—

The crying of baby Jesse filled the Anders family home while everyone slowly moved around to get ready for the day. It had only been a few hours since the hospital allowed him and Ramona to return home and the young boy was already causing headaches.

What made the situation a little worse was the fact that Aaron refused to allow Ramona to do any of the heavy things that came with having a baby. Such as changing diapers and putting him to sleep. The most she could do was feed him and that was only because Jesse was getting breast fed at the moment.

Aaron let out a breath of air as he walked towards the couch, gently taking his son from Ryder's arms, nodding towards the door as he spoke,

"Austin's here."

Ryder's tired eyes flickered to her father before she roughly tapped at Josie's sleeping figure next to her,

"Get up!"

"Don't hit your sister." Aaron chastised, walking the sisters to the front door just in time for Austin to knock.

The George teens face held a smile, it slowly falling as he took note of the tired expressions on their faces.

"I would say 'good morning' but it looks like your morning has been everything but..."

Josie simply sighed softly, brushing past him to go to his car, hopping in the back seat to see Liam already sitting there.

Meanwhile, Austin waved goodbye to Aaron before taking Ryder's school bag from her, kissing her softly before directing her towards the vehicle,

"Backseat."

Isaac looked up from his phone, "What?"

"Backseat, bro." Austin gestured with his head, earning a look of disbelief from the Lahey.

"Girlfriend sits front seat, Isaac." Liam rolled his eyes sassily, "It's like an unwritten rule."

"What would you know about girlfriends?" He scoffed at the shorter teen, huffing dramatically before he moved to the back, allowing Ryder to sit in the passenger seat.

"I've had more experience with girls than you have, i'm sure." Liam shrugged.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Isaac hummed, "So Josie knows how you feel then?"

Liam stiffened, refusing to even peak at the girl in question. He could hear Austin stifle a laugh from the drivers seat.

"Shut up." Liam mumbled.

"Don't tell me to shut up. You shut up." He snapped back, looking back and forth between the sisters in the car, "What's up with you guys?"

"Jesse's a crybaby. Literally."

"You know, honestly, I'm kind of glad my dad was too much of an asshole to meet another woman dumb enough to have another kid with him. I mean, I can barely handle Liam's whining, imagine if it were an actual child."

"What did I do to you?" Liam spoke in offense.

Isaac simply shook his head, waving his hand as if to tell Liam to come closer, "Listen, shh."

Josie giggled softly at Liam's expression, genuinely not expecting to get shushed by anyone.

"Did you just shush me?"

"I did."

The rest of the car ride to school was filled with banter from Isaac and Liam, soft snores from Ryder, and hints of laughter from Josie and Austin.

Oddly enough, the group had a feeling this moment of happiness wouldn't last very long.

•••

Today the pack would be meeting up about a girl named Tracy Stewart. A girl who apparently killed her father and some random man that was supposed to be taking Donovan Donati to prison.

On any normal occasion, Isaac wouldn't care much about a girl going on a killing spree. He didn't know if her dad was like his and she decided that she had enough. Hell, as long as he wasn't in danger, he didn't care.

Unfortunately, though, the people he cared most about were dead set on helping this girl.

"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping. It was a real disorder. It was night terrors."

"Well, now she's the night terror." Stiles commented, "Especially since no one can find her."

"Why don't we just leave her alone? She isn't bothering me..." Ryder started, looking at Isaac as she asked her next question, "Is she bothering you?"

"Not at all."

Scott sighed, "Okay, I know we're all tired and miserable...Except for you."

Mason perked up, "Oh. I'm sorry. This is all just mind-blowing. You can actually turn into a wolf."

Ryder hardly had a reaction to Mason's gushing. She was still struggling to stay awake.

"You're a kitsune. I don't even know what that is."

"I'm still learning." Kira nodded timidly, earning a short chuckle from Austin.

"Liam, we said you could tell him. Not invite him to the inner circle."

"Uh, I'm in the inner circle?"

"No." Liam and Stiles spoke in unison, the Stilinski finishing with a quick,

"Isaac's barely in the inner circle."

"Do not start today—"

"Guys, look, back to Tracy. She's just one lone wolf. We can find her." Scott stopped the argument before it could start.

"One lone serial-killing wolf." Malia pointed out, earning a head tilt of agreement from Josie,

"She's not wrong."

"Uh, she only killed one person, you know. The other two were mauled."

"I'd still consider her a serial killer." Austin cleared his throat, "It doesn't matter what we call her, it literally doesn't change the fact that she killed someone."

"All right, what do we do when we catch her?"

"I say we put her down." Malia suggested.

Isaac raised his hand, "I'm in."

The air grew silent as they struggled to figure out what to do. At this point, killing her seemed to be the only option left.

"Intense."

"Guys, let's concentrate on catching her first. We'll figure out the rest later."

"Yeah, cause that always works out well."

•••

"Nice to see where your priorities are, Scott. Since you have such a good grasp of the subject, how about you lead us in a review of last night's reading.

"Uh... Sure." He smiled awkwardly, glancing over at Austin, who ended up switching his seat closer to the front after his last encounter with Theo.

Mrs. Finch raised her brows, "Scott?"

"Sorry, just looking for the page."

"Scott?"

Austin scrunched his brows, looking towards the door to see Liam waving Scott over. He tilted his head in question, blinking quickly before he quietly asked to be excused to the restroom.

The teacher agreed, making a snide comment on how he'd probably be back before Scott found the page they left off on.

As Austin walked out the room, he caught Liam whispering, no doubt speaking to Scott, "She's here. She's in History class right now. Tracy. She's here."

•••

"Hey. Are you all right?"

Josie perked up at the voice, shifting in her seat, she nearly rolled her eyes as she spotted Hayden Romero, Liam's former classmate walking up to Tracy.

"Are you even supposed to be in this class?"

The fire alarm going off startled the girl, leaving her to quickly gather her things.

"No rushing, please. I'm sure it's just a drill."

Hayden turned back to Tracy as the Stewart girl had yet to move, "Hey, we need to go. Are you all right?"

"Hayden—"

The girl in question gasped loudly, grunting at the grip Tracy had on her wrist, her claws sinking into the girls skin.

"Josie, step back." Austin's voice called from being her, the girl wasting no time in going to her sister's boyfriend's side.

"Tracy. Tracy." Scott called out to the girl, "Tracy, let go."

"Hey, you're hurting me."

"Tracy, let her go."

Tracy's eyes suddenly snapped up to stare into Scott's "They're coming. They're coming for all of us."

The McCall surged forward, quickly catching the girl before she collapsed to the ground. Scott quickly ushered her out of the room, nodding his head in a silent way to ask Austin if he could help. He followed with a bit of hesitation, yelling out to Josie to text Ryder.

"She wasn't even supposed to be in our class." Hayden spoke up, "Where are they taking her?"

"Uh...The hospital, I guess. Do you need help getting to the Nurse's Office?" Liam asked hesitantly.

Hayden eyed him, "I think I'll make it."

Josie couldn't help but purse her lips at the tone she used on the Dunbar,

"Well, then..."

Kira and Lydia walked up to the young teens, the Yukimura girl pressing a gentle hand to Josie's shoulder, "They're taking her to the Animal Clinic?"

"Yeah, to see if Deaton can figure out what's wrong with her."

"What's wrong with her is that she killed two people. Her father and, according to Parrish, her psychiatrist." Lydia said.

"Isn't there anyone else we can talk to? Does she still have her mom? Any family?"

"Maybe she..." Josie trailed off as she noticed they weren't looking at her.

"Go ahead." She felt Liam nudge her, his blue eyes boring into hers, a silent way of saying that she was his main focus.

"Maybe she has an alpha? Every werewolf has an alpha, right?"

Lydia hummed, "Anyone know if a new one's moved into Beacon Hills?"

Kira shook her head, "No, but there's an old one. One of the oldest. We know her."

"And her pack."

•••

"Pupils dilate under normal conditions." Deaton said as he shined the light in Tracy's eye. This seemed rather easy due to the girl being unconscious, "Heart rate is 250. Evidence of an allogeneic skin graft on the right shoulder. Now, this silvery substance at her lips is not something I've seen. It almost looks like mercury."

"Uh... Can't you just give her a shot of something?"

"She doesn't look to be in any pain." Deaton frowned at Malia's words,

"I meant a shot to kill her."

"O-kay." Austin shook his head a bit. He was still struggling to get used to her blunt ways. He may have been dating Ryder, but she's grown to hold back sometimes.

"I generally prescribe to a code of ethics that frowns on such measures."

Scott made a face at the Tate girl's inconsiderate words, "Malia, you know we're not going to do that."

"Yeah, we know." Ryder rolled her eyes.

Malia looked at him, "How do you know she's not going to kill us?

Stiles nodded in agreement, "She makes a decent point. Either way, eventually I'm going to have to let my dad know she's here."

"Agreed." Deaton spoke, "And while I may argue against euthanasia, I'm not opposed to a little...Extra security."

•••

"Don't worry, Stiles. Tracy won't be able to cross a line of Mountain Ash. She's not going anywhere." Deaton reassured the teen, watching as he looked at the line of mountain ash he put by the door.

"Yeah, that's kind of what I'm afraid of."

"Well, you, Austin and I will be able to get out of here no problem. You four. Not so much."

Malia reached to put her hand at the barrier, furrowing her brows when she couldn't get through, "Weird."

"Scott, would you mind holding her down? I'm going to be trying a few more invasive tests."

As Deaton put the knife to Tracy's skin, the metal broke,

"I think you're gonna need a bigger blade."

"Now, this is interesting."

Scott's phone vibrating took Isaac's attention away from Tracy,

"What's up?"

"It's my mom. It's about the driver of the prison transport. She's saying he's awake and talking."

"Malia, help me turn her over, please."

"Driver didn't have stroke or heart attack. Says it was more like his body just locked up...Like he was paralyzed. I think I know what she is."

"Do you care to enlighten the rest of us? Because this doesn't look too good."

Ryder gasps, shoving Austin behind her as quick as she could when Tracy jumped up and hissed at them, teeth barring as she swiped her claws and tail in any direction it let her.

Trying to protect her lover resulted in her getting hit instead, her body falling limp against a cabinet.

Isaac let out a groan of pain once her tail came in contact with his chest, successfully tearing through his shirt and meeting his skin.

Austin and Stiles, having been stood near each other, collapsed almost in unison due to her targeting them next.

Stiles blew out a breath, "It wasn't a werewolf."

"Kanima." Scott confirmed.

"Hey, Deaton." Stiles called out to the man, "How the hell did she get through the Mountain Ash?"

"I don't know. It's a barrier no supernatural creature should be able to cross."

"Scott did it."

"Once, but it almost killed me." The McCall said.

"We should've killed her."

"I wholeheartedly agree." Ryder breathed out, her eyes darting towards Austin to ensure he was okay. Or at least as okay he could be in this moment.

"Meanwhile, she's probably on her way to killing someone else."

"Listen, everyone. We need to concentrate. Scott, Isaac, Ryder and Malia, you two will probably be able to move long before Stiles, Austin and I can. But you need to focus."

"Focus on what?"

"Healing." Scott told the were-coyote.

"Yeah, no shit." Austin mumbled.

"I don't know how to tell my body to heal." Malia began to grow agitated.

"Malia, calm down. It's okay..."

"I can't calm down. I can't move."

"It won't last long. We're going to be okay. Doc, how do we focus?"

"Think of a body part. Your hands, your feet, even just the tips of your fingers. Imagine them moving. See it in your mind and your body will follow."

As he hadn't heard her voice in a while, Austin called out to his girlfriend, "Ry? You okay?"

"I'll be fine."

•••

Stiles' voice filled the room, "Okay. I'm pretty sure I just felt my right leg move. Uh, yep, definitely felt it. Like a twinge, spasm, something."

Deaton, having been close to him, believed otherwise, "I'm going to have to disagree. And I think I hold an informed opinion."

"Malia."

"I don't think she cut me that deep." The Tate girl said as she began to move slowly.

"Keep going. Keep moving."

"Great words of encouragement." Ryder spoke softly, "It's not like that's her end goal, or anything."

"What's happening? I can't see." Stiles shouted, "What's happening?"

Malia stumbled around the room, coming to a stand. Just as she went to leave, Scott stopped her,

"Malia? Malia, wait for us."

"There's no time."

"Look, she's not a werewolf."

"But she has a scent. I can find her." She began to leave.

"Malia." She turned,

"Save her."

Ryder scoffed, rolling her eyes as she watched her sister leave. One day he's going to have to learn that not everyone could be saved.

•••

It had only been a few minutes since Malia left and Isaac had healed. He was helping Ryder stand when Theo Raeken walked into the clinic and began quietly helping him.

"How did you find us?" Scott asked.

"Cause you work here. I heard about Tracy, I've been looking for you."

Ryder and Isaac shared a look, eyes narrowed as they thought over his lame excuse. Seeing their faces, Austin gave the pair a look, adjusting his shirt sleeves.

"Don't say anything."

"We lost her."

Stiles chimes in, "And Malia."

"I can help."

"This is Theo?" Deaton asked, earning a multitude of nods in response.

"Let me help. It doesn't have to mean I'm part of the pack. Or like you've accepted me or anything like that. It just means I can help catch this girl."

"Scott." He looked up, "I can help you."

—
A/N: writing ANOTHER teen wolf story. whether or not i actually try is to be determined but the cast is up if you wanna look :)