𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍
𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒
☽𓋼𓍊𓋼☾

"I don't want excuses, Del. I just want the truth. I want the lying to stop."

Lyla nervously bit her lip, looking up from her fingernails to watch her sister, the older woman stared at her intently. Jo had been prying for almost an hour now. An hour of arguments and lies. And Lyla knew the more her sister pried, the harder it would be to keep what was going on secret.

Lyla shook her head, "Jo, I'm not lying. Where is this coming from-"

"I know you, Delilah. Something is going on. You're never here, when you are here, you're in your room the whole time. You're short, snappy. You used to tell me everything, Del, you're so far away from me these days and I just-"

"I'm a teenager, Jo!" Lyla stood from the couch, tears brimming her eyes, "I'm not 10 anymore, I'm almost 17. I'm not going to want to talk to my older sister about every single thing in my life. I deserve my privacy, and I deserve not to be interrogated about my life." She scoffed with a shake of her head, storming towards the stairs and stomping up to her room.

She hastily grabbed her backpack and shoved a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in, along with a pair of sweatpants and a sleep shirt, before slipping her feet into her tennis shoes and throwing her hoodie over her head. She needed to stay somewhere else. She couldn't look her sister in the eyes and lie to her again.

She sucked in a deep breath, gripping her backpack strap tightly as she stormed back down the steps and grabbed her coat that was hanging from the edge of the stairs.

"Where the hell are you going?" Jo stood from her chair, stomping over to her sister as she was putting her jacket on. Lyla sighed, turning to her sister and pulling her hair from under the jacket. Although seething, Lyla could see the sadness hidden in Jo's eyes, and it killed her to leave, to lie to her. But she knew what was at risk if she told her.

"I'm going to Isaac's."

"Like hell you are! You're staying here and talking to me!" Jo shouted, reaching out to grab Lyla's backpack. She was quick, pulling her arm back and shaking her head, "Jesus, Jo, you're not mom. So stop acting like her."

Lyla reached for the door handle, swinging the door open and stepping out, allowing it to slam behind her. She immediately regretted her words, tears pouring from her eyes as she jogged down the front lawn, coming to a halt on the pavement.

It was at least midnight, and she was not in the state of mind to walk, but she could not go back inside to grab the keys; knowing Jo, she'd call the police to report a stolen vehicle just to bring her home. And she had left her bike at Derek's yesterday after they got home from the cancelled meet, the older Alpha taking the tired girl home in his car instead. With teary eyes and shaky hands, she crossed the street, stopping in front of the blue truck across the street.

"Hunter?"

A figure popped up from the bed of the truck, glancing back at her before scrambling from the vehicle. "Lyla, hey what's-" He paused once he was in front of her, face falling at her state, "Jesus, are you okay?"

"Could you drive me somewhere? I'll give you gas money." She hickuped, wiping her wet cheeks quickly, Hunter nodding his head while he closed the tailgate and pulling his keys from his pockets. "You don't have to give me gas money. It's okay." He mumbled, unlocking the car and opening the passenger door for her.

"Thank you for driving me. And thank you for not asking questions." Lyla mumbled, looking over at the boy sheepishly. Hunter sent her a small smile, "It's no problem. I get it, it's none of my business. Are you okay to get to the door? Or do you want me to walk you?"

She shook her head, grabbing her bag from the floor of the truck, "I got it. Thank you, Hunter. See you at school." She hopped out, closing the door with a small smile to him, before looking up at the building.

𓋼

"Lyla Matthews. Can I help you?"

Lyla stared up at the confused man, mouth agape but no words escaping her. Finally, after a few moments of staring at the older man, she mustered the courage to speak. "Is Allison home?"

Argent paused, before lightly nodding and moving aside so she could enter. "I apologize for showing up unannounced, Mr. Argent." The man smiled courtly with a shake of his head, "No need to apologize. I'll show you to her room."

She followed the man down the apartment hallway, smiling up at the lightly decorated walls. "It's this one." He gestured to the white door, before stepping back, "Thank you, Mr. Argent." She smiled at him as he walked away, before nervously turning to the door.

She inhaled heavily, before bringing her fist to the door and lightly tapping it twice. Before she could internally contemplate turning around and going home, the door swung open, Allison standing confused in front of her.

"Uh, hi?"

Lyla swallowed nervously, gripping her backpack strap tighter, "Hi. I know we don't know each other super well, but I am really needing someone to talk to right now."

Allison nodded sympathetically at the sight of the gathering tears in the blondes eyes, stepping aside and allowing her in her room.

Allisons room was very grown up compared to Lylas. Where string lights and a salt lamp lit Lyla's room alongside cream sheets and posters, instead was an intricate bedspread, lamps and paintings. Allison herself was very mature, very grown-up.

"Is everything okay?" Allison questioned, closing her door as Lyla placed her bag on her floor. "I'm going through some shit right now, and I don't really know anyone other than Derek, Boyd and Isaac. I don't feel like complaining about my problems to any of them. And I just really need someone to talk to." Lyla held her tears in as best she could, throat closing up as they pooled in the corners of her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Here." Allison moved to her bed, sitting with her legs crossed as Lyla crawled on her bed and mirrored her. "Are you okay?"

Lyla shook her head, mentally preparing a speech that wouldn't consist of mumbling and incoherent sentences.

"My sister, she's my everything. She's my best friend, she's basically been my mother since I was 8. And I am terrified that something is going to happen to her. With all of these sacrifices, and the Alpha pack. She's been completely in the dark about all of it, and it's getting harder and harder to keep it all from her."

"Your sister doesn't know about you?" Allison frowned, pushing her hair behind her ear as Lyla licked her lips, "No, no she knows. She's a werewolf. She's an Alpha. My mom died when I was 7, and my sister took her power."

Allisons heart dropped, knowing exactly what losing your mother does to someone mentally. "Oh. I'm so sorry. Can I ask what happened?"

Lyla inhaled deeply, looking up at the ceiling before back at Allison, "My mom and dad were Alpha's of their own pack when they met, and when they fell in love, they decided to just combine the packs into one. In the werewolf world, there's this infamous group of German hunters called Die Hundemörder, it translates to The Canine Killers. They're a group of extremist werewolf hunters who purposefully got themselves bitten in order to enhance their hunting abilities; enhanced hearing, speed, accuracy. Rumors of them spread throughout the world, but they stayed mainly in Europe. My parents had thought they kept our pack discreet enough, hidden away in Louisianna. But they came across us one day and butchered our entire pack." Lyla released a shaky breath, tears now falling down her flushed cheeks, quickly wiping them away.

"They shot my mom with wolfsbane bullets. My dad had managed to lead them away to save my sister and I, but my mom was still dying. She asked my sister to kill her quickly, so she didn't die at the hands of hunters, which in turn gave my sister her Alpha status. My dad disappeared a few months after that when he got word of the group being located in Northern Canada. We haven't seen or heard from him since." Lyla chuckled dryly, picking at the frying strings of her jeans, holding in the urge to cry and scream at the memories resurfacing in her mind so vividly it was like it was only yesterday.

Allison's heart broke for the girl, and she reached a hand out, soothingly rubbing Lyla's hand with her thumb, "I'm so sorry, Lyla. No one should have to experience that. But if keeping your sister out of this is affecting you this bad, maybe you should tell her."

Lyla shook her head aggressively, "I can't. If she finds out what I've been doing. If she finds out that the Alpha pack is here, she'll run again. She'll pack us up and we'll move somewhere across the country in some small, hick town no one's ever heard of. And for the first time, I don't-" Lyla paused, thinking of the memories she's created in Beacon Hills, the people she's met. Isaac. She couldn't fathom leaving, "I don't want to leave. I like it here. I like the people here."

Allison understood, to an extent. Having your mother taken from you, it's an indescribable pain. Lyla sniffled, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, "Sorry, to burden you with that."

"Hey, no, it's okay. I'm sorry we haven't gotten to talk much. If I'm honest, when I first saw you, you were helping Scott, and I kind of thought that you were-"

"No." Lyla interrupted, chuckling dryly at the insinuation, "I barely know Scott as it is. I started helping Derek when I moved to town, that's the only reason I know Scott." Allison smiled, nodding and staring down at her fingers. Lyla, ever the empath, smiled at the girl, "Do you still love him?" Allison paused, before shrugging, "I'll always love him. I just need time." Lyla smiled, "Could I ask a possible favor of you?" Allison nodded curiously, "Of course."

"Could I spend the night? I'm not sure I can go back home tonight."

Allison chuckled, standing from her bed with a nod, "Of course you can. We don't really have a spare bedroom, so you're welcome to sleep in here with me." Lyla smiled happily, grateful to have a girl friend in her life, and grateful that Allison was so kind and understanding. "Like a sleepover."

Allison laughed at her whisper, walking over to her dresser and pulling out a hoodie, "Like a sleepover."

Lyla nodded, placing her feet on the ground awkwardly, "What exactly do you do at a sleepover?" Allison paused, turning to look at the blonde with a wide mouth, "Have you never had a sleepover?" Lyla bit her lip, inhaling deeply, "No?"

"Okay. That's unacceptable. You're 16 and you've never been to a sleepover. I'm getting popcorn, and we're watching a movie while we paint our nails." Allison smiled, opening her bedroom door and stepping out.

Lyla smiled, a weight being lifted off her shoulders as she pulled her sleep clothes out of her backpack. A sleepover.

☽𓋼𓍊𓋼☾

The loft door slid open quickly, revealing Derek, the man standing on his stairs watching as Lyla and his two betas entered his home. She had been dragged here from her locker right before first period by Isaac, who had mumbled something about school not being that important. And now she was here, missing an exam to protect an Alpha that wasn't even hers.

"Go back to school." The man deadpanned, but Isaac shrugged, "Well, actually we can't." The three made their way down the steps, Isaac gesturing between himself, Boyd and Lyla. "Boyd, Lyla and I are-" He inhaled sorrowfully, "Incredibly and, unbelievably sick."

"With what? Brain damage?" Lyla rolled her eyes at Derek's jab as the three approached the staircase.

"Well, I have a migraine. Boyd here has uh, explosive diarrhea." Isaac turned around, gesturing towards Lyla with a smirk while he walked backwards, "And Lyla is having an extreme PMS flare-up."

"Nice. Thanks for that." Lyla sassed, the boy smiling warmly at her.

"We're here to protect you." Boyd spoke as Derek made his way down the rest of the stairs. "You're here to protect me? Well, I'm in trouble then."

Lyla sighed, walking over to the table Isaac was leaning on and jumping up on it, planting her butt firmly on the wood and swinging her legs back and forth. "Actually, Boyd here came up with a plan." Isaac smirked, Boyd dropping to the ground and opening his duffel bag. "Yeah, I thought about the time Gerard had me and Erica locked up. Tied up with electrical wires pushing current through us. I was wondering how we could do something like that." He paused, lifting the large roll of electrical wires from the bag, "But on a bigger scale."

Boyd was quick on his feet, walking over to Derek's hose with the other three following him. He twisted the faucet, water spewing from the tip as he dragged it to the hole in the bricks, dropping the hose to the ground. "It can take up to 50 milliamps to kill a normal human; less than the power it takes to turn on a lightbulb."

"That's, comforting." Derek sassed, Lyla hiding her smirk as Boyd shook his head, "If we disable the circuit interrupter in the buildings electrical room, the current will keep coming, and anyone who steps foot in here-" Boyd smirked, "Will get a pretty shocking surprise."

Isaac stood up straight from his position against the wall, "Especially someone who's barefoot."

An hour later, Lyla watched nervously as the loft finished flooding, Boyd turning the water off and stepping back onto the raised wooden platforms they were using to avoid the soon to be electrified water. "And standing here, right next to electrified water is supposed to keep us safe, how?"

Boyd rolled his eyes at the girl, tossing the live wire into the water, bursts of electricity cracking and flowing through the water.

"Is this going to kill him?" Isaac asked, stepping behind Lyla with his arm pressed against hers.

"I hope so." Boyd whispered.

𓋼

Lyla sighed in frustration and boredom, leaning her head against the pillar behind her back. Isaac sat on the same platform next to her, back leaning against his own respective side of the pillar. "This is so boring." She grumbled, running a hand over her face. She didn't have to see Boyd to know he rolled his eyes, making the girl smile, knowing she annoyed him.

"Thumb war?" She mumbled, sticking her thumb out so it was in Isaac's line of sight. Isaac furrowed his brows, turning to look at her with a playful smile, "You won't win. Save your dignity and put your thumb away." Lyla raised her brows, looking from her thumb to his face teasingly, "You've been a werewolf for less than a year, I've been a werewolf my whole life. Don't get too cocky."

Isaac chuckled, locking his right hand with hers and stretching his thumb. Before they began, his thumb ran over her nail softly, "Hey, you painted your nails. They're not black."

Lyla furrowed her brows, glancing down at her now red painted fingers. Last night, Allison had pulled out her collection of nail polishes while Mulan played on her laptop, not one of the many polishes being black. She didn't say anything or complain, of course. Just picked the bright red bottle, allowing Allison to wipe off the chipped black polish from her nails and cover them in the blood red color.

She actually, kind of liked the red better than the black.

"Oh, yeah. Does it, look bad?" Lyla frowned, pulling her hand away from his slowly, "No, no it looks good. I like it. Red...suits you." Lyla smiled, turning her head away from him so he couldn't take note of her blushing cheeks.

Isaac smiled as well, turning his head towards a smirking Boyd. The boy raised a teasing eyebrow at Isaac, who's eyes had shifted to something behind his friend.

"Isn't the light on that supposed to be on?" Isaac pointed to the loft alarm in confusion, causing Lyla to turn around to look at what he was pointing at. She frowned, taking note of the red light that indicated that the alarm was working, was off.

"Yeah." Derek spoke, worry and anger spilling from his tone. "What does it mean if it's not?" Lyla mumbled, standing up to her full height. "Someone cut the auxiliary power." Derek mumbled.

"What about the main-" Boyd began but was cut off when the loft went dark. Isaac and Boyd were quick to their feet, Lyla attempting to see over Isaacs shoulder as she was sandwiched between him and Derek.

Rumbling echoed through the loft, Derek stepping past Lyla to glare into the water, before taking a step into it. Lyla's heart skipped a beat in the moment, a relieved breathe escaping her when Derek continued walking through it, unharmed.

He made it to the middle of the loft, and Lyla nervously stepped next to Isaac, ready to follow the man into the water. She glanced down at her wrist, where Isaac had grabbed her to stop her, just in case the power cut back on. "Derek. What do we do now?"

She watched nervously as his eyes began glowing red, "We fight." Quickly, the three teens shuffled through the water to stand by Derek just as the loft door was opening with a loud creak, revealing a seething Kali.

She had been incredibly grateful to find out that Derek was alive, and that Ennis was dead. It had taken a massive weight off her shoulders, but Kali was obviously still pissed about it. And Lyla was worried. Worried about her fighting abilities in the water. Worried about Kali winning, and them losing.

"Gotta be honest, Derek. When Ennis died, I thought to myself; I'd just go for it. Find you, and kill you. Wherever you stood." Kali chuckled, stepping further into the loft until she was one step above the water. "Then I remembered, how you surround yourself with these, teenagers. Hiding behind them. And I thought, 'What's a girl got to do to get you alone?'." She spoke in a teasing manner, before looking behind her as the twins appeared, holding her English teacher, Miss Blake, claws to her throat as she fearfully looked to Derek.

Miss Blake?

That's when it hit her. Derek was sleeping with Miss Blake. He had mentioned how she helped him heal after the mall fight, and she knew what he was after the boiler room incident. But she had no idea the extent she actually went to, to heal him. Gross.

Kali turned back to the group with a smile, "You and me, Derek. Or they tear her apart. What do you say? You think you can beat me one-on-one?" Derek moved his head to the side, motioning for the teens to walk away, so he could fight Kali.

Lyla, Boyd and Isaac made their way back over to the side of the loft, Lyla's hand nervously going up to her mouth.

"I'm gonna rip your throat out. With my teeth." Derek threatened, the two growling at each other, Derek jumping up and attacking Kali, who had dodged his claws just barely.

The fight was brutal. Kali dodging almost all of Dereks blows, while Derek took a fair few digs and scrapes to his stomach and chest. Miss Blake struggled in the doorway, screaming as Kali attacked Derek.

Lyla stomach dropped as slashed her claws across Derek's chest, right hand shooting down to grip Isaacs.

"I texted Cora. They're on their way." Boyd barely whispered between Isaac and Lyla, who were both nervously watching the fight. She felt Isaac slip his hand from hers, his presence at her side disappearing. She wasn't sure they could make it on time. Not with the way things were going. She wished she could jump in, tear Kali off Derek and rip her limb from limb, but with Miss Blakes life on the line, she knew she couldn't; none of them could interfere.

Her head whipped backwards as Boyd and Isaac whispered to each other, Isaac stepping over to Lyla and grabbing her hand, "Up. On the platform." He mumbled, getting her up on the wood as Boyd grabbed the wire, "What's happening?"

"Cora's gonna turn the power back on." He mumbled into her ear, stepping away from her and over to the corner. "Derek!" Miss Blake screamed, and Isaac started to rush forward before Derek shouted for him to stop.

"Wait!" The curly-haired boy shouted to Boyd, putting a hand out to stop the boy from dropping the wire in the water.

The fight continued, Kali completely beating Derek's ass, and Lyla could tell what the plan was now. Electrify the water, get Miss Blake away from the twins so there was no risks or leverage, allowing Derek a better fighting chance.

She watched as Isaac lurched forward, pushing the twins into the water and grabbing Miss Blake, but as the power surged through the water, Boyd went flying across the loft. Both Derek and Kali began shaking from the electrocution, a gasp leaving Lyla as he fell over into the water.

Nervously, she attempted to peak forward to ensure Isaac had gotten Miss Blake. She caught a glimpse of him, cradling the struggling woman, just before her foot slipped off the wood, sending her directly into the electrified water, mere inches from the live wire.

It was a pain she had never experienced before. Like thousands of needles had punctured her feet and shot straight up to her forehead. Her head hurt, her chest hurt, her fingertips hurt.

She couldn't move, she couldn't control the spasming of her muscles as she fell directly into the water. She had gotten the worst of it. The electricity had been more intense directly at the wire. Where Derek and Kali had been standing, the electricity had to carry through the water. It didn't have to travel to reach Lyla.

Her vision went blurry, covered in white spots as the last thing she heard was Kali shouting at the twins, before her vision went black and she slipped into an unconscious state.