chapter seven
"proposal"

      "BECAUSE THIS ISN'T AWKWARD WHATSOEVER."

Lynn stifled an awkward laugh as she gained all three of the teenagers attention standing around her — Isaac, Allison, and then Finley. The four students were still stuck in lunchtime detention, where they were restocking the janitors closet together. But once her friends all gave her unamused glances, she puckered out her lips in an attempt at no longer chuckling.

Finley and Isaac had quite a few packages of paper towels in their hands, where Lynn had two jugs of hand soap, and Allison was fiddling around with a broom.

They weren't really conversing, probably because Allison had tried to kill Isaac, he and Lynn weren't sure what terms they were on, and poor Finley was just thrown in the middle of the nonsense.

Lynn glanced over her shoulder when she smelled the way anxious was starting to reck from Isaac, and she recognized the way the boy hesitantly entered the storage closet.

Right, he was stuffed in a freezer for more than half his life.

"Is he alright?" Finley questioned softly to Lynn, and figuring with the way Isaac didn't seem to tense up, he wasn't paying enough attention to hear her words.

"Long story," Lynn replied while placing another toilet paper roll on a different shelf. The two were quiet for a second, but then Lynn switched between the way Finley kept looking back over to Isaac. "Does someone have a crush?"

Finley's cheeks started to glow with the slightest red, and Lynn chuckled a bit under her breath while an amused smirk, "Of course not!"

"Of course not my ass," Lynn shook her head with a toothy grin, and then it began to shift moreso into a genuine smile. "He's a good guy, you know."

Lynn stared at Isaac as a little smile crossed his lips, and he let out a short laugh at something Allison had just said.

"Wait, you two aren't like.?" Finley asked, and Lynn immediately jerked her head in the girls direction with a dramatic gasp.

"Oh God no, been there, done that," Lynn commented, shaking her head repeatedly as she managed to finish reorganizing the toilet paper level of the shelf. "It's just, there's this guy, and I can't shake the feeling he gives me."

"You don't seem like the girl to settle down," Finley giggled more to herself than anything, but Lynn couldn't help but join along with her.

"I didn't think I was either," Lynn trailed for a second, but there was a soft, almost warm smile that crossed her pink lips when just the image of Derek popped into her head.

"Oh my God, you are so in love."

Lynn scoffed so harshly that her shoulders even gasped along with her body, and she cringed up her face.

"I am not in love, trust me," Lynn rolled her blue eyes, raising both of her eyebrows in Finley's direction as she leaned her back against the shelving unit. "It's just different, with him, that's all."

"Different because you've never been in love before," commented Finley with a teasing smirk, and Lynn only shook her friend playfully before both of the girls attention was suddenly snapped towards the door — and the way it was so harshly slammed close. "What the hell?"

      Since Isaac and Allison were the ones closer to the door, they instinctively rushed forward. Isaac's hand gripped the door handle, where he immediately started jamming it up and down in an attempt as forcing the door open, but it was no use.

      "Uh, maybe it locked from the outside," Allison suggested with a weary tone, and Lynn, with nervously narrowed eyebrows and hesitant eyes, raced forward towards the now scrambling Isaac.

      Lynn tried to force her shoulder into the wooden door just as Isaac fiddled with the handle, and the two made eye contact as it didn't even budge in the slightest.

      "No, there's something against it," Isaac muttered in between rapid breathes, and Lynn could hear the way his heart beat was pattering so much harder than usual. He then started pounding his fists on the door, it making a squeaking noise while he did so, but it still wasn't lightening up. "C'mon, c'mon!"

      Allison glanced frantically over her shoulder at Lynn, with a desperate expression covering her eyes. Lynn bit down on her tongue, so hard she began to  have the metallic taste grow in her mouth.

      "Isaac, you need to calm down, Isaac!" Lynn shouted as she grabbed onto the boys shoulder to finally tear his attention from her door, but she quickly exhaled a sharp breath as she recognized his yellow eyes — with threatening fangs. "Isaac, Isaac, stop."

      Lynn backed a foot or so away from the boy, swallowing some nervousness in the back of her throat. She swiftly switched over her shoulder to see the way Allison protectively jumped in front of Finley, which seemed to have gained Isaac's attention.

      But before Isaac even had the slightest chance to attack the two humans — Lynn strongly stepped in between them.

      "C'mon, Isaac, I'm the one you hate," Lynn spoke up to get the werewolf to focus on her again, and there was a playful smirk written on her lips. "Don't you want to take your anger out on someone who deserves it?"

      Isaac growled out softly as his upper lip curled in anger, and within a second, he had darted forward to wrap his sharp claws into both of Lynn's forearms. She mumbled out in pain as she gritted her teeth, feeling her back harshly slam into the sturdy shelf behind her, but she didn't extend her teeth nor her claws.

      No, Lynn just stood there, suffering through the pain as Isaac dug even deeper into her arms. The blood had started to drip onto the floor, and then Isaac shifted his hand to that it was snaked around Lynn's throat. He rose his fist, colliding it into Lynn's lower jaw, and then once again, but this time it hit her nose — where almost instantly, blood started to swell down her lips and eventually leaked into her mouth.

      Lynn felt the way the claws sank into the back of her neck, the way that her lungs were beginning to beg for oxygen, the way her vision was going fuzzy and wondered how long it would take until she was unconscious.

      "Isaac! Isaac, stop! Please!" Allison continued to cry out for the werewolf to seize up, but Lynn knew he wasn't going to stop — he needed to let all this bundled up anger out, and she knew she was never going to land another hit on the boy herself ever again.

      So, she didn't fight back.

      Lynn's body was being held weakly against the shelf as she breathed out suddenly, having the feeling of Isaac's body against her seemingly gone. She slid down to the floor, her back laying against that same shelf so it would give her a second to gain all the missing air.

      Lynn switched over towards the now flooding inwards light, noticing how the once locked door had now been swung open wide. Isaac was on the ground already outside the room, where Scott was originally leaning over him, but then glanced over to Lynn with complete worry and concern written on his face.

      "Evelynn? Lynn, oh my God, are you alright?" Scott questioned, rushing forward where he knew Isaac had now recovered from the blindness of anger. Lynn waved the boy off, sniffing a bit as she tried to wipe some of the blood from under her nose.

      Slowly, she peeled herself off the ground with a palm on the shelf for help, but then quickly regained her balance and no longer needed it.

      "I'm okay, I'm fine," Lynn explained when Scott placed an arm on her shoulder, gently, of course. When Scott looked unsure, Lynn shook her head again. "Really, I'm okay."

      Isaac just looked on with horror as he saw the bloodied face of Lynn, and there was a sudden swelling in the back of his eyes, "I'm so sorry, I didn't—I didn't mean to do that, I lost control."

      "I'm the one who's sorry," Lynn softly replied, flashing Isaac a completely sympathetic expression. She blinked away any emotions, and then turned to Scott. "It's not his fault."

      "I know, I guess now we know they want to do more than get you angry," Scott commented, and there was the slightest bit of annoyance in his tone. "They want to get someone hurt."

      "So, what the hell are we gonna do to this bastards?" Lynn asked, and there was a sudden bloodthirst bubbling her veins.

      "We're gonna get them angry, really angry."

———

      "Priceless."

      Lynn chuckled to herself with a wide grin, shaking her head softly as she recalled earlier in the day — where the group had set up Ethan and Aiden so that they would be the ones to get in trouble for, get this, riding a motorcycle throughout the school hallways.

      Their reactions? Priceless.

      She adjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder, her eyes searching the now empty school hallway — she had just got out of detention a few minutes ago, due to the fact Harris couldn't do lunchtime and she was paired with a different teacher that could only donor after school.

      But just as she turned down a separate hallway to head where she usually parked her motorcycle, she was interrupted as her blue eyes landed on a familiar shape of a body.

      "Really? Come for some payback about earlier?" Teased Lynn with an amused perked eyebrow, however, Aiden didn't seem to find her statement funny. "As much fun as fake beating you up was, I'm not in the mood to actually beat your ass."

      Lynn turned on her heels, but was abruptly halted as she nearly slammed into a different body — none other than belonging to the other twin, Ethan.

      She nervously swallowed some spit riding in the back of her throat, and her eyes floated back towards Aiden, and there was a warning glare glimmering in her eyes.

      "Two alphas against me? Doesn't that seem a bit unfair?" Lynn commented, extending her claws with a little grin covering her lips. "Unfair for you two boys, I mean."

      "Now, now, we didn't come for a fight."

      Lynn jerked her head in the direction of where the voice echoed from, and her eyes landed on the same older alpha from the hospital, the blind man she had helped direct.

      "No need to growl, Evelynn," the man responded, using his cane to guide down the hallway, until his hand reached upon Ethan's shoulder for support. "I have a proposed offer for you."

Lynn's eyes flickered from the older man to Aiden on the other side of her — and within a flash, she darted forward towards the werewolf in an attempt at gaining access to the stairs and therefore out of the sticky situation with the three alphas.

However, Aiden caught her surprise attack before she could even dig her claws into his skin — he wrapped his thick fingers around her throat and slammed her back against the wall. She hissed out with anger as her eyes flashed blue, her fangs exposed.

"And here I thought we could just have a simple chat," the man complained, raising his eyebrows over at the girl being pressed against the wall. "He can release you anytime, sweetheart, we just need you calm for a minute."

"You're Deucalion," Lynn stated through gritted teeth, her eyes switching from staring at Aiden's face in hers over towards the blind man.

"Nice to know you do have brains, Lynn," Aiden dryly laughed, and her upper lip curled in anger as she lurched forward, but was forcibly stopped by Aiden's second hand against her shoulder.

"So, you have heard of our alpha pack, then?" The man, who Lynn had now understood was Deucalion, questioned. "And do you care to listen to my proposal or shall we allow Aiden to rip your throat out as he so wishes?"

"Whatever you're offering, old man, I'm not interested," Lynn commented, her nostrils flaring as she glared in Deucalion's direction, even if he wouldn't see it.

"She does have a spark, like you said, Ethan," Deucalion announced, his head tilting towards Ethan with a little amused chuckle. "Evelynn, have you ever been apart of a pack?"

"I'm apart of one now," Lynn replied, her eyes narrowed closely at Aiden as it seemed his fingers were only tightening around her neck. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not an alpha."

"But you do know how to become one," Deucalion explained, and the anger that had flooded Lynn's face was starting to shift more towards confusion, curiosity. "You understand how I'm always looking for a good investment, and I have yet to add an evolved werewolf to my pack."

Lynn looked onward with shock as she had yet to shift into her wolf form for months, and she had quite literally no idea how any of the new alphas would know.

"So, I have an offer for you," Deucalion declared, and Lynn's chest was starting to thump with anxiety, not knowing what the next words would be to fall from his mouth. "You, Evelynn, kill an alpha to absorb their powers."

"And I'm sure you know there's hardly any alphas around anymore," Lynn countered, resting a heavy palm around Aiden's wrist in an attempt at getting him to loosen his grip. "Unless you'd like to me kill someone from your pack, of course."

"And what about the alpha called Derek Hale?"

Lynn's playful smirked immediately faded as soon as the words fell from Deucalion's lips — and she jerked forward to finally shove Aiden off her body. Her teeth gritted together harshly, and Lynn's fists were so tightly wrapped together that her knuckles turned white.

"You want me to kill Derek Hale?" Lynn repeated, and even though she fought all the urge to allow her voice to seem shaken, she couldn't help it. "I wouldn't, ever."

"And what if I've already proposed that he kill you to be accepted into the pack?" Deucalion spoke up, tilting his head a bit in the girls direction as a warning.

Lynn's breathing was unsteady, but she didn't want to let the alphas know that she was being affected by his words. Her eyes flickered to Ethan beside the man, and his look gave it all away, that Deucalion was telling the truth.

"So, Evelynn, you both have until the next full moon to decide — will it be you to join the pack, or Derek?"

a/n: ahhh yes, we love the drama. okay but i swear the slowburn is almost coming to an end here so i won't drag the angst on for much further😭😭
also for the next chapter, regular font is the present, and then italics means it's the past in a flashback <3