"You won't believe what I just heard on this thing." Stiles rambled, waving his police scanner in the air as he barged into Derek's flat. He opened his mouth to say more but stopped short when he realized that the entire pack was already gathered around Derek's living room.

"Maybe you will believe it." He said, trying to not let his annoyance at being left out of the pack meeting show. "Are you guys here about the murder?"

Scott was the first to acknowledge Stiles. He could smell the sadness radiating off of his best friend.

"Hey buddy! We were actually just about to call you. This was just a really impromptu meeting bec-" he paused, "Did you say murder?"

Stiles glanced around the room to see Lydia smiling a bit too brightly at him and Derek pretending to tidy up the coffee table while ignoring Stiles completely.

"Umm yeah," Stiles cleared his throat awkwardly and focused his attention back on Scott. "I was listening to the police scanner and apparently they found another teenager's body out in the woods. She was only a freshman. Scott I'm really beginning to think something more is going on here than just a serial killer with an affinity for offing high schoolers."

This seemed to finally get everyone's attention.

"Was this one killed just like the other ones?" Lydia spoke up from her position next to Malia.

"Yep. Her throat was ripped out and she was strung up on a tree, just like the others." Stiles shuddered as he remembered the photos his dad left laying out on their kitchen table.

"I've never heard of a supernatural creature hanging up their kills for display before." Derek said, looking at Stiles for the first time since he walked in. "That level of sadistic pleasure is generally reserved for when you lot decide to go after each other." He gestured at Stiles.

"And the throats being ripped out?" Lydia asked, suddenly defensive. "You think a human did that too?"

Derek shrugged. "I've seen humans do things even more shocking."

"Well I don't believe it." Kira had only been listening up to that point but she could only stay silent for so long. "I'm with Lydia and Stiles on this one. Humans are capable of a lot of terrible things, but ripping out the throats of 3 teenagers and hanging them on trees? That definitely seems like more of a supernatural type horror to me. Scott, what do you think?"

Scott sighed. He was still getting used to people looking to him for guidance and he honestly wasn't too sure that he was the right person to be making these calls.

"I honestly don't know," he finally admitted, "but I think we should look into it regardless. Stiles, do you think you think you could talk to your dad and maybe get some more information?"

"Yeah and do it as soon as possible. Like maybe right now." Malia gestured to the door while the rest of the pack shot her angry looks.

"Does this have anything to do with the meeting that I obviously wasn't invited to?" Stiles questioned, aiming his big brown eyes towards Scott, whom he knew wouldn't be able to lie to him easily.

"Now he's getting it." Malia rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Malia." Scott growled at her before turning his gaze softly to Stiles. "We weren't trying to keep anything from you Stiles. I promise. It's just that we were discussing what to do about the nogitsune's fly. It's trapped and safe but we were thinking that there might be a better solution that would guarantee it never returns."

"And you didn't think that I deserve to have a say in things concerning the nogitsune?" Stiles was shocked and angry that his friends felt like they could discuss this kind of thing without him. Had they already forgotten what it made him do? How it made him feel? It was obvious that was not the case, as Allison's absence was still glaringly obvious to the pack, but he couldn't help but feel betrayed nonetheless.

"We were trying to protect you." Lydia quickly stepped in to help Scott. "We didn't want you to have to think about this thing anymore. He's done enough harm to you both physically and mentally. We didn't want to interrupt your healing process and risk you having a slip up."

"Plus, you've been acting really depressed and weird lately so I'm not sure how well the healing's even been going so far." Malia pointed out, earning her another dirty look from the pack.

"You know what guys, it's fine. I'll just leave so you can continue talking about how screwed up Stiles has become. I won't bring down the mood anymore." Stiles turned on his heels and slammed the door on his way out.

Scott sat down and rubbed his hands through his hair. "That could have gone better." He looked up to see everyone watching him, eyes filled with concern. "We should probably all get going too. I'll give Stiles an hour or so to cool off and then I'll talk to him. He'll be fine by the time school starts on Monday. In the meantime, I want everyone looking into the murders. Derek, maybe you could patrol the woods a little bit."

Derek nodded and the pack began filing out of the apartment.

Stiles stormed out of Derek's flat, still fuming from the conversation with his "best friends". He climbed into his Jeep and turned the key.

"You really are my only true friend, aren't you?" He gently patted the steering wheel and pulled away.

By the time he arrived home, Stiles was no longer angry at his friends. He had begun to understand where they were coming from. He knew that he had been acting out recently, but he couldn't help it. He turned off the ignition and walked inside, kicking his shoes off in the process. He had just resolved to calling Scott to try and explain his feelings when a hand reached around his head and covered his nose and mouth with a cloth. The last thing Stiles saw was his phone smash against the ground before the world went black around him.