarily shock her since Scott took over the job of being the man of the house when their father walked out and tried to do the best he could with doing whatever he could to give his sister the father-figure she needed. He liked to claim since he was older - even if it was a few minutes - and that since they were twins, he had a double reason to be extra protective over her. 

She wondered if that was why it hurt him so much recently that she was keeping stuff from him and that their relationship was strained. He had helped their mom raise her from the time the two were eight. Meilani literally owed her life to her twin and that's what made keeping this werewolf secret that much harder. She had to lie to her other half and it sucked.

"You look beautiful, Meilani," Scott breathed as he took her in. 

"Thanks... you too," Meilani whispered, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled the best she could at her brother even though she desperately wanted to burst into tears looking at him.

If Melissa noticed the tension that took over the room, she didn't say anything. "Your pants," she gasped and rushed out to grab Scott's pants from her room before she returned with them a few seconds later. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I forgot I fixed the hole for you."

"Thanks," Scott smiled at his mom and took the pants from her. He took one last glance at his sister before turning and walking back to his room.

"So... what's going on with you two?" Melissa asked, closing Meilani's door again and turned to face her. "You guys have been so off recently."

Of course Melissa would pick up on the twins being off with each other. The two always had a special relationship and as of late, the two could barely look at each other or even utter a word to one another. Meilani was just shocked it took Melissa this long to ask what was going on.

"It's just twin stuff, Mom, don't worry," Meilani whispered and dropped down onto her bed since she still had a few minutes until Stiles showed up and she had to put her heels on.

"By the frown on your face I feel like I should worry," Melissa commented and walked over to Meilani's bed, sitting down next to her. "You can tell me, honey."

"I just..." Meilani sighed and fiddled with her fingers in her lap. "I did something stupid and Scott is upset with me because I'm not telling him what that thing is. I'm just doing it to protect him though, but he won't listen to me."

Melissa rubbed Meilani's back gently. "He's your brother, Lans. He just wants what's best for you. Scott has always ever wanted to keep you happy and safe, you know? That's what twins do. You should talk to him and tell him what's going on."

"I love him, Mom," Meilani said, looking up at her mom and away from her lap. "I can't let him get hurt."

"I think you should tell him the truth. I don't think he could be any more hurt than he already is with you hiding whatever it is from him," Melissa advised. "I won't ask what you did, but I know you'll do the right thing."

The doorbell ringing cut off their conversation and Melissa stood up. "That's your boyfriend. I'll let him in and you come down when you're done."

"Okay, Mom," Meilani whispered and smiled when her mom kissed her on the forehead before rushing out to let Stiles in. 

Standing up after putting her heels on, Meilani walked over to the mirror in the corner of her room and fixed her dress and hair so they sat perfectly. "Just get through tonight and you'll be fine."

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Stiles opened the door for Meilani and she stepped out of his Jeep. "Why thank you, kind sir."

Stiles beamed at his girlfriend and leant down to kiss her softly on the lips. She couldn't deny how handsome he looked in his suit, white button down and matching light blue tie that really brought out his hazel eyes. Part of her wanted to take him into the bathroom in the school and have a little dance of their own in there. "You're very welcome. You look so beautiful, baby."

"You don't look so bad yourself," Meilani giggled against Stiles' lips and pulled away. "I love you."

"I love you too," Stiles replied, kissing Meilani on the forehead. "Don't stress about tonight okay? I can see it creeping up on your face. Jackson may be an asshole, but you know he'll keep to helping us out tonight. Just relax and if you see Peter, don't act irrationally."

Meilani nodded and took Stiles' hand into hers as she lead him towards the school. "No promises, Sti."

Once inside, Stiles and Meilani took a seat at one of the round tables on the side of the dance floor that was already crowded with students. Jackson, Lydia, Allison and Scott stood in a small circle talking with each other. 

Jackson met both Stiles and Meilani's eyes from where he stood and glared subtly at them to show his distaste of having to work this dance when he just wanted to drink and have fun. He turned away from them before the others could notice and Allison dragged the three to stand a few feet from where Stiles and Meilani stood to dance, instead of just standing around and talking.

Stiles looked to Meilani and grinned. "Want to dance?"

"Of course," Meilani smiled and grabbed Stiles' hand to pull him into the crowd and dance close enough to the small group so she could still keep an eye on Allison and Scott. 

Eventually a slow song came on and Meilani started to get antsy as her mom's words from earlier kept bouncing around her head. She knew she had to tell Scott the truth, but she still wanted to keep him safe. Though, maybe if he knew... it would keep him safer so he could be more aware and she wouldn't have to hide anything from him anymore. It would be a lot easier on her.

"Sti, dance with Allison," Meilani whispered.

"But I want to slow dance with my girlfriend," Stiles complained, wrapping his arms tighter around her.

"I need to dance with Scott. I'm telling him," Meilani said and wiggled out of Stiles' grip, who stared at her incredulously.

"You're joking."

Meilani shook her head and pushed past the two couples that were in between her and Scott. She tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a small smile. "Um, do you mind if I dance with you real quick?"

Allison wanted to protest, but when she saw the seriousness on Meilani's face she nodded and stepped back to dance with Stiles who was behind her to immediately offer to dance with her until the twins were done.

Meilani tugged Stiles back so they were in a less crowded part of the floor that wasn't too far from Stiles and Allison. She wrapped her arms around her twins' neck and felt the nerves kick in.

"At least your dancing got better," Scott teased gently, his hands squeezing his sister's sides. "At eighth grade prom, you kept stepping on my feet when we danced together while Stiles worked up the courage to ask you to dance."

Meilani laughed at the memory of a spazzy, awkward Stiles with extremely sweaty hands, fumbling over his words to ask Meilani to dance with him. Who knew that just a few months later the two would be together? At the time, she sure didn't. "Yeah, I'm still sorry about that."

"I'm used to being in pain while holding you," Scott chuckled. "Those first few months after Dad left when you would come crawling into my bed and would fall asleep in my bed, my arm practically died when I held you as you cried yourself to sleep. I never complained because I'm your twin and I would rather you be okay than have a working arm."

Meilani smiled softly up at him and wrapped her arms a little tighter around his neck. "Really?"

"Yeah, and I would remember the only way to get you to laugh was to either make funny faces at you or make up stories with those God awful accents I always butchered," Scott reminisced. "You would think my acting would be better by now."

A techno song replacing the slow song, cut off whatever Meilani was going to say and she groaned. She glanced to Stiles who gave her a questioning look before she turned back to Scott. "Can we talk outside? I want to be able to do this without distractions."

"Mei, are you okay?"

"No, but I will be somewhat after I tell you this," Meilani replied and dragged her twin out the back exit of the school to where they park the yellow school buses and stopped in the middle of two of the buses. "I think talking in a bus would be the most private place."

Scott looked up at the bus and then to his sister. "You're scaring me."

Meilani took a deep breath, glancing to her twin. "I'm about to scare you a lot more. Just hop in the bus."

Scott gave his twin a concerned glance, but listened to her anyway and got inside the bus, taking one of the benches by the window that Meilani stood in front of.

When Meilani moved to go over to the doors of the bus and join Scott, two cars pulled up on both ends of the bus, the headlights from both cars blinding her. She had to blink a few times to get her vision back to normal and tensed up when she saw Chris behind the wheel of one of the two cars. What in the hell was he doing here?

Scott seemed to be just as confused as his eyes bounced between the two cars before landing on his twin.

Both cars revved their engines before both zoomed towards Meilani who stood in between both. Before either one could hit her, she jumped up and her feet landed on either hood of the cars. When she looked up to Scott, his face went ghostly pale and he stumbled back a few steps at the sight of her.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Meilani looked down to see her claws had come out and she could feel her canines poking into her lip. 

Well, that's one way to get the truth out.

authors note

Hi hey hello

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING WHAT MEILANI'S DRESS LOOKED LIKE FOR THE FORMAL HERE YA GO:

SCOTT FINALLY KNOWS ABOUT MEILANI'S SECRET PEOPLE! WE HAVE ONE MORE CHAPTER UNTIL THIS BOOK ENDS AND WE MOVE ON TO BOOK TWO/SEASON TWO. I AM SO READY FOR IT AND TO FINALLY WRITE IN SCOTT KNOWING ABOUT THE WEREWOLF BIDNESS. EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO SCREAM!

ALSO I HAD TO WRITE IN SOME CUTE STILES/MEILANI SCENES IN THIS AND CAN I JUST SAY THAT MY HEART GO WHOOOOOSSSSHHHH! I LOVE ME A FREAKIN COUPLE OKAY? UGH YES. JUST HAVE BABIES AND GET MARRIED GUYS SERIOUSLY. #STEILANI IS FREAKN GOALS!!!!!

FUN FACT: THIS IS OVER 4K WORDS WHEEEEEEEEEE

EDITED ON: SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2019