—

Unfortunately for her, Ryder got stuck watching over the body with Stiles and Theo.

Yes, she volunteered herself, but that was before she actually realized what she'd be doing.

Babysitting.

She did that enough with Josie when they were younger, she was getting back into that habit with Jesse and now she was doing it with people she couldn't stand for people she didn't know.

She could die right now. This is ridiculous.

Austin was home with Isaac and Jennifer, the three doing whatever it was that they needed to do. She didn't ask too much, not wanting to get involved in case Austin wasn't comfortable with telling anyone yet. All he had mentioned was that Jennifer had gotten more stuff that belong to Max.

Her parents were well aware of everything happening- things would be horrible if they didn't know. The couple decided to continue to stay supportive and not get involved unless deemed absolutely necessary. They knew their daughters could handle themselves and each other if need be.

Now, while Josie was offered a ride home, she instead decided to stay with Liam and do whatever he needed.

Ryder could only do so much to help her sister, and if she couldn't take Ryder's multiple hints, the older of the two was afraid she'd have to let her find out the hard way.

Ryder would definitely be there for Josephine if it came down to it, but she couldn't do much right now.

•••

"Just get out of the car, please."

"Don't rush me." The Anders teen rolled her eyes before she followed Stiles' movements in exiting the vehicle.

"Come on." He held the door open for her, "Quickly, Ryder, please."

As they made it into the clinic, the two teens stumbled, yet didn't stop in their tracks as they saw Theo standing there.

From Ryder's point of view, he looked like he had been doing something before they showed up. She wasn't allowed the chance to question him before he started first,

"What's going on?"

"Whoever's stealing the bodies probably isn't going to do it while we're standing guard over one of them."

"So you've got a better idea?"

•••

Stiles' better idea was to sit in his jeep and wait for whoever was taking the bodies to show up.

Smartest idea? probably not. But it was the only idea they had at the moment.

"Go."

Theo looked at Ryder with furrowed brows, "What?"

"Get in." She said more sternly.

"You want me to sit in the back?" The Raeken looked appalled by the idea, "Seriously?"

"Does it look like i'm joking?"

"Dude, just get in the back." Stiles interrupted the soon to be argument. He already knew that there was no chance that Theo would win against Ryder in the end, why not finish it early?

Theo scoffed, looking between the two before getting in. Ryder followed after, sitting herself in the passenger seat.

"What happens now?" Theo asked.

Stiles sighed, "We wait."

"You want to take shifts watching?"

"No, no. I want to spend some quality time with you." Stiles answered sarcastically.

Theo didn't seem too bothered, "Sounds good to me."

"He wasn't being serious." Ryder pointed out, pulling her phone from her pocket. She could hear Theo respond but didn't bother actually paying attention to what was said.

She already didn't want to be here, she shouldn't have to listen to what he had to say.

•••

"Lahey! What are you doing here?"

Isaac looked up at the sound of the voice, "I live here now."

Coach Finstock glanced at Jennifer with raised brows, "I didn't know this."

"It's fairly new." Jennifer smiled.

Isaac leaned over towards Austin, "I thought we were going through your brother's old stuff."

"She said there was more after that but I didn't think we'd be having dinner with our lacrosse Coach again." He muttered back.

Isaac raised his brows, "Again?"

"Uh...mom?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

"We're having dinner, Austin." Jenn chuckles out, "Don't be rude, set up another plate at the table."

"What is going on right now?" Isaac whispered under his breath as Coach made himself comfortable.

"How's everybody been?"

•••

Theo looked over at Ryder, the girl having her head against the window with her eyes closed. He knew she wasn't asleep, her heart rate told him that, but he wasn't aware if she knew of Stiles and Donovan.

He figured that maybe this would be the opportunity to bring it up to see her reaction,

"You still wondering why I haven't said anything to Scott?"

Stiles shifted in his seat, keeping his voice low as he knew if he got too loud, Ryder would say something, "Maybe."

"You think I've got some kind of ulterior motive."

"More than likely."

"Would you believe me if I said all I want..." He trailed off, "All I've ever wanted is for you guys to trust me?"

Stiles scoffed, "Nope."

"So you're here because you're never going to trust me."

"Yep. Glad we had this talk." The Stilinski brushed him off, his eyes glancing at the girl in the passenger seat every few seconds. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the teen in the back. It made Theo wonder.

"You know who you remind me of?"

"Theo, I don't care." Stiles seems desperate for him to stop talking.

"My sister."

"The dead one?" Ryder sat up.

She couldn't help herself. They already knew she was awake, and while she had no intentions in getting involved in their conversation, that comment threw her off.

"She was smarter than everyone too. And a pain in the ass like you. But she always looked out for me. The same way you look out for Scott."

"You know, I was the one that found her body." He continued when neither of them said anything.

"She'd fallen into a creek, broken her leg. They told us she would've been okay if it wasn't one of the coldest nights of the year. If it wasn't for the hypothermia. And when I found her, all I could think was that I should've known. That I should've been looking out for her."

Stiles looked at him through the rear view, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you because even if you don't trust me and even if you don't like me—" He directed the last part towards Ryder, "I'm still going to be looking out for both of you...the way I should have been looking out for her."

"I don't buy it."

Theo's face fell, "What?"

"I think you're full of shit." Ryder elaborated. She turned fully in her seat so she was facing him.

"How so?"

"You just make no sense. You have absolutely no loyalty towards Stiles. And if you truly wanted to gain Scott's trust to earn your way into the pack, you would've said something the second you found out that he killed Donovan."

"Ryder—"

"And why didn't you?" Theo questioned her, cutting Stiles off, "How do we know you're so trusting if you didn't go tell Scott the minute Stiles called you? How can he trust you if you're keeping such a big secret?"

"I have no loyalty to Scott. Scott has done nothing for me to tell him anything that happens outside his knowledge."

"And Stiles has?"

"I could ask you the same thing. But if he has or hasn't isn't your business." She shrugged, "But if you want to earn Scott's trust, maybe don't withhold such vital information until you're given the chance to twist it in your favor."

Theo didn't say anything at that, deciding to keep his voice box while he had the chance.

Stiles couldn't help but frown at Ryder's protective behavior. He didn't know if it was because it was Theo specifically that was causing her to have such a guarding attitude towards him.

But something told him it wouldn't end well.

•••

"Don't worry, you learn to control it."

Hayden blew out a breath, "I'm not like you. I wasn't bitten by a wolf. I was...somebody's science experiment. This is so bizarre."

From a few feet away, Josie's eyes rolled in the back of her head. She wanted to be understanding of Hayden's confused and upset attitude towards her situation, but it was so draining watching the girl whine about everything.

"I know, but you're gonna be okay. I promise." Liam reassured her, unaware of Josie's clouded mind.

"What am I?"

Liam looked at her, "You're Hayden."

"You're Hayden." Josie mocked him under her breath, kicking at a rock that was lying by her foot. "Such bullshit."

Hayden smiled up at Liam, "By the way, if you get me out of this, I'll forget all about the sixth grade."

Letting out an extremely exaggerated groan, Josie stopped leaning against the wall next to her, purposefully making her footsteps loud so Liam and Hayden were forced to watch her leave.

She could faintly hear Hayden question her behavior, followed by Liam responding with a 'im not sure' before his shoes scratched against the ground.

Was Josie prepared for Liam to follow after her? Absolutely not.

She was about to shit her pants.

•••

"You know, I saw his teeth. Donovan. He was a, uh...Wendigo, wasn't he?"

Stiles nodded at Theo's words, "Yeah."

"That's the cannibal one, right?"

"Native American. The myth says that if you ate human flesh, your punishment was to turn into a creature that constantly craved it." The Stilinski explained, peaking over to see Ryder typing at her phone, Austin's contact being pulled up.

He wasn't too nosy, so he chose not to read her business.

"That's a pretty judgmental myth." Theo said.

"Well, I didn't make it up."

"What if it was the only way to survive? I mean, you ever hear of the Donner party? I'm pretty sure they didn't turn into Wendigos."

"Well, they didn't live in Beacon Hills."

"Good point." Theo agreed, "So what's the punishment for killing a Chimera?"

We're about to find out in a few seconds, Ryder thought to herself.

Theo's voice was infuriating to listen to. And on top of having to listen to him talk about nonsense for the past forty five minutes, it was harder when she already knew what he was up to and she couldn't say anything about it.

He must have forgotten that not only was she a werewolf, but probably one of the most advanced werewolves in Beacon Hills.

His conversation in the animal clinic before she and Stiles showed up would have been heard by her either way.

And to top it all off, Theo was rather loud when he was frustrated. She was sure that if Stiles wasn't so focused on getting her indoors, he would have heard something too.

But, like usual, Ryder would wait it out. Prove them wrong.

She always did.

"You spend five hours in the car with Theo Raeken." Stiles chuckled, "Like I know what my punishment is. I'm gonna lose my best friend. I'm gonna lose Scott."

"If Scott really gave up on you for some piece of crap like Donovan, then he wouldn't be a True Alpha, would he?"

"You're still talking?"

"Or maybe that's the definition of one, someone who doesn't put up with murder."

"It wasn't murder, Stiles." Ryder said in the least snappy tone she could muster up.

"Yeah, it sounds like you guys need to look up justifiable homicide." Theo added on.

"Did you seriously just say that to the son of a cop?"

"A werewolf's eyes are supposed to change color when you take an innocent life. Do these look blue to you?" Theo flashed his eyes, that were very much gold, "It was self-defense. For me and for you."

"Or maybe you just don't feel all that bad about it. You can't say one life is objectively less innocent than another one. What if they turn blue 'cause you feel guilty?"

"So it's up to interpretation?"

Stiles shrugged, "Yeah, maybe."

"Okay. Then here's my interpretation of what happened with you and Donovan. Not guilty. Did you feel bad about it?"

"Not now. I mean right then. Right when it happened."

"What were you thinking the moment you knew he was dead and there was no saving him?"

"One word...Good."

"That usually what someone who's getting attacked would feel in that moment." Ryder mumbled.

A few seconds went by before Ryder suddenly took in a breath, "What is that?"

Stiles looked at her, "What?

"A scent. Like smoke. Like something burning."

It happened so quick that neither of three were able to see who did it. But one second, Ryder was looking around in confusion, and the next, she was unconscious in Stiles' flipped jeep.

•••

"The body...The body's gone." Theo panted as he walked back from the clinic and over to where Stiles and Ryder sat.

Ryder paid no attention to Theo's words as her phone vibrated in her pocket. A text from Lydia flashed across her screen,

Josie and Liam are missing.

—
A/N: is it obvious i'm getting bored of these books? i love my faves but season 5 is so annoying to write for 😭💀