CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX:
ICE RINK

THEY ARRIVED AT THE ICE skating rink, and Elaine couldn't help the small smile that fell on her face. She watched Allison as she attempted to try and teach Scott how to ice skate, Lydia was out, twirling around almost professionally, and Elaine was there, still putting her skate's on. She glanced up upon Stiles sitting beside her. She offered the boy a small smile.

"I'm surprised you aren't hanging out with Lyds." Elaine told the boy.

"I'd much rather hang out with you." Stiles admitted. And it was true. After seeing her die, Stiles found himself wanting to be with Elaine as much as he possibly could. The feelings he hadn't realized that had been there for so long over flooding his senses as he looked at the girl sitting beside him. He had known Elaine since the young age of four, and he had always found her beautiful, funny, selflessly caring, and it was always something he adored about her. He just never realized that it was the simple fact of him just adoring those aspects of her, but instead he loved that about her. In fact he loved everything about Elaine. And yet, she would never believe because he had been too held up on his crush for Lydia.

"Who are you and what have you done with Stiles?" Elaine joked, raising an eyebrow at him. "The Stiles I know would never pass up an opportunity to hang out with my best friend. Who is also his crush since third grade."

"Change of heart?" He tried. Elaine scoffed, laughing in amusement.

"Nice try." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "But, if you really wanna spend time with me, then let's skate." She got down of the bleachers she had been sitting on, patiently standing there and waiting for Stiles.

"Hey, El? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Could you ever see two people, who no one ever thought would actually get together, be the most perfect match?"

Elaine furrowed her eyebrows before smiling, having it stuck in her head that it was himself and Lydia that he was talking about. "Of course I can, Stiles. I mean, look at Scott and Ali? They're made for one another, yet come from exact opposite sides of the spectrum." She grabbed his hand. "Who knows, maybe once Lydia gains a heart, she'll be that perfect match for you." She offered him a small smile before stepping out on the rink. The two skated side by side with one another, Lydia joining them and grabbing Elaine's hand, spinning the girl around until she fell, making her burst out in laughter. She was truly enjoying herself, and this was something she definitely needed.

After Scott had most definitely hit his head hard enough for a concussion, he and Allison made their way off the rink. Stiles smiled brightly at Elaine as she went around in circles, almost falling a few times, resulting in the boy to reach out and grab her, resulting in her delicate laugh to fall from her lips. However, that's when their attention snapped towards Lydia who had let out a terrified scream. The tow had quickly made their way over to her, holding onto her as she thrashed violently against the ice. Allison and Scott appeared, making the duo look up towards them, their eyes all dancing with the same amount of confusion. What had made her scream so incredibly loud? What had Lydia seen to make her scream sound absolutely terrified?

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"So, you think there's going to be a third?" Elaine asked her brother.

"Erica said so herself." Scott sighed. "I gotta talk to Allison."

"Alright, I'll find Stiles." Elaine nodded before walking away from her brother. She found Stiles, offering him a gentle smile as she casually grabbed onto his head. He looked at her, interlacing their fingers, and smiling as she simply just swung their hands back and forth. "Hey bub."

"You find out about Lydia?" Stiles asked. Elaine shook her head, sighing.

"Nope. She seems fine though. She's acting like nothing happened." Elaine reentered the cafeteria, and she couldn't help but notice the empty table. The one that always had one person sitting at it. She quickly slapped Stiles arm, grabbing his attention. "Stiles, I think I know who the third victim is." The two exchanged looks before quickly running towards where Scott was sitting, Allison having just walked away.

"Scott, do you see that?" Stiles questioned the boy, nodding towards the empty table. Scott glanced towards the duo before looking towards the table Stiles was pointing at.

"What? It's an empty table?"

"Yeah, but whose empty table?" Elaine asked her brother. It took a moment before Scott quickly caught on.

"Boyd." The three were quick to exit the cafeteria, walking down the halls of the school as Scott was quick to make a plan. "I'm going to the ice rink, see if he's there. And, if he's not at home, you call me, got it?" Scott spoke, looking towards Stiles.

"I'll go with you." Elaine tried, Scott shook his head.

"If something happens, I don't wanting you getting hurt. Not again."

"I can literally throw you across the room with the flick of a wrist." Elaine deadpanned. "I can handle myself." Scott looked at her for a moment, sighing as he knew Elaine wasn't one to back down from an argument easily. He nodded his head. He then turned towards Stiles who had a look of hesitancy on his face.

"What?" Scott frowned.

Stiles paused, glancing between the two before sighing and shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe we should let him. . . Boyd, you know? You said Derek's giving them a choice, right?"

"Stiles." Elaine shook her head.

"We can't." Scott told the boy, grabbing onto his arm as he looked at Stiles.

"You gotta admit, Erica looks pretty good. . . You know, the word sensational comes to mind."

"I can agree with that." Elaine nodded. "However, she isn't going to look as good when she has a bullet full of wolfsbane lodged into her skull."

Stiles looked at the female before looking back toward Scott and sighing once more. "Look, all I'm saying is, maybe this one isn't totally your responsibility."

"They all are. And you know this thing's gonna get out of control. That makes me responsible." Scott sternly told him. Stiles looked at him for a moment before nodding his head.

"All right, I'm with you. And, I also gotta say. . . this new-found heroism is making me very attracted to you."

Elaine smirked in amusement whilst Scott rolled his eyes at the boy. "Shut up."

"No, seriously! Do you wanna just try making out for a sec? Just to see how it feels?" Stiles asked, earning an amused chuckle from the female. She watched as her brother shoved the boy forward, shaking his head before the two siblings followed after him. They went their separate ways with Elaine and Scott going to the rink and Stiles going to Boyd's house.

The siblings arrived at the rink, quickly entering inside only to find Boyd sitting on top of the machine that was used to clean the ice rink, riding it around as he blankly stared in front of him. Elaine and Scott were quick to make their way onto the ice and towards the boy.

"Boyd, we just wanna talk!" Scott yelled towards him. However, Boyd simply ignored him. "Hey, come on. Boyd, please." He was still ignored. The siblings exchanged looks with one another before Scott continued. "Did Derek tell you everything? And I don't just mean going out of control on the full moons―︎I mean everything." Boyd stopped the machine, turning it off and turning his attention towards the duo.

"He told me about the hunters." Boyd simply answered, nodding.

"And that's not enough for you to say no? Whatever you want, there's other ways to get it." Scott assured him.

"I just wanna not each lunch alone every day." Was Boyd's response, and Elaine's heart ached for him. She frowned deeply, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at him.

"Boyd, if you're looking for friends, trust me when I say you can do a lot better than Derek." Elaine spoke up.

"That really hurts, Elaine." The siblings were quick to turn on their heels, facing the Alpha who had entered the rink with Isaac and Erica by his side. He shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, if you're going to review me, at least take a consensus." He didn't remove his eyes from the duo as he asked, "Erica, how's life been for you since we met?"

"Hmm. In a word? Transformative." The girl the growled, showing her fangs and yellow eyes. Elaine scoffed.

"Isaac?"

"Well, I'm a little bummed about being a fugitive but, other than that, I'm great." Isaac answered him.

"Okay, hold on. This isn't exactly a fair fight." Scott spoke up, glancing towards his sister. If a fight were to break out, he knew that she would step in the middle of it, especially if it involved Scott getting hurt. And Scott was strong by himself, but with his sister by his side, he was practically unstoppable.

"Then go home, Scott."

Derek nodded for Isaac and Erica to move forward and they did. Scott was quick to fall to the ground, his fist punching the ice as his claws appeared. He looked back up towards Derek before saying, "I meant, fair for them." Elaine was quick to move out of the way as she watched Scott fight the duo. He easily threw Isaac across the skating ring, making him slam into one of the walls before he continued to fight Erica. He threw the blonde into the machine, making her hit her head and fall to the ground. Elaine's eyes glowed purple as she looked at Isaac who was stalking closer to him.

"Icaeus" Elaine spoke the Latin phrase before her hand shot out, sending Isaac back across the rink. The wolf looked up at her, snarling. However Erica grabbed onto the girl, giving Isaac time to charge at Scott, holding him up against the machine that Boyd was still sitting on. "Ah Sha Lana" Erica immediately fell to the ground with her hands clenched at her temples, Elaine's hand having closed into a fist as she said the word. She glanced to her brother as he got Isaac back down on the ground.

"Don't you get it? He's not going this for you. He's just adding to his own power, okay? It's all about him. He makes you feel like he's giving you some kind of gift, when all he's done is turn you into a bunch of guard dogs!" He grabbed onto the two, sliding them back towards Derek. The duo looked towards the Alpha who just smirked, shrugging.

"It's true." Derek spoke. "It is about power." The man then started forward, showing his claws and forcing his eyes to glow red and then turning his head to the side before letting out a growl as his fangs appeared. Before Elaine could do anything, he roughly grabbed onto her before slamming her harshly into the machine. She hit her head on both the machine and the ice, forcing her vision to blur. Derek fought against Scott, clawing his body, punching him in the face, kneeing him in the gut. The alpha and beta continued to fight, Derek punched Scott a couple times in the face before slamming him to the ground, making Scott spit out blood. And when she saw his foot placed against Scott's chest, making it hard to breathe, Elaine was quick to force her vision to clear. She ignored the blood that was running down her temple as she forced herself to sit up.

"Phasmatos Morsinus Pyrox Allum" The girl angrily whispered under her breath. Derek was quick to fall to the ground, off of Scott as Elaine stood up, watching as he writhed in pain as she repeated the Latin phrase. And she couldn't help but find pleasure in his pain. And Scott noticed this.

"El!" He quickly called her name, snapping her from her concentration. Derek grunted, standing up as he growled at the girl. Her eyes glowed again, daring him to do something else, but he didn't. He had proved his point. She wiped the blood that had started to run down her nose, looking down at her brother with worry.

The siblings turned to Boyd who had made his way towards them. He looked at the two, analyzing them for a moment before Scott weakly spoke up. "Don't. . . You don't want to be like them."

"You're right." Boyd spoke before pulling up his shirt to reveal that the bite was already there. "I wanna be like you." He offered them a small smile before he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving with Derek and the rest of his pack. Elaine helped her brother up, running his hands over his face as she looked at him with worry. He pulled up his shirt, revealing the the wound Derek inflicted on him wasn't healing.

"I'm gonna kill him." Elaine growled, going to turn on her heel. However, Scott quickly grabbed her wrist, shaking his head.

"I'm fine." He assured her. "Let's just go to the clinic." Elaine nodded her head before the two made their way towards said place. As the entered, Scott pulled up his shirt to glance at his wound, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Why aren't you healing?"

"Because it's from an Alpha." The voice of their boss made the two quickly look up, stopping in surprise upon noticing a body laying on the examination table with several claw marks decorating the torso of the body. He glanced between the two before saying, "I think we better have that talk now."