Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of it's characters. If I did, Sterek would be canon.

A/N: The showdown with Barrow takes place, the Oni make their first appearance and something is wrong with Stiles

The Hale Pack: Lightning Strikes

They had been inside less than a minute when Barrow came charging out towards Kira.

Allison watched through her scope as Barrow raised his wrench, then brought it crashing down over Kira's head. As he did, Allison found herself cringing at the violent action and mentally apologised to the girl. Allison watched reluctantly as Barrow slung the girl over his shoulder and trudged towards the rear passenger side door of her parents car. Wincing as he did so, Barrow opened the car door and laid Kira across the back seat. He then shut the door and boot, continuing to wince as he made his way to the driver's seat. Once he started the car, Allison pulled the trigger and shot the vehicle with an arrow fitted with a tracking device Danny had designed for her, only to gasp in horror when the arrow bounced right off. "Shit." She whispered to herself before leaving her hiding place to converge with her friends.

"Alright," Stiles began once he, Lydia and Allison were standing together in the middle of the road. "Right, okay, Danny should be here soon, he's going to sneak out once the others start cleaning. Clearly, this did not go as planned, but that's okay, we can still catch up with them and in our defence, why the hell do they have an armored car? But it's okay, it's fine, absolutely fine, we can fix this, we totally did not just present a mass murderer with his intended victim on a silver platter without any way for us to save her."

"It doesn't matter that the tracker failed, we just need to figure out where he's taking her." Allison stated with a slight shrug of her shoulders, forcefully pushing down her panic so that she could focus on saving Kira. "And get out of the road, before either a car comes, or Kira's parents do." The pair made sounds of agreement, before the three of them began walking in the general direction Barrow had gone. Stiles and Lydia were discussing theories (Argumentatively yelling theories would be more accurate, actually) as Allison trailed behind them, rolling her eyes in amusement, despite the situation, before cutting in when a thought occurred to her. "You guys do realise that we already know where they are right?"

The pair immediately stopped speaking and whipped around to face her. "Where?"

"You tell me." She retorted, causing the pair to give her odd looks. "I'm standing with two supernatural creatures right now. A werewolf who only needs to follow her scent, and a banshee who can listen to the flies she's been hearing all day and lead us straight to Kira. So, who's it gonna be?"

"I can't." Stile immediately protested. "I haven't shifted in weeks, my abilities are fading, the only things I still seem to have are my agility and healing." Stiles reminded them quickly, and unnecessarily, his annoyance at that particular situation made clear in every way possible, without actually saying it. "Besides, they're in a car, so even if I could pick up on it, the scent will be a lot milder, due to both the barrier that is the car itself and the speed at which they're travelling. It'll have faded by now." Allison nodded in acceptance then the two brunettes turned to face the redhead expectantly.

"I can barely hear anything over these damn flies. The volume isn't changing when I move anymore, it's just constantly loud" Lydia groaned, biting her lip in frustration. "It's never been this bad before, it's like they're flying around me constantly and I can't- It's so frustrating! " Allison and Stiles exchanged concerned looks as the Banshee gritted her teeth and tugged at her own hair harshly. "It-" She cut herself off suddenly and spun around to face her best friends, startling them both. A huge grin had taken over the Banshee's face when realisation hit her. No longer frustrated, Lydia's voice was instead filled with deliverance. "It literally makes me want to scream." The concerned expressions of her best friends immediately transformed into something else entirely.

"Then scream," Stiles insisted, as Allison covered her ears in preparation of what was to come. "Lydia, scream!" She didn't need to be told again. She turned slightly so that her scream wasn't directed at the pair. A long breath was pulled through painted red lips, held for a moment, then let out in a powerful scream. Stiles followed Allison's example and covered his ears, trying, and failing, to block out the deafening sound. The scream lasted a full ten seconds before fading off, leaving the Banshee lightly panting for breath.

Lydia smiled softly and let out a soft sigh of relief as she realised that the buzzing sound had faded. She could hear it for what it really was now, not the flies she thought it to be. "It's not flies." She spoke her realisation out loud so that her friends were also aware. The pair uncovered their ears and followed Lydia's gaze upwards, towards the street lamp. "It's electricity."

"Wait, Barrow was an electrical engineer " Stiles remembered suddenly, drawing the girl's attention to him. "He worked at a substation, if I remember which one correctly then it is in that direction, kinda, and imagine how much damage he could cause if he blew that place up."

"I'd rather not." Allison responded with a slight shudder travelling through her body against her will. "But you're probably right. How far away is it?"

"About five minutes max, driving." Stiles informed her. "We just need Danny to get here with the Jeep."

Allison nodded, then paused for a moment before making a suggestion. "We should probably start walking. Danny could get caught, or take a while. He can always track one of our phones if necessary to find us. How long would it take us to walk there?"

"Roughly twenty minutes."

"Are you kidding me?" Running her hand through her hair, Allison let out a sigh. Five minutes they could work with, but twenty? "He could have killed Kira, or blown up the place by then."

"Or both." Stiles helpfully offered.

"Then it's a good thing they're here." Lydia smirked, confusing the brunette pair beside her with her use of 'they', until they followed her gaze to see Stiles' jeep rolling up the road towards them, Scott riding his motorbike in front of it.

At the sight of his life-long best friend, Stiles scowled and grumbled "You've gotta be kidding me."

The two vehicles stopped beside them, Danny grinned at them through the windshield as Scott lifted his visor.

"Need a ride?"

The trio quickly got in the jeep, Stiles glaring daggers at Scott the entire time.

Within minutes, the five teens pulled up outside one of Beacon Hills' Power Stations, beside the Yukimura's car. "Alright." Stiles addressed his friends as he jumped out of the jeep. "I'm going in first, I'll scout out the building, see if I can find them, ladies, I need you to wait until I text you, then come in, head to the basement first and work your way up. Danny, you're going to stay here and prepare to be the getaway driver, and babysit Scott, he is not allowed in the building under any circumstances."

"What?" Scott demanded in outrage as Stiles glared at him firmly.

"There's a reason I only invited Danny, Allison and Lydia." Stiles told him sharply. "None of them have glowing eyes, so he's less likely to hurt them."

"But you-" Scott began to protest, only to be cut off by Stiles.

"Don't currently have glowing eyes. I can't even shift on purpose, so I'm not going to accidentally reveal myself, like you, or almost everybody else in the pack, might." With an even tone Stiles expressed his argument. His arms were folded over his chest and his head was held high. One look at his best friend and Scott knew he wouldn't be able to argue this. With a sigh, Scott nodded reluctantly. He dropped his head in disappointment, his chin damn near touching his neck. A hand dropped to his shoulder and he looked up to find Stiles smiling at him reassuringly. "I'll be fine. If anything goes wrong, I'll scream and you can come running."

"Alright." Scott agreed with a nod. If Stiles was promising that, then he was truly confident that nothing would go wrong, which filled Scott with the same confidence. Stiles was the most intuitive person Scott knew, he'd learned over the years to trust Stiles' instincts. "The same applies if Allison screams, or Lydia, right?"

"Of course."

"I have a question." Danny cut in, drawing the attention of his pack mates. "Why, exactly, am I stuck babysitting? When I could be in there making sure anything Barrow may have tampered with is safe, and not going to blow up?"

"Because," Stiles began as he abandoned Scott in favour of opening the boot of his jeep. "Lydia and Allison brought their own weapons," he leant forward into the boot, and when he drew back, he held an aluminium bat firmly with both hands. "And I only have one bat."

"What happened to my mountain ash bat?" Lydia demanded, raising an eyebrow at the lanky male. "And my duffel bag?" She glanced pointedly at the near empty boot.

Stiles chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head with one hand and he gripped the bat in the other, using it as one would use a crutch. "Yeah, I'll let Scott explain that." Stiles swung the bat carelessly as he backed away, suppressing a smile as the Banshee looked at Scott expectantly. Scott in turn was staring at the ground sheepishly. "Remember, wait for my text, do not come in even a second earlier. If you do, I will know and you will lose your best bow, Allison, and your favourite cattle prod, Lydia." Stiles warned firmly, confusing his friends slightly.

"Okay," Allison drawled, "but why would it matter if we-"

"Not a second earlier and that's final." Stiles barked suddenly, startling the others. "I won't be long." With that, he turned his back on them and ran into the building.

Scott was suddenly reminded of the fact that his best friend hadn't been acting like himself recently. Stiles had been… different. Wrong. Scott had taken into account Stiles' blackouts and the loss of his werewolf powers, but still, the old Stiles would have taken it in his stride the same way he had taken turning in the first place. He would have tried to find a solution, then adapted if he couldn't. Especially now that he had the pack to worry over. The comments and jives he was making about the situation were the right words, but the tone was completely wrong.

Once Stiles had disappeared from their line of sight, Scott sent a look to Lydia and Allison, trying to convey his worry. He was clearly successful, as the girls both returned his look and shared a look with each other. Their concern for his well being grew each day. Like Scott, Lydia could see that Stiles wasn't himself anymore. At least not all of the time. Most of the time, he was okay. He was clearly upset over the fact that he couldn't shift anymore, but otherwise, he was still Stiles. Other times, however, Lydia also felt that he was 'wrong' for lack of a better term. He was a stranger wearing a Stiles mask.

During these instances, he could have a conversation with somebody, in or outside of the pack, and they wouldn't notice a thing. He'd act like Stiles would act, he'd say what Stiles would say, but it'd be wrong. Like he was playing a role. He sounded the same but somehow, to a select few members of his pack, he still didn't feel like himself. He sounded the way he did when he read something aloud or quoted something he'd previously said. The words belonged to Stiles, but it didn't feel like Stiles was the one speaking them.

Of course, only Lydia, Scott, Derek, Allison, John and, potentially, Melissa had picked up on this so far. The others knew he wasn't the same, but Lydia doubted that they realised how far it went. 'Of course it was the six of them', she thought to herself, 'they knew him best'. Danny and Jackson may have known Stiles the same amount of time Lydia had, but she had grown much closer to him than either of them had. Knew him far better than either of them likely ever would.

Obviously Derek knew him better than anybody else in the Pack, Scott falling in a close second and the Sheriff not far behind in third, now that he knew about the supernatural. The redhead, though aware of Stiles, barely acknowledged his existence before the change. Unless it was to laugh at something mean Jackson would sneer about him and Scott to her, Danny and their 'friends'.

It wasn't until after Peter began his attacks that Lydia realised that she had greatly misjudged Stiles.

Rather than just being the weird loser who obsessed over her for her looks, he in fact had feelings for her because of who she was. Sure, those feelings were actually a different kind of love than he believed, but it didn't matter. She got over trying to be popular and focused on the truly important things, once she gained much needed perspective. She got the opportunity to know him and grew to love him too. Just like how she loved her mum, Scott, Allison, Derek, and the rest of the pack, excluding Jackson because of course the love she held for him was different.

Stiles Stilinski, he had somehow gone from someone she barely acknowledged to one of her best friends in a matter of weeks. He saw the true her before anybody else did. And once Lydia let him in, he supported her, he protected her, and he let her do the same for him. In return, Lydia let herself see him, beyond the masks and forced smiles that he projected to the rest of the world on bad days. Beyond the laughter and joy on the good days. And beyond the anxiety and dark clouds of the worst days.

Lydia got to know him, she spent time with him, and not just with other pack members. She would sit and talk with him alone, or they'd just sit together in silence doing something, or nothing. Hell, she'd even played video games with him. Since the ritual and offering himself to the Nemeton, things had changed. Lydia knew in her heart that there were moments where the person she saw, or spoke to, was not Stiles. She knew it. The person who just ran into that building was not Stiles. Therefore, she didn't have to listen to him.

"I'm going in." Lydia announced suddenly, five minutes having passed since Stiles had gone into the building.

Scott's panicked expression immediately transformed into a relieved smile as he rapidly nodded in agreement.

"He said to wait for his text." Allison reminded her, not realising that it was unnecessary. She wasn't quite protesting, eager to go inside and help as well, but she didn't Kira to be placed in more danger by their actions, on the off chance that their going in early interfered with Stiles' plan to save the girl.. "Why do you want to go in now?"

"I have a bad feeling about this." The Banshee admitted. What she didn't say was that she'd had that feeling since the second Stiles had entered the power station. She had tied her hair up into a ponytail two minutes in, and raised her bat after four. Then, four and a half minutes in, she had heard a violent crackle of electricity. It sounded as though someone or something was being electrocuted. It lasted twenty three seconds before fading off. Lydia had taken seven seconds to calm herself before making her announcement.

"Don't worry." Lydia assured easily, smiling softly at her worried looking human pack mates. Scott had returned to looking worried too, but Lydia knew that it wasn't directed at her. "We're able to predict our own deaths. I haven't predicted mine yet, so it's not tonight."

"Just because you're not going to die, it doesn't mean that you're not going to get hurt." Allison reminded the redhead, frowning in concern at her best friend. She feared for her. Hell, she feared for them all. Her pack. Her own blood relatives had proven that people existed in this world simply to cause hurt and pain and death. Some of them specifically target her friends, and people like them.

"I'll be fine." Lydia promised with a charming smile paired with caring eyes, she knew it would do the trick. Lydia looked her best friend in the eyes and promised; "If something happens, and I think I might be in danger, I'll let you know, and we'll tag team this bitch. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Allison agreed with a grin. Her grin disappeared when they all looked up as the street lamps around them, and all other sources of light they could see, began flickering. "Screw that, I'm going with you." She announced without a moment's hesitation, Lydia nodded then ran towards the building, Allison went to follow.

"So am I." Scott stated firmly as he took a step forward.

"No." Allison immediately stopped moving forward, spinning around to glare at her mate as she shoved her hand in her purse again. The next thing Scott knew, he was trapped in a circle of mountain ash. Before Scott could say anything in protest, the lights went out and seconds later, Allison's phone pinged with a text.

"It's Stiles." The Huntress announced with a sigh of relief as she read the message. "We have the go ahead, I'm not gonna lose my bow." She grinned softly, before quickly refocusing on the situation. "Watch him." She half heartedly ordered Danny, not that she needed to, before finally running into the building, thanks to being faster than the red head, she quickly caught up to Lydia. The Banshee had stopped running but still moved quickly through the station with her eyes closed, following the gentle buzz of electricity that was flowing in her head. Non-existent currents ran through the ground beneath her feet, leading her to Stiles and Kira. Allison followed, crossbow at the ready.

As this had unfolded, Stiles had walked into the substation, trying to use his basically human senses to find Barrow and Kira. The voice in his head, the one that he'd been hearing instead of his wolf, was whispering again. He knew it was dark, that he couldn't trust it, and he wanted it gone. Unfortunately, he couldn't get rid of it. He couldn't stop his body from following the directions. Saying what he was told to say, doing what he was told to do, going where he was told to go. Sometimes, Stiles was mostly in control, but no matter what he did or how hard he tried, he physically couldn't tell anybody the thing inside of him. The thing that he believed arrived after he and Derek connected the pack to the Nemeton. Whenever he'd try, he would suddenly find himself tongue tied or saying something else. Two days before he had tried to tell Derek for what had to be the hundredth time, only to deliver a ten minute rant about the difference between weather and climate instead.

The voice lead Stiles through the building, and soon enough, he found Barrow knelt in front of Kira, who had been tied up on the floor with what looked like dirty extension cords, whilst holding a large, sparking, power line close to her face as he rambled about people not believing him when he said he'd seen kids with glowing eyes. The dark voice in Stiles' head went unnervingly silent as he crept up behind Barrow. Kira had seen Stiles, he knew she had, but fortunately she focused on Barrow, as not to give away that Stiles was there. Stiles lifted the bat above his head as he grew closer, but once Stiles was close enough to consider bringing the bat down, Barrow spun around and lunged at Stiles, jabbing the power line into the teens abdomen. "NO!" Kira cried out, her voice trembling with the fear that was coursing through her body.

Stiles was stuck holding the bat above his head, convulsing and grunting in pain as the electricity coursed through him. It felt like an eternity to Stiles before Barrow finally pulled back, and Stiles dropped to his knees and found himself momentarily disoriented. Within seconds, Barrow turned back to Kira and attacked her with the same line. It was only a jab for her though, because the moment the sparks touched Kira, a white light pulsed out of the girl and sent her attacker flying across the room. When Stiles looked up, he could see her beyond the glow. Kira, now freed from her restraints and standing, held the line and took all of the electricity flowing through it into herself.

Stiles couldn't fully process what he was seeing as he had also been caught by the wave of light she had emitted, but rather than throwing him, it passed through him. It didn't hurt now. Stiles' eyes met Kira's through the light and sparks of electricity dancing around the room, but her eyes were different, glowing a magnificent orange/red hue. 'Just like fire' Stiles thought to himself, he felt as the electricity flow slowed, his vision began to fade as the sparks lessened, the light from Kira dimmed, then disappeared along with the sparks into the girl in question. Her eyes faded back to their natural color as the light dimmed.

Then everything went black.

When Lydia and Allison arrived, William Barrow was unconscious on the floor, and Kira and Stiles were standing together in the center of the room. Stiles was seemingly checking Kira for injuries. Stiles' bat was on the ground, forgotten. Frayed and scorched power lines were lying on the ground, dangerously close to Kira's feet, and Kira herself stood statue still wearing an odd expression, made up of a mixture of terror, awe and disbelief.

The Banshee and the Huntress looked around at the room in horror at the scorch marks on everything but the three occupants of the room. Lydia was the first to look at Stiles and demand to know; "What the hell happened?"

"Uh…" Stiles and Kira exchanged a look, the both of them struggling to find the words until Stiles merely pointed at Barrow and told them "He did it."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Back at the Hale House, within five minutes of Scott and Danny disappearing whilst supposedly looking for Allison, Stiles and Lydia, the remaining pack members were trying to figure out where their wayward Pack mates had run off to. Isaac was feeling quite dejected that Scott and Allison had gone off without so much as a word informing of where they were going or what they were doing, so he had offered to go check the library. It was where all of Stiles' schemes had been thought up since they moved in, and he often left his notes lying around on the table in haphazard piles. Really though, Isaac just wanted some time alone. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out well for him.

He had only just reached the table and was reaching for Stiles' notepad when the lights went out. The door to the library slammed shut behind him. Isaac immediately sprinted to the door and tried to open it. Locked.

"Let me out, this isn't funny!" Isaac yelled through the door before knocking loudly. "Let me out!" Isaac's heart began racing as the horrible feeling of being trapped triggered a panic attack.

"Isaac?" He heard Erica call through the door. How he could possibly hear her through the supernatural soundproofing, he didn't know. And honestly, he didn't care, Erica's voice was serving as his anchor in that moment. Keeping him from losing it and completely descending into panic.

"Let me out!" He cried out between gasps for breath. The door handle rattled as Erica began pounding on the door.

"Isaac! I know you're in there, can you hear me?" Erica called, he could hear the panic in her voice as she tried to get the door to open. He repeated himself, forcing his voice to be louder this time, panic attack be damned, he needed to get out. She still didn't hear him. "Boyd, get Derek. NOW!" She yelled before her tone turned gentle and reassuring. "Isaac, listen to me. I know what you must be feeling right now, but we're going to get you out, okay? So just focus on me, okay? Breathe with me Isaac. Listen to my breathing, okay? My heartbeat okay?" She was breathing evenly, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Her heartbeat was faster than usual but still a hell of a lot slower than his was at that point in time.

"Are you listening?" He hadn't said anything, knowing that she wouldn't hear him, but for some reason unknown to himself, he'd nodded. "Good." She couldn't see or hear Isaac, but she knew he could hear her, he had to. "Now, I know it's hard, but please match me, Isaac. My breathing, my heart rate, make it your own. It's yours now."

She stopped talking after that, she just kept breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Isaac copied her. He didn't pay attention to the fact that it felt like the air wasn't going to his lungs, nor did he pay attention to the way his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest. He focused on Erica, his sister, who was on the other side of that door. Isaac moved so that his back was pressed to the wall next to the door. He leant all of his weight against it as he listened to Erica. His heartbeat and breathing soon matched hers, and he felt like he could breathe on his own again. He thanked her, even though she couldn't hear him. Unfortunately, he was only granted a moment of relief as his panic attack came back in full force moments later, just after Derek arrived with a key and tried to unlock the door. Nothing happened.

He heard Derek growl and though that would usually bring him some form of comfort, as it meant his alpha meant business, Isaac was too distracted by the shadows, and too afraid of them to feel relieved. First of all, there were no windows in the room, and no source of light except for Isaac's eyes, which had begun to glow when his panic attack hit, but they weren't enough to cast shadows. Secondly, the impossible shadows were moving.

There was a sudden loud thud that Isaac knew had to be Derek trying to break down the door. Isaac kept his back pressed to the wall as he slid down it, his legs didn't feel strong enough to hold him. Another thud occurred but the door didn't budge. Isaac was hyperventilating and paralyzed with fear when five creatures with silver masks, dark robes, and glowing eyes stepped out of the shadows.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

About an hour later, Stiles, Scott, Lydia, Allison, Danny and Kira sat in Sheriff Stilinski's office, being questioned by Agent McCall, with the Sheriff sitting at his desk watching and listening.

"When did you get there?" Agent McCall asked, pen poised over his notepad.

"At the same time." Stiles responded helpfully without missing a beat.

"At the same time as who?" He asked, lowering the pen as he realised that they weren't going to make the interview easy for him.

Stiles pointed towards Scott, who simultaneously made a gesture towards himself and Allison. "The same time as us."

"By coincidence?" McCall pressed.

"What do you mean 'coincidence'?" Stiles asked, placing a confused expression on his face.

"That's what I'm asking you." Rafael clarified, trying to remain calm as the two teenagers were clearly trying to make the interview as frustrating as possible for him. "If the two of you arrived at the same time, was that coincidence?"

There was a pause as nobody spoke, before Scott inquired "Are you asking me?"

"I think he's asking me." Stiles replied.

"I think he's asking both of you." Lydia countered.

"Okay, let me answer the questions." There was another pause as McCall thought about what he'd just said, the six teenagers looked at him expectantly, and John tried to contain his smirk behind the agent. "Let me ask the questions." The man amended, Stiles winked and shot a single finger gun at him in a teasing agreement. "Just so I have this absolutely clear. Barrow was hiding in the chemistry closet at the school. Someone left him a coded message on the blackboard telling him to kill Kira. Then Barrow took Kira to a power substation and tied her up with the intent of electrocuting her, which blacked out the entire town."

"Sounds about right." Stiles confirmed, the other five teens nodding their agreement.

"So tell me, how did you know that he'd take her to the Power Station?" McCall asked looking at the three he knew to be supernatural creatures with narrowed eyes, as if he were daring them to mention their abilities.

"Well, 'cause he was an electrical engineer, where else would he take her?" The lanky boy replied easily, a smirk resting on his face that had formed as he spoke.

"That's one hell of a deduction there, Stiles." McCall fired back, barely keeping sarcasm or his annoyance showing in his words.

"Yeah, what can I say? I take after my pops. He's in law enforcement." Stiles winked at his father, who finally cracked, but still tried to hide his chuckle behind his hand and a cough.

"Just answer the man, Stiles." John instructed his son once he'd calmed himself.

"We made a good guess." Stiles amended to appease the asshole-he means agent.

"What were you doing before that?" Rafael asked Kira who easily responded.

"I was getting the last of the leftovers from the car, when I heard someone running towards me, but before I could look, I was hit over the head and then I woke up at the power station." She flinched and shuddered lightly as she recalled the attack and waking up, but otherwise remained calm and collected as she spoke. A far cry from the shy girl from the day before.

"Leftovers?"

"She came over to our house with her parents for dinner." Allison told him easily.

"If you'd just had her over for dinner, how'd you know she was missing? Surely, her parents would have been the first to notice?" McCall asked, a ghost of a smirk tugging at his lips, convinced he'd caught them out.

"I'd left my phone at their house." Kira told him easily, looking completely innocent. Had they not known the truth, the pack members unable to hear her heartbeat would have probably believed her.

"Yeah," Scott agreed easily, not missing a beat. "Allison and I saw it shortly after she left, so we went on my bike to return it. When we got there, the car was gone and there was blood on the ground. I called Stiles, thinking he was still at home, so he could tell his dad."

"But by then, Lydia and I had already decoded the message and had left to go make sure she was okay." Stiles continued seamlessly.

"When Scott called," Lydia took over next "we started theorising where he could have taken her. We went to the jeep, where Danny was waiting for us"

At the mention of his name, Danny took over the story. "Stiles hypothesised that Barrow would take her to the power station. So I started to drive there while Lydia called Allison, so she and Scott could meet us there."

Lydia nodded, a mock-serious expression on her face "Y'know, safety in numbers and all that."

"We got there at the same time, Allison, Lydia and I went in first, telling Scott and Danny to call my dad. We got there and Barrow had Kira tied up and was going to electrocute her with a power cable. We acted, managed to subdue him, but something happened. Then all the lights went out." Stiles finished easily, none of them, except Kira, were worried about their alibi.

"Why didn't you call the sheriff first?" The agent asked, barely keeping the look of triumph off of his face. "Or Deputy Hale? You just said that you had the sense to call for help, why wait until you arrived at the substation to call the authorities?"

"Because, living with two cops, we know the procedure." Stiles replied. Knowing that the agent wouldn't be satisfied with just that, Danny interjected.

"They were both off-duty last night. They would have had to first report to the station before going to the substation. Yes, we could have called the station directly," Danny admitted wearing an expression of remorse that agent McCall seemed to believe, but the others all knew to be utterly fake. "but given that the entire Sheriff's department had been on a manhunt for Barrow all day and had chased a few dead ends, there was a possibility that they wouldn't take it seriously."

"And even if it did, the fact is that it takes 25 minutes to drive from here to the substation, we worried that they wouldn't get there in time to save her." Allison added, pulling out her best puppy eyes, not quite as good as Scott's, but far more effective against McCall, who had never seen her use them before. "She's our friend, we didn't want anything to happen to her."

"Do you believe any of this?" Agent McCall asked Sheriff Stilinski, turning to face the man. His disbelief was evident in his facial expression and the tone of his voice. He'd fully expected a story filled with supernatural nonsense and for the trio to claim Barrow had been a part of it all. Maybe he should have made the humans wait outside?

"To be honest, I haven't believed a word Stiles has said since he learned how to speak." Stiles nodded slightly, expression blank. "But I think these kids found themselves in the right place at the right time and that girl sitting there is very lucky for it."

Rafael turned to look at the teenagers again, this time focusing on Kira once more. "Is that how you remember it?" All eyes turned to her.

"Yes" The girl responded without any hesitation. "Can I have my phone back now?"

"Sorry, but no." Rafael responded, and Kira felt her nerves spike. She was in a bubble of worry in her mind when she was led out of the Sheriff's office. "Kira, a deputy is going to take you home. But we'll need you to fill out some paperwork first."

"I have a ride already." Kira immediately protested, snapping out of her thoughts. She glanced over to her friends for assistance, and Lydia stepped in.

"Stiles and I are taking her home." She responded easily, and Stiles nodded in agreement. Rafael narrowed his eyes, looking at the six teenagers he'd just interviewed.

"Six of you can't legally fit in that jeep."

"I'm taking my bike." Scott responded easily. "So it'll be the five of them. It's a five seater vehicle. Perfectly legal."

Rafael had to grit his teeth to keep his frustration from showing. He directed his next comment towards Kira.

"You'll be safer with a deputy."

"Perhaps." The girl agreed with a nod, and a victorious smile appeared on the FBI agents face before disappearing just as quickly when she countered "But, no offense, I'd feel more comfortable with my friends taking me home. Besides, we have a group, statistics show that people are less likely to attack someone who is part of a group."

"You were right." Lydia whispered to Stiles who was smirking as he watched Rafael trying to hide his frustration and come up with an argument. Stiles hummed to show he was listening and to express that Lydia should continue. "She's going to fit in well with us."

Once Kira had gotten the agent to agree to let the Pack members drive her home, she went to another room with Tara to sign the paperwork. Stiles and Lydia had gone to talk in the corner with deputy Parrish watching on, having been ordered by Agent McCall to 'keep an eye on them' and Allison and Danny were talking to Deputy Posey about the many uses of mountain ash. With the boy finally alone, McCall approached his son.

"I don't know what you're hiding Scott, or why Stilinski is content to listen to this crap. But try and remember something, if half this story about Barrow is true, then not only did someone help set him loose, but he was a pawn in their little game." Scott barely refrained from rolling his eyes. He knew this, better than his father did. Rafael continued on, either not noticing his son's hostility or simply ignoring it. "A mass murderer is bad enough. A mass murderer being controlled by someone? Far worse."

"I know." Scott responded, keeping his tone polite. "We're careful, we can take care of ourselves and our friends."

Rafael bit his tongue from saying what he really wanted. Instead he took a breath and said "Alright, you can go home, it's a school night."

"Thanks, but I'm going to wait for Allison the others." Rafael nodded, then began walking back into John's office, before pausing when Scott called out to him.

"Oh, by the way," Scott began, pausing until his father had turned to face him, so that the man could see the cheeky grin on Scott's face. "I know it's not my place to tell you how to do your job or anything, but I just have to advise that in the future, when interviewing people you think might be up to something, don't break L.J. Gibbs' number one rule."

Raphael narrowed his eyes at Scott, who was not only basically confessing that they hid something from him, but was insulting his capabilities and quoting somebody the agent had never even heard of. Despite his better judgment, Raphael found himself taking the bait and asking "And what rule would that be?"

"Never let suspects stay together." Scott grinned before sauntering over to Allison and Danny merrily.

Once they had all filled out the necessary paperwork, they were allowed to leave the police station. Allison opted to climb on the back of Scott's bike, leaving the four others in the jeep. Stiles drove, Lydia took the passenger seat, leaving Kira and Danny in the back. "I don't want to go home yet." Kira stated the moment Stiles started the engine.

"We know." The boy replied easily. "You want answers, so do we."

"We're taking you back to our house." Lydia took over, the tone in her voice left no room for argument. Yesterday, Kira would have been frightened by that, but today she simply agreed, feeling nothing but trust for the increasingly fascinating group.

A phone was suddenly being held in front of her by Danny, she looked at him curiously. "Call your parents." She couldn't tell if it was an order or a request, but she didn't care. "So they don't worry too much." Kira took the phone and dialed her home number, taking a deep breath in preparation.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

When the group arrived back at the Hale House, the lights were on, thanks to the generators in the basement. Cora had texted Danny while they awaited interrogation and received instructions on how to reroute the power to supply the entire house.

Scott's bike was already there but he and Alison were nowhere to be seen. The front door had been left open and Derek stood in the doorway looking equal parts angry and relieved. Lydia looked to Stiles, hoping to share their usual 'We're in trouble' look but Stiles didn't even notice her gaze.

The four teens were quickly informed of what happened to Isaac during the night, Kira was clearly confused but said nothing, even at the mention of the creatures coming out of the shadows. The group walked into the living room, not even a little surprised to find Scott and Allison already wrapped around Isaac, whispering their love and apologies to their mate. The rest of the Pack were there too, except for the Sheriff, the elder Boyds and Reyes, and Mrs Martin.

Stiles, Scott, Lydia, Allison, Danny and Kira worked together to tell the story of what had happened the night before. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Pack, Stiles had left out the details of his electrocution. Kira didn't dare say anything in fear of upsetting her new friends, so she kept quiet as Stiles edited the story so that Barrow only attacked Kira. She couldn't help but look around at the Pack, to see if anyone was buying it. Derek, Scott, Lydia and Allison clearly thought something was up, which Kira made a mental note off. Melissa may have suspected something too, but her expression changed so quickly that Kira was unsure. Kira made a point not to look at anybody as Stiles told them all what happened to Kira when she was electrocuted, but it turned out that she needn't worry about her new friends judging her.

Once everybody was caught up on what had unfolded, it was Kira's turn to listen to a story, and by the time that story had finished, Kira was looking around at several pairs of glowing eyes, and for the first time since moving to Beacon Hills, she felt at home.

Hours of talking and theorising were concluded with a visit from a man named Deaton, Kira was told that she was something called a Kitsune. "A thunder Kitsune, I imagine, based on what you just told me." Deaton clarified looking at the girl curiously.

"That explains the fox." Erica commented with a grin, staring at Kira with glowing eyes and an expression of intrigue.

"Fox? What fox?" Kira asked curiously, as the humans around her also looked at Erica curiously.

"When we looked at you with our wolf eyes," Scott began to explain before Erica could, earning him a glare from the blonde. "you have what looks like… A fox made out of fire wrapped around you. Like it's protecting you."

"Can it be seen on camera?" Kira asked with wide eyes, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Given that werewolf eyes flare on camera when a flash is introduced, I imagine that it's possible." Stiles responded thoughtfully after a moment's consideration, looking to the Emissary for confirmation. Deaton simply nodded.

"Why do you ask?" Derek inquired from where he stood behind the couch, directly behind where Stiles was sitting, with his arms folded.

"Before Stiles got there, Barrow was taking pictures of me. On my phone. With the flash on." Kira explained.

"And the police now have your phone." Stiles exclaimed with wide eyes. "If someone from the FBI sees those pictures-"

"It would be bad." Scott cut Stiles off and finished for him before turning his head to look at Derek. "How likely is it that my dad will allow someone from the BHPD to search her phone?"

"The moment Barrow escaped, the feds took over." Derek informed him regretfully, shaking his head slightly before he looked at Kira with an apologetic expression. "They'll likely check your photos to see if he's in the background of any of them, to find out if he's been stalking you. The more they can prove his connection to you, the more likely they are to get a longer sentence."

"Okay, don't worry, we'll handle this." Stiles assured her with an easy smile. "Lydia, Erica, Cora, Danny, Kira and Malia, you're all coming with me to the Library. Everybody else has the night off." He ordered easily and everybody made a gesture or sound of agreement.

"Sure, but why are we going to the library?" Malia asked curiously.

"I'll tell you when we get there, in case we get caught, Derek can't know what we were planning." He explained with a mischievous grin then looked up to see the unimpressed look his mate was giving him.

"But it's okay to say that in front of me?"

"Absolutely." Stiles continued to grin as he stood up and turned, he leant forward over the couch to kiss Derek softly. "Love you."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Luckily for you, I love you too."

"And Allison-" Stiles began, pointing at the girl as he had intended to explain why she wasn't being included in the planning session, only to be cut off by the girl in question.

"No, I get it," She assured whilst snuggling her distraught mate, knowing Stiles well enough to anticipate what he was going to say. "I would have said no anyway, I need to stay with Isaac."

"You don't-" Isaac began to protest, guilt creeping up on him at the thought of keeping Allison from doing something she loved; scheming. Yet, once again, the brunette butted in before he could finish.

"Correction, I want to stay with Isaac." She stated firmly, holding on to the boy tighter.

After ensuring Isaac was alright, Stiles led his carefully selected team to the library in the second basement, amazing Kira and Malia, well mostly Kira.

"So, why exactly are we here?" Malia asked again, once the door to the library had been shut and they had all sat down.

"I'm wondering that too, given that Isaac was just attacked here." Erica stressed, looking around the room for anything suspicious.

"What happened to Isaac is horrible and we will get back at whoever did this to him. But Chris knows what we're dealing with and will not tell us, so we can't do anything to make them pay right now." Stiles explained with a lot of hand gestures. "Scott and Allison are taking care of Isaac and if he needs any of us as well, we're right here. As for why we're here, it's still the best place for planning, and they isolated Isaac, they wanted him alone. As long as none of us are alone, we'll be fine."

"You think." Lydia countered knowingly.

"I think." Stiles amended, glaring at the Banshee. "But we still need to be in here. We need to make a plan to break into the police station and delete those photos from Kira's phone."

"Not just her phone." Danny added. "Any cloud storage, or hard drives at the station. Chances are they're going to transfer all of her phone's data to a computer to review it."

"I can give you access to my cloud storage from here." Kira offered sheepishly, unsure suddenly if she was allowed to speak. Her confidence she felt at the station was replaced with her usual self doubt, fortunately the self doubt wasn't as crippling as it had been the day before. "It'd probably be better if you erased that from my laptop or something, so we don't have to spend as much time in the station."

"That's smart." Erica complimented with a smile. "More time we spend in there, bigger the chance we get caught."

"True, and we still need to sneak around the staff on night shift," Cora reminded, looking thoughtfully at the blank notepad, as though it held the plan already. "so the likeliness is we'll have ten minutes once we're inside, if we're lucky."

"Less than that." Lydia corrected. "The phone will be in evidence lock-up. There's someone guarding it almost constantly. It depends on who's working, once we know that, we'll know how long we have while they're on break."

"Right." Erica took over. "If it's Tara, we'll have about 3 and a half minutes, but if it's Posey, we've got the full five if not longer."

"Woah, woah, woah," Stiles cut in, waving his arms to signal a cease in conversation. "Now before we get ahead of ourselves, let me make one thing clear. I invited you all to help plan the mission, not all of you are coming with me." There was immediate protest from everyone, including Kira and Malia. "Shut it!" Stiles ordered, immediately silencing the group. "Seven of us will easily get caught, don't even try to fight me on this. No, I need Kira to get the phone and erase the pictures and I need Danny to erase any backups the feds may have made. I'll be look out and a distraction if necessary. I need Erica as our getaway driver and the rest of you will wait here and cover for us with my dad and Derek. Understood?"

"Why does Erica get to be the getaway driver?" Lydia asked, clearly annoyed that she doesn't get a role in the plan.

"She drives faster." Was the reason Stiles gave and Erica immediately defended herself.

"I don't give a fuck about the law or my safety, and I drive like it" Erica grinned proudly and, well, Lydia couldn't argue with that. Oh wait, she could.

"You don't even have a driver's license!" Lydia reminded the blonde. Due to her epilepsy from before turning being so severe that medication wasn't guaranteed to stop her seizures, Erica had been unable to apply for a driver's licence.

"YOLO" Erica shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant but failing thanks to the grin on her face.

"You did not just say YOLO-" Cora sighed, looking at her mate in shame.

"Yes I did, and so did you." Erica grinned before sticking her tongue out at Cora. Cora, ever the elegant one, simply stuck her middle finger up and glared at Erica, but the lack of any real heat behind her actions caused them to have no effect.

"Now, as you can see," Stiles cut in, trying to distract the two deadly women from continuing to bicker. They needed to focus and when Cora and Erica bickered… let's just say their favourite part about arguing was making up. And they didn't seem to care where they made up, as long as it was in the house, and didn't care if their Pack Mates were around when it happened. "I have the skeleton of the plan, but I need a little help with the details and you six are the most criminally devious minds in the Pack, excluding myself. Well, I get the impression that the two of you" he gestured to Kira and Malia. "will be good at this, and I'm usually right about these things. So who's in?"

Of course, everybody agreed to help. "What about Allison?" Malia asked thoughtfully as she recalled several stories the Pack had told her. "Isn't she also pretty good with this stuff?"

"She is." Stiles confirmed with a nod as he pulled his notepad close and opened it to a clean page. "But after what happened, Isaac needs her more right now."

The werecoyote nodded in realization and mentally scolded herself for forgetting that people need comfort after traumatizing ordeals like that. Suddenly Stiles and Allison's seemingly nonsensical conversation before they came to plan made sense to her. Sensing her cousin's rapidly dropping mood, Cora leaned over the table and touched Malia's hand comfortingly. "Hey, it's okay, you're still learning. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Malia smiled at Cora in thanks and nodded before speaking "I do have an idea about how you can get in there."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

When the pack piled around the table for breakfast the next morning, they were joined by Kira and Malia, both of whom had spent the night. The scheming had gone on into the early hours of the morning, so the pair had opted to accept Stiles' offer to stay over. The pair had shared a bed in one of the spare rooms, despite being offered seperate rooms. It had been Malia's idea to share. Her reasoning was that Kira was the only person close to her own age who was new to the pack, if she even counted as pack yet, that Malia had met since turning human. Sure, Ethan and Aidan were relatively new to the pack, but they still were much further integrated into the pack's hierarchy than she was. Kira, however, had met the pack at the same time Malia had and was also only just truly discovering this other side of herself and would probably need training to learn how to control it. Just like Malia. And, she wasn't a werewolf. Sure, she wasn't a werecoyote like Malia was, but she was something different, just like Malia.

They were both outsiders looking for their place in this family that had readily opened their arms to them, and this journey of discovery they were embarking on didn't have to be done alone. They could do it together, help each other, right? Stiles said that that's what pack do. It's what friends do. And Kira had told her last night that she was happy she'd started to find her friends here. So Malia asked if she and Kira could be friends too, Kira had smiled and blushed and told her that yes, they can be friends.

Kira wasn't quite sure exactly why the coyote had wanted to share with her, or why she had even agreed, but it was the best night's sleep she'd had since moving to Beacon Hills. Even though Malia had terrified Kira in her Coyote form, she felt safe with the shifter, she felt something close to giddiness bubble inside her when the coyote asked if they could be friends, the bubbling eased into something softer but equally dizzying when the look of pure joy on Malia's face when she said 'yes'. When Malia spooned her after a few minutes of them both tossing and turning, Kira felt something new and… odd. But nice. Definitely nice.

What wasn't nice was waking up to Malia's phone ringing, the Coyote groaned as the shrill ringing of the device pulled her from her unusually pleasant sleep, she leant over the slowly waking Kira to grab the offending item. She frowned when she didn't recognise the number, but answered anyway.

"Hello?"

"Who is this? And where is my daughter?" The voice on the other end demanded furiously.

"This is Malia, and I have no idea." The coyote responded bluntly, too tired to be polite. "Who is your daughter?"

"Kira." The voice replied, no less angry. "Where is she?"

"Oh." Malia responded blankly, then held out the phone to the girl who was wiping the sleep from her eyes "It's for you." The Coyote informed the Kitsune, who looked from Malia to the phone in question. "It's your mum."

Kira groaned in response as she took the phone from Malia. "I'm so dead." She muttered, causing her bedmate to chuckle before lying back down, draping her arm back over Kira unthinkingly, watching with intrigue and shamelessly listening to both sides of the conversation. "Hi mum." Kira greeted, and with that, her mother was yelling at her down the line.

"You are in so much trouble young lady! Your father and I have been worried sick! First we go to check on you when you didn't come inside only to find you and the car gone! Then we get a call from the police saying that you had been kidnapped and held hostage by an escaped mass murderer and that you were being interviewed before a deputy would bring you home, then you called from a random number saying that you were going to you friends house and would be back later, and then we don't hear from you for the rest of the night!"

"I sent you a text" Kira grumbled a feeble defense, sitting up in bed, causing Malia's arm to fall from her waist. "telling you where I am."

"At 2.30 in the morning!" Noshiko shrieked down the phone, causing Kira to grimace and pull the phone away from her ear.

"I'm sorry, we lost track of time, I didn't feel safe walking home at that time of night and I didn't want to ask for a ride from one of my friends at that time, and all of the adults were asleep. Malia offered to lend me her phone to text you again, and let me sleep in her room. I did what I thought was best in this situation. I'm sorry if I worried you."

Kira heard her mother sigh into the phone and could picture clearly the expression her mother was wearing. "I'm disappointed, Kira, that you let it get so late before contacting us, especially after what happened. I'm also upset that after such an ordeal, you immediately went to your friends rather than coming home. I expect you to come home with your father tonight. As soon as you get to school, go to his classroom. Understood?" Noshiko ordered, causing Kira to sigh in disappointment. "Kira? I said, do you understand?" The woman pressed when her daughter didn't answer as quickly as she liked.

"Yes." Kira confirmed. She had wanted to hang out with the pack again after school, but she could understand why her mother didn't want that.

"Good, I'll see you tonight. I love you, Kira."

"I love you too, mum." With that the call disconnected, Kira handed the device back to it's rightful owner with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, not the nicest way to wake up."

"Given that over the past eight years, I've been woken up by predators trying to eat me, or steal my den, or food, or by hunters shooting at me, I'd say that really wasn't the worst awakening." Malia told her matter of factly, causing Kira to laugh softly.

"Well, when you put it like that…" Kira grinned, looking down at her hands nervously, to find them toying with the pristine bedding. "Thanks for sharing your bed with me, by the way."

"Oh, it's not my bed." Malia corrected, patting the mattress. "Not really, I just sleep here when I don't want to stay at home." She explained with a shrug.

"How come you don't like staying at home?" Kira asked without thinking, her eyes went wide as soon as the words left her mouth, but before she could correct herself, Malia replied.

"It's not that I don't like staying there." Malia informed her, but she didn't seem offended or upset, so Kira allowed herself to relax slightly. "It's just that after all these years, it doesn't feel like home anymore. Some nights I'm lying in that bed and it's like I'm eight all over again and everything is fine and happy and my sister is sleeping in the bed across the room, and my parents are sleeping down the hall. But then I remember, and it's not okay, my sister isn't in her bed, and my mother isn't down the hall. And my dad isn't my dad. I mean, he's still my dad and he always will be my dad, but it's not the same now. Now I know I'm adopted, I know that I'm not human, and I know how it feels to watch my dad point a rifle at me and pull the trigger. It just gets to be too much, sometimes." Without thinking, Kira pulled Malia into a tight hug. The Coyote stiffened for a moment relaxing and returned the hug. The pair didn't talk much more before making their way downstairs to join the pack for breakfast.

As the rest of the pack were chatting away and eating breakfast, Danny was on the phone arguing with the owners of the building he'd rented for the blacklight party he had planned for that night. They'd called him to say that they, like almost everybody else in town, had no power so he couldn't hold his party there. "Don't you have portable generators, or something? It's a blacklight party, it's not like you need a ton of power!" He tried in vain to persuade them, that was twenty minutes of his life he'd never get back. After hanging up the call, Danny sighed in frustration. Jackson looked at his best friend sympathetically.

"So no party?" He asked, pouting slightly, the other teen's wearing similar expressions. Malia in particular was disappointed as she had been looking forward to attending her first party. Before Danny could respond however, Derek, who was sitting in his usual seat at the head of the table, fork in one hand and a book in the other, chimed in.

"Yes, you can use the loft, just don't trash the place, don't let anybody in the bedroom, and don't let me get any noise complaints from any of the tenants in the building. The three floors below the loft are under reconstruction before I rent them out, so there's nobody there for you to bother. If I find out that despite that, the music or guests were bothering any of my tenants, I'll crash the party myself, with John and Parrish as my backup." Derek told him without looking up from the book he was reading. "Fair?"

Danny beamed gratefully, then stood up and moved to the back of Derek's chair and hugged him from behind, being careful not to block the Alpha's view of his book. "Very. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Danny babbled as the pack cheered around them, all offering their own thanks to Derek, Stiles leaning across to kiss the man.

The rest of breakfast passed by quickly and uneventfully. Erica loaned an outfit worthy of a Hale to Kira for the day, and the teenagers, excluding Malia, set off in various vehicles, heading gleefully to school. They were gleeful for two reasons (well, three, if you counted the party still being on). One, they'd had a big win the night before (Not only had they saved Kira's life, they had also helped get Barrow back behind bars). And two, they knew everybody else in town would have had to work through their morning routine without any electricity, but they were able to go about their routine as normal.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen wolf-Sterek-

When they arrived at the School, Coach was marching through the corridors with a megaphone being his usual Coach-y self. Stiles made a comment about something Coach had said as he opened his locker, acting like he didn't have a care in the world. Scott frowned in concern at his best friend from across the corridor, completely was obvious to whatever conversation Isaac and Allison were having beside him. Scott was focused on Stiles, compiling a mental list of all the things just wrong about him. The problem was that if he were to write said list on a sheet of paper, he'd be staring at a blank page. There weren't any words that could properly describe the issues with his best friend. He was acting completely normal and fine - for Stiles at least - there was just this feeling. When Scott looked into Stiles' eyes, or Stiles called Scott "Bitch", or Stiles hugged Scott, it didn't feel right. And Scott wanted, no, needed to know why. Especially now. Today was the worst day since the ritual. At least most days, the feeling of wrongwrongwrong came and went randomly, that morning he hadn't stopped feeling wrong. It felt like Stiles wasn't there at all.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Shortly after being electrocuted by Barrow, Stiles awoke in a dark basement somewhere, he was freezing and there was a severe pain in his left leg. And something was repeatedly licking his face.

A wolf with reddish brown fur was lying next to him, a paw strung over Stiles' waist, head hovering slightly over him as he licked the freckled boy's face. "You're… me, right? Like I'm you? Kind of, do you know what I mean?" The wolf sort of nodded at him and licked his face again. "Can you tell me where we are?"

"We are inside." The wolf replied without moving his mouth. His voice was almost identical to Stiles', the only difference being that the wolf's voice was deeper than Stiles had ever managed, it seemingly echoed around the room as he answered the question.

"Inside where?" Stiles asked softly, part of him wanting to demand answers, but he found himself unable to treat the wolf he felt so connected to that way. The wolf shot Stiles a somehow sarcastic look, as if asking for a break.

"Where else am I, if you're not me?" The wolf asked, without speaking again.

"We're in my head?" Stiles asked, in somewhat disbelief, staring up at the wolf in wonder and relief. "I thought you were gone. I couldn't hear you anymore, I couldn't feel you anymore."

The wolf looked down at Stiles with an odd expression, as if he wanted to smile at the boy. The wolf shook his head before licking the former human again.

"I can never be apart from you, just as you can never be apart from me now." The wolf explained easily as he laid his head on top of the brunettes. Stiles smiled easily, quickly becoming accustomed to the sensation. It was odd, not uncomfortable, just different. It felt real, even though he knew it was only in his head. "I cannot exist outside of you, because I was created within you. The moment you were bitten by the Alpha at the time, you changed. In order to survive those changes, you needed me. You still do. If one of us dies, so does the other. The same applies to all Human-Wolf partnerships. The creature could not kill me as he needed you to say yes and let him in. He cannot kill you even now that he is inside because he needs to be you until he's strong enough to get what he needs to fulfill his plan. Before you ask, I don't know his plan, nor what he needs to fulfill it, that's all I've been able to figure out so far."

Stiles felt the confused frown form on his face as he processed the wolf's words. "But I haven't said yes." Stiles blurted the first thing that came to mind. A sad chuckle echoed around the room, causing Stiles' frown to deepen. "What?"

"In this case, saying yes isn't always as literal as saying the words. First, he got you alone and, without me to keep you away, you stepped through the door, rather than closing it." Stiles frowned, self deprecating thoughts creeping into his head, he mentally berated himself for not being strong enough to close the door. His wolf nuzzled his head into Stiles' chest comfortingly. "It's okay, it's not your fault." The wolf assured before continuing. "Second, you held the firefly. Third, you cried out for help in your mind when you were electrocuted. So he was allowed in, and he kicked you out of the driver's seat."

Stiles couldn't think straight as he wrapped his arm around the wolf and pulled him closer. "I'm sorry that I didn't find you." The teens voice was barely above a whisper as he gently stroked the animal's fur. "I should have tried harder. You-You've always been there for me. Since the moment I turned, you have been with me. I felt lost without you, like I wasn't me anymore. I can't even remember how I got by as a human. I-I can't imagine no longer feeling the pack bonds or my-our- bond with Derek." Stiles sighed at the thought of his mate, burrowing his face into the wolves fur, which smelt partially of Derek. It made sense, Stiles smells like Derek, so obviously his wolf would too, but he'd never really thought about it, so it was a pleasant surprise. "I hate that they aren't as strong as before. It feels like how Lydia and all the humans in the Pack describe the bond. I'd be lost without it but it's not enough. I need it all. I physically need it." Stiles wasn't sure if he was shaking his head, or nuzzling the wolf, or both, but he didn't care and continued the action as he spoke. "I need you back in my head. And I need to feel it how it was before. I need to become you again. It's the only way I feel complete and I need to feel like myself again. I need you back and we need to get rid of this thing. I want to go back to how it was before. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. Not even the bad times. I know it sounds stupid, but I just- I-I-"

"It doesn't sound stupid at all." His wolf assured in a soothing tone. "The bad times just highlight good times, and they're good learning tools for us. As for not remembering how you got by before, you didn't know the sensations before. You didn't know true connections before. Everything is enhanced now. Well, it is when we are truly connected and working together. With the two of us sharing control." Stiles smiled at the memories of when he and his wolf would work in perfect balance, especially when they were fighting, or in the wolf's form.

Perfection for the both of them was running through the preserve on a full moon night with their pack and mate. Followed by a good pack hunt, and spending the rest of the night in human form coiled around his mate in the privacy of their bedroom, obviously locking the door to the rest of the pack.

"How can we get out?" Stiles asked to steer himself away from inappropriate thoughts. At least, inappropriate for that particular situation.

"I'm not sure we can." The wolf admitted sadly, moving his head to hide his face in the teens chest. "I've been trying for a while now, since you stepped through the door."

"But now we're together." Stiles reminded with a grin. "And I have opposable thumbs." The wolf chuckled at his other half. "Wait, since the door? But my eyes glowed after that, Scott saw it. And I felt my claws come out when I had that panic attack in Mr Yukimura's Class."

"But did you?" The wolf asked, and Stiles recognized the tone as the same one he used when he was smirking and about to tell someone that they were wrong about something. "Did you notice anything different? Did your vision change like it usually would when you look through my eyes? Did you see our claws? Did they dig into your palms when you made a fist to hide them" The wolf asked, already knowing the answer. Stiles frowned as he thought back to that day. The answer was no, he didn't suspect for a second that his wolf eyes were showing. Even after Scott informed him of the fact, nothing changed. When Scott hurt himself and Stiles was snapped out of the panic attack, caused by the supposed loss of control, nothing changed. Not even when Scott had told him his eyes were normal again. "Exactly." Stiles rolled his eyes at the wolf's smug tone. "The one in our head used the pack bonds to make Scott believe that your eyes glowed, to give you hope that we could be united again. He wanted you to have hope so that he could take it away when things improved for our mate, but not for you."

"I took Scott's pain." Stiles insisted, "When he hurt himself to calm me down, I took his pain."

"The one possessing us can take pain too."

"Okay Mr Know-it-all." Stiles huffed. "Let's just focus on ending this." Stiles looked down at the trap on his leg and grimaced at the sight, his ankle was mangled and covered in blood. "First things first, I need to get this damn thing off my leg, it hurts like hell."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Derek Hale made his way through the halls of Beacon Hills High School, using his sense of smell to guide his way. He'd locked onto Kira's scent and followed it to her father's classroom. The girl was explaining to her father why she had chosen to spend the night with the Pack, all of it a total lie, but gave him the true version as to what happened to her phone. He waited patiently for her to finish so that he could speak to her before class started.

He listened as Kira's father scolded her for not contacting him and her mother, then his tone softened when he asked if she was okay, before letting her leave. The moment she stepped into the hallway, the kitsune spotted the Alpha. "Derek," She greeted, blinking in surprise. "Is everything alright?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you." Derek responded, pushing himself off the wall he had taken to leaning against. He stepped towards her slowly so as not to scare her. "Last night was a lot for anyone to take in, and I just wanted to make sure that you're coping well."

Kira nodded slowly, staring at the alpha with a calculating gaze. "I'm coping, I'm not sure I'm doing it well, but I am coping." She told him honestly. "You and the Pack are helping."

"Good."

"That's not all you wanted to ask me." Kira stated knowingly, a pleading look in her eyes as she silently begged the man to ask the question on his mind.

"There's something Stiles didn't tell us about last night, isn't there?" He asked and Kira nodded. "What is it?" Kira sighed in relief and told him everything.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't say anything last night." She rambled once she'd finished recounting the incident. "I just didn't want to call Stiles out in front of everyone, in case he got mad at me or something, but I knew I had to say something." Derek nodded at the girl, he had a scowl on his face, but somehow Kira knew it wasn't directed at her.

"You did the right thing." Derek assured her. "Please don't tell the others just yet." He requested, Kira looked confused, but agreed anyway, so he explained. "Look, the reason Stiles and the other's were talking about Bardo is because Stiles and I were going through it. I'm fine now, Stiles says he is, but there's something… Not right. He's not the same. I don't want to worry the Pack, so I want to try and figure it out before they notice anything." Derek explained, he had no idea why he was trusting a girl he'd just met with this information, but he did trust her. And his gut told him that Kira would never break that trust.

"Alright, I'll keep it to myself, but just so you know, I think Scott, Lydia and Allison have caught on. They had the same look as you had last night. I think they could help you. If not, I'm willing to do anything to help you and your Pack." Kira Informed him with such honesty and conviction that it made his wolf want to scent mark her, and claim her as a new beta in his pack. He stomped that urge down for the moment, as that was a pack discussion to be had later.

"Thank you Kira." He gave her a soft smile. "I'll let you know if you can help." The girl beamed at him with such joy, she could give Allison a run for her money. Then the bell rang. "You should get to class."

"Yeah." Kira nodded before starting to make her way towards the economics classroom. "I'll speak to you soon… Alpha." She added hesitantly, unsure if she had earned the right to call him that yet. Was it a case of earning that right? Or was it something she was supposed to do out of respect? Or was it something exclusive to Derek's pack? She wasn't sure, but Derek didn't seem to mind. Not that he let whatever he was feeling actually show on his face.

"Speak to you soon, Kira." Derek replied before turning to leave the school, deciding then that he would head home and call Deaton before he had to start his shift at work that afternoon. He and Stiles had a date planned for the next night and Derek intended to have all the answers by then.

A/N: Hey everyone, gosh I am so sorry for disappearing for three years, but things have been crazy! But I'm back now after doing a lot of soul searching and taking the time during lockdown to start writing again. I have more on the way, I promise. To those who are returning, thank you for giving me a second chance! And to new readers, thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope you're enjoying it, I promise there is a lot more to come. Also, I have gone back and edited every single chapter of this story over the past week. I fixed all of the typos I could find and added a few scenes here and there, however, the overall story remains the same, so you don't have to read it all again, as I know it's quite a lot xx

White collar black wolf: I am so glad, I hope, if you return after all these years, that you like this one too x

Clawson92647: I sincerely hope you survived, I would hate to have killed you by not uploading a new chapter! x

XxZessxX: It's so lovely to read that, thank you andI promise I will never disappear like that again! As you can probably tell, I do plan on having the nogitsune and Void Stiles, sorry, but it's very important to the story I have planned out. Although, it won't be exactly the same as in the show for obvious reasons. I'm not too keen on Rafael either, but I see potential in him and he has a part to play later on. Obviously Malia will not be paired with Stiles in this story, or Scott like in the final season (I was not a fan of that either) Yeah, it was difficult for him, Bardo really did a number on him, but he's out of the worst of it now. The strong pack dynamic is honestly my favourite thing to write and something I wish we had seen more of in the show. There's no such thing as talking too much in my opinion, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me! x

Belieber Twihard: Your wish is my command, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! x

Renn26: Here you go, and I'm almost finished with the next chapter, so it should be up next week. Oh believe me, I have no intention of killing Allison or Aiden! I have plans for season 6a, but I personally wasn't too keen on 6b and it would really fit with my story because at this rate half the town know already, so I'm probably going to take a different route there x

Truelovealwaysandforever: Thank you, I'm sorry for making you wait so long for the new chapter, but I hope that you have enjoyed it! Sorry about that, I've fixed it now. When it was revealed that his cannon name was John, I changed it on the ao3 version of this story, but kept it as John on here and forgot about that when I uploaded this chapter x

Dark Neko 4000: This^ I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter, more is coming soon x

Madhu1981: Thank you! Yes it was, sorry, it's back to John now. When it was revealed that his cannon name was John, I changed it on the ao3 version of this story, but kept it as John on here and forgot about that when I uploaded this chapter x

Bluestorm28: Thank you, I'm sorry that this took so long! When it was revealed that his cannon name was John, I changed it on the ao3 version of this story, but kept it as John on here and forgot about that when I uploaded this chapter, but I've fixed it now x

KafeiDetour: You're welcome, I haven't abandoned this story, I'm sorry it took so long to get this new chapter out, but I will never let it happen again! x

Sterek-thiam2000: Thank you, this story loves you too! Yes Stiles will be the nogitsune, I know the show said 'you can't be a fox and a wolf' but they later included chimeras so fuck that! Yes, the puppy pack will show up, but the circumstances will be different from the show for obvious reasons. Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter! x

DustyQOTF: Here it is! You'll find out that answer eventually, but Malia won't be engaging in a romantic relationship just yet as I always felt that the writers of the show should have waited until she'd adjusted to human life before pairing her with anybody x

Me myself an I: It's not over yet! Thank you so much! I hope that you like this chapter! x