𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕

𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

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╰┈˚ · ° .  THE SUN HAD STARTED TO GO DOWN WHEN Alec's phone chimed into his pockets. I don't know how much time we spent in the meadow, laying down on the soft grass between flowers and under the canopy of green leaves of the majestic oak, our limbs intertwined and only our breaths and heartbeats to be heard alongside the sound of nature.

It was peaceful, and for the first time in so long, I felt actually good. My body wasn't fighting the magic or the wolf inside of me. Both parts coexisted together and in harmony.

"It's your grandmother, she says to meet her at the animal clinic." Alec's voice was low as if he too, didn't want to break the bubble of happiness we had fallen into.

But reality called. Even if a bit too soon for both our likings.

"Then we should go." I sighed, burying my face deeper into my boyfriend's chest and tightening my arm around him. And even if I had said that, I made no motion to actually get up.

I felt him rumble of laughter that came out breathy, his fingers continuing to trace shapes on my back. "Another five minutes." He said, dropping his forehead against the crown of my head.

"Yeah, another five minutes."

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╰┈˚ · ° .  We arrived at the clinic just as Scott did. We exchanged tight lipped and strained smiles before entering. Allison, Lydia, Sebastian, Isaac and Stiles were already there with my grandmother standing next to Deaton.

"Come," My grandmother said, her familiar perched on her shoulder. "I know that Deaton talked to you about this before but I want to be sure." Her eyes were slightly narrowed down as she looked at each one of us.

"I actually don't know what is happening." I said confused.

"Just listen to what I have to say and you'll know." My grandma replied. She then took a big breath, whaling her nerves as she petted Citrine— once, twice— and began her speech. "This plan is to find the missing guardians, your parents, who are held near the Nemeton."

"You can find them, right?" Stiles asked, anxiously passing his hands through his hair already looking quite messy.

"I can't." My grandmother said before looking specifically at Scott, Stiles, Allison and I. "But you, you can."

"How?" I asked.

"With a spell. Or more so, with a ritual. But there will be consequences. A Nemeton is like a beacon, it will attract any type of supernatural creature. You'll give power back to the Nemeton, power that could make this town, our town, the center of the supernatural. There are not a lot of Nemeton, and this is the only one here in North America. Scott, Stiles, Allison, you'll become like surrogate sacrifices. You'll die. And there is only one way to come back. The witch performing the spell needs to be strong enough to complete the ritual or you three will remain dead."

All the eyes fell on me. "No pressure, I guess." I commented with a closed eyes shake of my head.

"And on the three surrogate sacrifices, almost like a scar, a veil of darkness... it will be permanent around your heart."

Touching his biceps, where his tattoo was, Scott whispered, "Like a tattoo."

"Yes." My grandmother nodded. "Now if this is what you want to do, then we have to do it now."

"I don't know." I said truthfully, "What if I'm not strong enough to bring them back."

"Oh sweetheart." My grandmother laughed, "That is the last thing you should worry about."

"And what is the thing to actually be worried about?" Alec asked, stepping closer to me, his shadows fidgeting to grasp my fingers.

The smile that came across the older Warren witch, was soft and loving. "She could power up the Nemeton a bit too much." She replied.

"As I said, definitely no pressure. Why can't you help me? It's for sure better two witches then one." I groaned, trying not to whine about it.

My grandmother passed me the grimoire that she had brought with her, one of our many, the ritual was written on two pages. "No, it has to be you."

"So helpful." I mumbled under my breath. Looking up from the magic book to set my gaze on the others, I let out a sigh, "Alright so, I guess we are doing this."

I took a couple of minutes to read over and over again the spell, as my grandmother prepared the three metal tubs that were filled with water and ice with different herbs and smaller spells and crystals that represented each one of the surrogate sacrifices.

"What did you bring?" Deaton asked to the three teenagers with currently missing parents.

Stiles was the first to answer that question, "Um, I got my dad's badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"Well, it doesn't need to look good if it has meaning."

Then it was Allison's turn. In her hands there was a bullet with their family crest emblemed on it.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac asked, eyeing it with both fascination and dread simultaneously.

"My dad made it. It's kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

"Scott?"

"My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."

After distressed silence filled the room, one to tense for my liking, I decided to speak, "It works this way" I said after exhaling a breath, "The three of you will get in. And you'll have someone that will hold you down until the first part of the ritual is done and you are dead."

"But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone

who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you. A kind of emotional tether." Deaton's said before my Grandmother added

"That is why I can't help with the spell. The witch needs to have an emotional tether to the three sacrifices too. But yours is a little deeper than that." She said the last part had an addiction of a cheeky wink and more sly tone. As she knew something that we did not.

"I completely disagree with having any emotional tether with Stiles." I said something completely serious in my statement. Almost in disgust by what my grandmother had suggested.

"Thank you, Lizzie. You are always so loving. Really the friend of the year." Stiles replied with sarcasm dripping all over.

"Whether you want it or not, you have one." My grandmother clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, sending me a stern look, "Now, Lydia... You go with Stiles."

"Oh." Alec commented slowly in a whisper, extending the word for longer as the two looked at each other rather awkwardly.

"Is my ship sailing?" I asked Sebastian who had a huge grin on his face as he grinned wryly at the two.

"Hopefully. Did you know she kissed him to stop his panic attack?" My friend whispered back.

Wide eyes I turned towards him. "You are kidding me."

"Nope."

"Allison, you with Sebastian." Deaton interrupted our session of gossip before then adding, "I'll go with Scott."

"Okay, let's begin." I said, clapping my hands in a very sarcastic way.

I definitely did not want to do whatever this ritual was.

As the three sacrifices approached their tubs, the air around us had changed, it was charged with magic, with the unknown and fear. I started to let out a flow of my magic as I approached Stiles, his father had been the first one to be kidnapped. I let myself be pulled into a magic trance as I started to mutter the spell under my breath. With a sharp knife, I traced it on my palm creating a wound. Blood started to pool until a drop fell into Stiles's tub as I whispered the word, "Custos."

I repeated the same process with the other two tubs, and when I raised my head, I gave them a nod. The three entered the tubs, shivering at contact of their skin against the ice cold water. And as they did that, I sat in front of them, different salts, normal, pink and black salts made with incense ashes, formed a spiral around me. I started pouring more magic into the spell, speaking the words with more force and a higher tone as Scott, Stiles and Allison passed out in the tub.

And then, I opened my eyes, and I was in a white room, almost looking sterile. In the middle of it, there it was. The Nemeton. The remaining stump of a magical tree. It was instinctive, I took a step to get on it, and I sat directly in the center.

And I let my magic flow freely.

───── ⋆⋅⋆｡ ﾟ☽𖦹☾ ﾟ｡⋆⋅⋆ ─────

𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐜'𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐯

╰┈˚ · ° .  16 hours. That was the amount of time that had passed since Allison, Scott and Stiles died for the ritual. 16 hours since my girlfriend had closed her eyes, 16 hours of her always using her magic. We all could feel it in the air, even Sebastian, who was human, the amount of power that was flowing away from her.

And I couldn't help but worry. I had not moved my eyes away from her since hers had closed. I didn't stop for one second hearing her heart beating steadily in her chest.

16 hours.

16 hours before they all woke up gasping.

"I saw it. I know where it is." Scott shouted as he came back. He quickly got out of the tub still breathing heavily

"We passed it. There's... There's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big, though, very big." Stiles added.

"It was the night we were looking for the body." Scott told to his best friend.

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."

"I was there too, in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone." Allison added.

"It was me. You almost hit me." Turning towards us Scott then stated, "We can find it."

Another gasp was heard, and her eyes, her gorgeous blue eyes that only glowed yellow because of her wolf side, for a second they shined of a vibrant purple.

"Ellie!" I yelled, quickly helping her up. She was confused, almost as if she wasn't all out of her magic induced trance. "Amore?" [Love]

"I'm fine." She smiled. "I can feel it. The Nemeton."

"You can feel the Nemeton?" Elizabeth's grandmother, Rosalie Warren asked. It was light, but I could see the sligh surprise and perhaps fear shining through her expression. I was almost sure that that wasn't supposed to happen.

"We can find it." Allison stated. But seeing our expression she then asked as she hugged her arms around herself from the cold, "What?"

"You guys were out a long time." Isaac said after a second of silence.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles asked.

"16 hours." The veterinarian revealed.

"We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Panicking Scott asked.

Closing her eyes and groning in her hand, Elizabeth said, "That means that the full moon rises in less than four."

Towels were distributed to the three shivering guys as we all took a second to assimilate the very small time frame we had. I wrapped my girlfriend in my arms, leaving small kisses on the crown of her head every once in a while.

The longest 16 hours of my life.

"Okau, uhm." Scott stuttered slightly, " I need to call Deucalion."

"No, dude, you are not going back with them." Stiles said back to his friend, completely disagreeing with his idea of joining the alpha pack.

"I made a deal with Deucalion." Scott countered.

Always the proper one.

"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stiles asked, looking around himself towards us all.

"Why does it matter, anyway?" Isaac asked.

"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."

"He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong." Stiles said to the veterinarian.

"I'm not so sure he is." Deaton said, "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."

"So we're gonna trust him, the guy that calls himself death, destroyer of worlds? We're gonna trust that guy?" As always with as much sarcasm as he could, Stiles asked.

"I wouldn't trust him, no, but you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

That gave us something to think about. And honestly, the animal doctor wasn't that wrong.

"I'm in all for using 'death, the destroyer of worlds', as bait." I said mocking how Stiles had called the alpha. "Maybe she kills him and we have one less problem to deal with."

"Really?" Looking up from where she stood between my arms, Elizabeth deadpanned.

"Tell me I'm wrong?" I told her, grinning when she just turned back around laying down against my chest once again. "Like I thought."

Suddenly, the front door opened. Ethan's scent arrived to us werewolves.

Deaton moved so he could look at who it was, when the alpha twin spoke, "I'm looking for Lydia."

We followed, now able to see Ethan too.

"What do you want?" Lydia asked to the guy.

"Sorry she can't help. Goodbye." Elizabeth stated, stepping in front of her best friend before she was shoved aside by the girl who rolled her eyes at my girlfriend.

"I need your help." Ethan said.

Stiles stepped forward, asking with a rather annoyed tone: "With what?"

"Stopping my brother and Kali... From killing Derek."

"Oh fuck. Cora!" Suddenly Elizabeth exclaimed, probably only remembering now of her hurt cousin.

"Calm down, she is fine. Derek healed her." I told her, grabbing her arm and stopping her from rushing to his cousin's loft.

───── ⋆⋅⋆｡ ﾟ☽𖦹☾ ﾟ｡⋆⋅⋆ ─────

𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐯

╰┈˚ · ° .  We splitted up. Scott, Allison, Isaac, and Stiles all went to grab some clothing items from the missing parents as their scent would help us find them easier once close enough to the Nemeton.

While Alec, Lydia, Sebastian, Ethan and I all went to Derek's loft to see my cousin, who apparently was not an Alpha anymore.

Peter and Cora were at the side of Derek, who glared at Ethan in a very harsh manner. I didn't waste a second to hug Cora tightly. I actually had thought that I was going to lose her.

"We know about the lunar eclipse, so don't think Kali's gonna sit around waiting for it to level the playing field. She's coming, and my brother's coming with her."

"Good enough for me. Derek?" Ethan's words were enough for Peter to run.

"You want me to run?" As is the hypothesis of running was a disgrace, Derek asked with clear annoyance.

"No. I want you to stay and get slaughtered by an alpha with a psychotic foot fetish." Peter joked, "Of course I want you to run. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town."

"If you want to fight and die for something, that's fine with me." Cora said to his brother, "but do it for something meaningful."

"Fuck yeah, you need to run." I said agreeing with my uncle.

"How do you know I'm gonna lose?" Derek asked.

"We don't, but I'll bet she has an idea. Don't you, Lydia?" Peter asked, stepping towards my best friend. knowing.

"I don't know anything."

"But you feel something, don't you?"

"Back off." I said to my uncle with my eyes narrowed.

"What do you feel?" Derek asked trying to soften the way Peter had asked her about it.

"I feel like... I'm standing in a graveyard." With her voice cracking with her emotions, Lydia admitted.

"Alright, you need to get the fuck out of here. Now, Der." I said looking at my cousin.

And with that a plan was formed. Derek and Cora packed their bags, and quickly drove away with the intent of leaving Beacon Hills. Lydia and Sebastian would remain in the loft with Ethan, trying to stop the alphas from going on their killing spree, while Alec and I would meet with Isaac, Allison, Scott and Stiles at the Beacon Hills reserve.

But when we arrived, Stiles was still not there.

"Where is Stiles?" I asked as I climbed from Alec's bike.

"He is still not here but we can't wait for him. Come on." Isaac said, starting to walk away with Alec and Allison.

Scott faltered slightly, turning around, his eyes searching for his best friend.

"I'm sure he is fine. He will join us later, don't worry." I smiled, taking his arm and dragging him with me.

"Yeah." He said.

We walked until we arrived at the cliff where our entire town could've been seen from above and the exact place where we would meet Deucalion.

"He is here already." I told the others as I caught the scent of the Alpha of the alphas.

"Yes, I am, Elizabeth. You have a good sense of smell." Deucalion said as he walked away from the tree line. "Cutting it a little close, aren't we, Scott?"

"We got a little delayed. Where are the others?" Scott said, looking for the other members of the alpha's pack.

"Occupying themselves with other pursuits." Deucalion shrugged, noticing his wandering eyes.

"So it's just you and me against her?"

"I think you'll be surprised what a good team we make. Maybe Elizabeth could join us too, what do you think?"

"I'm good, thanks." I deadpanned.

"Okay, get Stiles," Scott said, turning towards us. "And then get to the root cellar, okay? We'll keep Jennifer away long enough for you to get them

out of there."

"How are you gonna do that?" I asked

And Scott's reply came with a sly smirk. "I have a plan."

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╰┈˚ · ° .  Almost like we had an internal compass for the Nemeton, Allison and I walked surely where we knew where it was.

But not Isaac or Alec were much sure of it.

"Are you sure we're going the right direction?" Isaac asked, raising his voice enough to be heard above the noise of the storm.

"I know we're near it." Allison said.

"You sure that we are not just lost in the middle of the woods and with a storm raging above us?" Alec asked this time.

"We are going the right direction." I said with a huff. "Now shut up."

"You think you can pick up a scent?" Allison then asked.

"Nope." I replied "The storm is-" I cutted myself off like me, Isaac and Alec heard the same thing.

"We hear something. It's an... it's an emitter. It's one of your dad's." Isaac said for the human girl.

"Are you sure?" Allison questioned.

"Has to be."

"Come on."

This time it was Alec and Isaac in front of us leading towards the sound. And then, there it was. The Nemeton. Once a big majestic three now only reduced to only a stump... but I could feel it. It was alive with magic.

On the side there were two wooden doors that lead down to the root cell, that was where we found the three missing parents.

Allison rushed to her father, kissing his temple as she sighed a breath of relief. Isaac went to Melissa, helping her while I freed the sheriff from his bounds.

"Where's Stiles? Where's my son?" Noah Stilinski asked in a panicked tone.

"And Scott?" Melissa McCall questioned too.

"They're coming, all right? They're on their way to help." Isaac reassured the two the best he could.

But the storm above us started to increase its strengths. The Darach potentiated it to her advantage. Rocks, dirt and leaves started to fall from the holes in the ground above us. The walls started to cede and fall, and the wooden beam on the ceiling that kept the cellar safe, started to crack.

Us werewolves, almost instinctively, used our strengths to not make it collapse on top of us, but we were blocked in. The exit had collapsed, and the storm wasn't showing any sign of stopping anytime soon.

And to make it worse, the eclipse was just starting.

"The eclipse!" Alec yelled notifying the others, the humans with us, of our new predicament. All our supernatural strengths were reduced to a normal standard.

"Elizabeeth, can you block the storm from reaching us. Even if only slightly?" Chris Argent yelled over the loud storm and the strain of his muscle, as even the humans, helped us supernatural creatures to keep the ceiling from falling on us.

Following his suggestion I tried to block us out, but the Nemeton, the place where Jennifer was channeling her power, was literally above us. There was no way to stop it from reaching us down here.

My magic was nothing in comparison to the Nemeton's powers. "I can't. I'm sorry!" I shouted above all the chaos and sounds.

Grunts left all our lips as we all together lifted the ceding beam. Until, Stiles, with a baseball bat, appeared, jumping in from one of the many holes in the earth. He used his weapon to support the beam, successfully stopping it from collapsing totally on top of us.

"I always said aluminum was better." The sheriff commented with a chuckle before his son jumped in his arms, relieved to see his father.

I felt something in my magic shift in that moment of relative safeness. It made me close my eyes to see what had changed. It was easier now to feel the storm, maybe because I had not to think about keeping a beam from falling on us, or maybe something else. This time though, I remembered the ritual, how my magic awakened completely the Nemeton, magic that Jennifer Blake was using to her advantage.

Finding a new approach, I connected myself to it with it until we were one and only, blending my magic with the traces left behind from ritual, from my power that the Nemeton has made its own. I didn't try to block us from it, or overpower it. I felt the Darach's abilities as I felt the storm, they felt dark and slimy. And changing my tactic, I channeled her energies.

I opened my eyes with a gasp, my left bicep tingling as I brought my right hand to the ground giving back to nature all the stealed energies and power, bringing back the balance by taking from The Darach what she had stolen.

A collective gasp of relief was heard when everything stopped, and I could feel everyone's eyes on me.

"Your eyes." Chris Argent started, I could almost see the beginning of a smile forming on his lips, "They glowed purple for a second."

"What?" I said confused.

Witches do not have glowing eyes, I have never met a witch with glowing eyes. It was rare, too rare that it was almost considered a myth.

"It's not possible." I shook my head in denial. And fortunately, Stiles' phone rang just in time to prevent any other questions, even if not stopping my boyfriend's stare on me.

But even as Stiles talked with Scott, my mind was elsewhere as my fingers gently brushed over my covered biceps with feather-like touches.

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╰┈˚ · ° .  The McCall household was silent when the following morning I knocked on the front door. Only one heartbeat inside. And I knew exactly who it belonged to.

Scott opened his front door, not even an ounce of surprise on his features.

"Deaton told me you were going to show up soon." He said before furrowing his eyebrows, "And somehow I knew you would."

"I guess congratulations are in order. You are an alpha now." I said with a smirk as I stepped inside his home.

Scott let out a breathy laugh, "Yeah I guess I am now."

"You are, and you are a true alpha, Scott. You should really be proud of it." I told him, offering a sincere smile. "Did Deaton tell you why I would come here?"

"I might have an idea." He said.

Looking down at my feet I started to speak "Sometimes, witches can develop connections to packs. It's not very common since we like to keep to ourselves or in our covens. But it can happen. My mother was connected to the Hale pack." I took off my leather jacket revealing my left bicep.

Before yesterday the skin was free of anything, but now, there was a tattoo. One band and a thicker one above it, and between the two, there was a thin line with scales like the one of my familiar filling it.

"What is that?" Scott asked, his eyes focused on the tattoo.

"When you got your tattoo you didn't know what it was. Not consciously." I took his hand, drawing with the pad of my finger a circle, and with two, the second circle around it. "It's the symbol of your pack. Of our pack." I revealed as I let go of his hand, "The scales are my connection to the pack, to each member."

He rolled the sleeve of his shirt on the left bicep revealing his tattoo. And the same line of snake scales was there for him too. "I had hypnotized that it was something to do with you." He said with a half smile.

I chuckled at his reply. "You know, I can somehow feel them. All of the people in the pack."

"Are you serious?" He asked with wide eyes,

"Yes." I shook my head in disbelief. "Even if some of them are humans, or that they are not your betas, I can feel them. Stiles, Lydia, Allison, Isaac, Alec, Sebastian... You. I can feel all of you. It's almost like Following The Currents to a piece of their souls. They are an echo far away but... they are all still there."

Speechless, Scott could only stutter incomprehensible words. I chuckle at that, wearing once again my jacket. "C'mon we have school. You can be speechless as we go there."

But his arm stopped me from moving. He tried to speak a couple of times before he took a breath to steady himself. He looked at me, sincerity shining in his eyes. "Thank you." He said. "You never wanted to get in the middle of my messes but you were always there anyway."

"You gave me something that I thought I had lost forever, Scott." I said with a rare gentle smile.

"A pack?"

"What a pack represents. Family, friends, trust, hope. I don't think the connection would have formed if it was not wanted on both sides. We are a pack now, we will face whatever will come our way together. Just like we did last year."

"A pack." He nodded with a soft smile. "A family."

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!!

End of season 3A!!! I'm so excited for you to read about this connection between a witch and an Alpha. (Something that Deucalion wanted from Elizabeth.)

Scott and Lizzie are really cute!! Brotp. Scott really softened our girl.

This is just the beginning because I have a lot of things in mind for the next seasons.

Stay tuned for Season 3B!! AKA the saddest and best season of all!!! (I'm currently writing it)

Thank you all for having read this fanfiction, I appreciate each and every one of you!! A greatest thank you to those of you who liked and commented!!

This story as of now is at 60k and I'm so happy about it. Again, I can't thank you enough my lovely readers.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾