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EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

CHAPTER SIX

DEREK HALE IS A FREE WOLF

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About an hour or two later, Meilani was back home getting ready for the lacrosse game that was going to start in an hour. She had called Stiles to let him know she was fine and that she'd see him at the field when her, her mom and Scott got there.

A knock on the door caused Meilani to freeze in her task of making sure that the netting on her stick was tight enough. "Come in!" She yelled.

Scott poked his head in the room and smiled brightly at his twin. "Hey, womb-mate," he greeted, walking into the room and sitting on the bed. "You ready for tonight?"

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess," Meilani replied, slightly nervous about the whole thing. It was more so over the fact that anything could go wrong tonight in the game. She was confident in her playing abilities, but she wasn't confident in the fact if provoked enough, she would wolf out or not. Meilani still had no idea how to reign in the beast and she just hoped nothing went wrong tonight.

"I know you're nervous, Mei, but you shouldn't be. You're one of the best players we have. Plus, you'll have mom, Stiles and I there. Even Allison and her dad are coming," Scott said.

Meilani's head snapped up from her stick to look at Scott. "Allison's dad is coming?"

"Yeah, she said her dad wanted to see how well you'd do on a team full of guys. I told him you played just as well, if not better, than half the team so he was interested in seeing the game."

Great, the guy who tried to kill her was now coming to watch her play. Derek wanted to kill her and Stiles because they put him behind bars. Meilani wanted a little more excitement in her life, but she definitely did not mean this.

Meilani's door opened again to reveal their mom. "Hey, kids. You ready to go?"

"Yeah let's go," Meilani said, grabbing her lacrosse bag and making her way out of the room with her mom and brother following. Might as well get this game over with.

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Meilani waited outside the guys' locker room for Stiles to come out so they could make their way over to the field together. Scott was already there talking to Allison and her dad in the stands until the game started. She could see her mom and Mr. Stilinski sitting with each other and chatting about God knows what. Meilani just hoped he didn't tell her mom that her, Scott and Stiles were in the woods late at night a few days ago. She really didn't want to deal with being grounded right now.

At the sound of the door banging against the wall behind it, Meilani looked over to see Stiles walking out of the locker room. "Are you going to try and convince me not to play?"

"I just hope you know what you're doing, Lani," Stiles said, not wanting to start an argument over her playing or not playing. He knew no matter what he said to her, Meilani would still play in the game. His girlfriend was extremely stubborn and if she wanted something she would go for it and would let nothing hold her back.

"Stiles, if I don't play I could lose first line and have Jackson gloat about it for the next century," Meilani replied, crossing her arms.

"Just ignore Jackson. He's insecure because a girl is better than him at a sport."

"My wolf powers add to that skill you know," Meilani reminded him with a sigh. "I wanna be on the team. I wanna be able to not have to worry once a month that I'll kill someone. I wanna be able to go out with you and not have to worry about Derek showing up and murdering me on the spot for not doing what he wants. I want a semi-freaking-normal life okay?"

Stiles sighed and his heart broke for Meilani. He knew she hated that this whole thing was happening and he knew he was mostly to blame. If he had just let Meilani stay home while him and Scott went to the woods that night to find the body, she would be normal. However, him or Scott could have been in her shoes then, but it would be better than Meilani losing out on her life.

"Just try not to worry too much while you're out there okay?" Stiles asked and Meilani nodded. "Or get too angry. Or too stressed."

"I got it," Meilani told Stiles hoping he would stop his rambling.

"And don't think about the fact that Allison's dad is in the stands and he wants to kill you. Or that Derek is trying to kill you. Or the girl he killed. Or that you could kill someone...." Stiles trailed off when he saw the horrified expression on Meilani's face. "Sorry, I'll shut up now."

Meilani groaned and buried her face in Stiles' chest. God this was going to be way tougher than she originally thought.

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The game finally was ready to begin. Meilani kept glancing at Stiles who was nervously chewing on his lacrosse glove. His dad was standing behind him and asking him if he thought there would be action tonight. Meilani couldn't help agreeing with Stiles when he muttered "maybe" in response.

The ref blew the whistle, signaling the players to get into position so he could begin the game. Meilani stood in her position to the left of Greenberg who was taking the faceoff. She was silently praying to whatever god was out there to make tonight go perfectly. She didn't need anything going wrong, especially with a hunter in the stands and her mom being there.

Once everyone was in their rightful places, the ref blew the whistle again and the two players taking the face off fought over the ball on the ground. Greenberg won the face off and started to run down the field with it and threw it to Jackson when he passed by. Meilani ran over towards the net where there was an opening and waved her stick around when she noticed two guys advancing on Jackson.

However, Jackson completely ignored her and flung the ball from where he was and it sailed over the goalie's shoulder and into the goal. She sighed as the crowd went wild. She couldn't believe Jackson completely ignored her and was selfish with the ball. Meilani knew he hated the fact she was first line and on her way to possibly taking his title as Captain away, but he still should play as a team.

When Meilani was walking back to the middle of the field to set up again, she overheard the guys talking in a small huddle a little bit away.

"Meilani was open. Why didn't you pass it?" Greenberg asked Jackson, which made Meilani smile a little. At least someone on the team was backing her up.

Jackson grabbed the gate of Greenberg's helmet. "What did I say?"

"But, Jacks..." Greenberg tried to reason with Jackson but was caught off again.

"What. Did. I say?" Jackson ground out through gritted teeth.

Sighing, Greenberg looked around at the team before looking back at Jackson. "Don't pass to McCall."

"Good, boy," Jackson said, patting Greenberg on the head before making his way over to the middle of the field.

Meilani's eyes flashed yellow as she felt her anger spike. Stiles must have noticed because he started chewing the finger on his glove more aggressively. Scott gave him an odd look, confused as to why Stiles was frazzled. Meilani heard Scott ask Stiles if he was okay and she heard Stiles spit out some excuse about being nervous because it was Meilani's first game. Scott must have believed him because he nodded and turned his attention back to the field.

Meilani stood in her spot, hunched over a little as she tried to regulate her beating heart and her anger. The ref had stopped in front of her and checked to see if she was okay. When she nodded her head when asked, the ref shrugged and walked over to the middle where Greenberg and the other team's member was waiting for the ref to blow the whistle and start the next play.

Once the whistle blew, it was another battle for the ball which, unfortunately, the other team won. The other team went to throw the ball to one of their other teammates, Corey Mikaelson, who ran by and caught the ball but quickly dropped it. Meilani noticed the ball and she rushed forward to grab it. Jackson must have noticed too because she was suddenly pushed to the ground and Jackson got the ball and scored another goal.

Meilani looked up, her anger officially spiked, and her fangs and yellow eyes were on display. Knowing her transformation happened, she tried to hide her face as best she could in the shadows of her helmet. They formed in the middle again and the other team won the faceoff once again. However, when the kid who won the ball looked up and saw the flashing yellow eyes and fangs on Meilani, he jumped back and threw the ball right into her net.

Not wasting a second, Meilani expertly swerved around players and jumped over the heads of two players when they rushed towards her together. She ran the rest of the way down the field and scored Beacon Hills another goal. Making the score now 3-0. Meilani could hear Stiles jumping and screaming "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND" from the sidelines as he grabbed onto Finstock's jacket. Melissa was standing on the bench and screaming her daughter's name as her and Mr. Stilinski high-fived each other.

The rest of the game went with Meilani fighting for the ball and getting goal after goal. Finstock even kept screaming at the guys to pass to Meilani for the rest of the game, which made Jackson pissed. Her last goal almost didn't count because the other team fought that she had broken the netting on the goalie's stick. However, it was overruled when Stiles and Scott argued that it still went into the goal and that it should count regardless. The final score of the game wound up being 5-2.

Finstock was screaming his praises as the horn sounded when the game ended. Meilani ripped her glove off and gasped when she saw long claws where her fingernails used to be. Hiding her hand in her jersey, she rushed off to the locker room to hide until the transformation passed and she couldn't hurt anyone.

She sat under the cold water of the shower in the girls' locker room for a few minutes until she saw her claws retract and felt her heart beat normally again. Shutting off the shower, she threw her lacrosse sweatshirt on with her name and number on the back and a pair of sweatpants. Quickly tying her wet hair into a braid, Meilani made her way out of the locker room where she bumped into Stiles.

"Oh, hey. How are you?" Stiles asked, checking his girlfriend over to make sure she showed no signs of "wolfism" as he had liked to call it.

"I was able to control it which is good I guess. It means maybe I can do this whole wolf thing," Meilani said, trying to put some light on the situation. She may have transformed but she didn't hurt anyone, so she took that as a good sign.

Stiles pat her on the shoulder. "We'll talk later then."

Meilani grabbed Stiles' hand and pulled him back before he could walk away. "Talk later? Stiles, what's wrong?"

Stiles sighed and ran a hand over his hair. "Um, the medical examiner called my dad after the game ended. They looked over the body we found."

"And..?" Meilani asked, gesturing for Stiles to continue.

"Well, I'll keep it simple. The medical examiner determines killer to be an animal. Derek is human and not animal. Derek not killer. Derek let out of jail."

Meilani's eyes widened and her heart stopped at Stiles' information. Derek was out of jail which meant if he really did want to kill her, now he could do so freely. She was okay with him behind bars because he couldn't touch or get in the way of her just trying to go about as normal even though she wasn't so normal anymore. "Are you kidding?!"

"No and here's an even bigger kick in the ass. My dad ID-ed the dead girl - both halves - and, well, it's Laura Hale."

"Hale?!" Meilani screeched, quickly covering her mouth when she realized they were both standing outside and she should probably not let any passersby hear what they were talking about. "As in..."

"Derek's sister."

EDITED: JULY 18TH, 2019