A/N: Eeep, I'm sorry for being gone so long, some really tough IRL issues came up and have been keeping me from writing. So many of you have been really understanding though and I truly appreciate it! I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things now that everything has calmed down a bit. So here's 13k words XD This chapter focused a little more on Peter & Malia, but we still see Kira of course (she trains with Derek for a bit too). The next chapter will be the lacrosse game and that will focus primarily on Kira's+Peter's POV as they watch out for Liam and stuff :) So more Kira/Peter stuff in the next chapter wooooo!

*Saturday, training*

"I take it you're ready then?" Kira laughed as Malia rushed out her front door and into the car. She hadn't even needed to honk the horn before Malia had the front door open.

"Yes! I wanted to train earlier this week but Peter said he was busy!" She couldn't believe that Peter was really busy... he never seemed all that busy before but now that she needed time with him, she had to wait! But she couldn't complain too much, he'd promised they could work together for a longer period of time today. "I did fine in school but I have so much work to do still, I need all the training I can squeeze in before something comes up!"

"Oh don't say that! Things have been crazy enough without some sort of… supernatural mayhem, the Nogitsune was more than enough!"

Malia scowled, "Just because stuff like that sucks doesn't mean that we should just… stick our heads in the sand and hope nothing bad happens- that's all the more reason to train hard! So when something does come up, we're prepared. Stiles says preparedness is key, that something is always going to happen because life is chaotic."

"I know, I know, Mom's been pounding that into my head too, ever since that close call with the Nogitsune. We lost Aiden, and Ethan went off to go escape from his loss. Allison almost died too… Lydia was kidnapped and anything could've happened to her if we hadn't gone to save her. Is it too much to ask for a bit of a reprieve? I've only been here a semester and that was more than enough chaos for me. Can you imagine what it would've been like with the Alpha Pack and the dark druid around?!"

"I was around… the forest was uncomfortable because of the Darach's presence. I had no idea at the time of course but, all the forest creatures could feel it." As for the Alpha Pack, well Malia agreed with Stiles- Scott had been too easy on them. She might not have known Derek's previous Betas but after everything she heard about how important Pack was to Wolves, why hadn't he let Derek kill Deucalion? Let alone why Peter let Scott get away with what he did… she was getting mixed signals on how all of this worked. All that mattered to her were Stiles and her dad…. Maybe Kira too if she had time. The rest… well she was working on it.

"I didn't even think about that, wow, not knowing what was going on during all that must've been super stressful for you, especially in your Coyote-controlled mind. We don't need something like that all over again…"

"Well I'm not stuck as a coyote anymore so, I'll be fine."

Kira couldn't help but laugh, of course Malia would be thinking about it that way. She really had faith in her abilities, especially rolling with whatever life threw her way. The Fox envied that sometimes, especially on those days when she felt stressed about what the future might bring.

By the time they pulled up to the old Hale house, Malia was calm again, focused. And she was composed enough to not just run out of the car the minute it came to a stop, this wasn't her first session and she wasn't a pup.

"Good to see you again-" Peter started to say before Malia interrupted him.

"You haven't changed your mind right?"

"...About what?"

"It's Saturday, so we can practice for more than just an hour right?"

The Wolf chuckled, "Yes, we have most of the day for training, although I'm sure you'll want to go to the game tonight?"

"That's like 10 hours from now. I just wanted to make sure that we'd really have time to work on control and my abilities."

Peter nodded, "I was thinking of starting off with the latter actually. If I can teach you how to hone your Were abilities, I think control will also be a little easier for you. Once you get a real grasp on how to fine tune your various senses, you'll have a deeper understanding of your body."

"Yea… I know what you mean, I kinda already have some experience with that. I noticed it the other day in class- I get this kinda… tingly feeling, in my eyes or my fingertips. I've only just recently started to notice it though, so yea, it's something I should probably work on. Before I didn't even think about stuff like that, I either had claws out or I didn't. And it was just about impossible for me to know when my eyes were glowing, Stiles would always have to tell me."

"That's good, you're aware of the feeling already. It's easy to pick up on, but it's also easy to just ignore because you're used to your body reacting a certain way. So today, we can focus on how to really use those abilities to help you in everyday things."

"Like how to listen for lying?"

"Yea, as well as how to pick up chemo-signals from others, how to separate those scents from all the others, and how to listen despite other loud noises going on."

"Are you sure we shouldn't still be working on control? We only really… had one day of that, and while I do feel more confident… I know one session isn't enough…"

"Well what I'm hoping this will do is help you bond with your Coyote again, build up some more of that old trust. It will also… reprogram the Coyote. She's still used to taking control for all those fight-or-flight reactions, for covering your ass when something makes you anxious or angry. The control is already there, believe it or not. It's just not setup correctly. We need to reassert your Human half as in control, teach your Coyote when it's okay for her to come out and assist you with things- that will pretty much stop all the uncontrolled shifting that's happening at school. Along with your Anchor of course, but these practices will help wean you off using your Anchor in everyday situations and only in extreme situations where you can't just shift and fight."

"So, what about the full moon? That seems like it falls under that last part, when I really can't control myself and I have no reason to even want to fight but I can't help it."

Peter nodded again, "Yea, controlling yourself on the full moon does fall under that last part, but I'm hoping if we build up your confidence again, working on your Anchor will be easier, and by the time the next full moon gets here, control won't be nearly as hard. That being said, no matter how much I prepare you for it, it is still going to be hard. You can recall how the last full moon made you feel, you can practice getting angry all you want and then calming down, but it just isn't the same when the moon finally peaks and is calling to the Coyote."

"So even after all this… I won't just have full control?"

"That will come in time. I'm just warning you, when the full moon happens, even if you feel ready, you will actively have to fight your baser instincts to regain control. But you can do it, just… don't feel bad when it takes a couple of minutes. And with each full moon under your belt, it gets a little easier."

Malia frowned, not liking the sound of that… It meant that she'd probably still need to be chained up, to protect Stiles and the others. Which of course would make them think she wasn't trying hard enough to gain control. But… Peter said it might only take a few minutes to snap out of it, and it made sense. The last full moon… it had been intense- she fully recalled everything that happened but she couldn't control any of her actions. It was weird, being coherent enough to talk with Stiles, but out of control to the point where she would've hurt him… And that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Don't worry about it too much, you'll feel more confident as we continue to train. By the time the full moon gets here, you'll have a better understanding of what I mean. Now, what did you want to work on first- wait, let's start with the lying thing, since we have Kira here."

"What, me?"

"You're the perfect one to help us, so it's good that you came to this session too."

"Just because I'm bad at lying…" Kira mumbled. It wasn't hard to grasp just what part she was going to be helping with here.

"No, it's because Derek and I have too much practice lying. Derek only fails in really stressful situations, but generally that's when he's facing Hunters anyways so, it's not like they can hear his heart."

"But I'll be able to tell she's lying just because of her face!"

"Hey!"

"You can't do that if your eyes are closed, right?"

"I… true. Okay."

"Okay, first, Kira, just calm down a bit, don't think about it, this isn't to make fun of you. But we need Malia to hear your steady heart first… and also… you being nervous, just so she can hear the difference…"

Kira took a deep breath, no reason to be so nervous about this! It was just Malia anyways. She just sucked at lying…. "Wait, can I learn how to do this stuff too?! Well… not the claw and fangs stuff, but the listening and whatnot."

"Yea, it can't hurt for you to get some pointers, although I'm sure your mom will give you some more in-depth lessons later, once she's sure you can handle yourself in a fight."

"Yea, I'm hoping that maybe… I can tell her I learned some pointers here today with Malia actually and maybe she'll start mixing up my lessons."

Peter laughed, "That's pretty smart. You learn something and you also have a way to drop hints with your mom. That will be good practice for Malia too, if you really focus on how you're feeling when you lie, it makes it easier to listen for it too."

"Cool. She can go first and stuff, I was just hoping to learn a little more too. Then when you move onto the claws and fangs, and the Anchor stuff, I can go back to my own thing."

"Alright, so, since it's just the 4 of us out here, this shouldn't be too hard, not like if we were in town where there's all kinds of ambient sounds. So, the hardest part is going to be zeroing in on Kira's heartbeat and not mine or Derek's, or your own. It gets easier with practice, and it's a lot easier with voices, since you can pick out what they sound like and just focus on that."

Both girls nodded, Kira figuring that she could at least attempt this part too before answering questions for Malia. She unfocused her eyes and concentrated on listening. It was easier than the other day, when she'd been listening for Liam. There weren't nearly as many noises for her to try and sort through, just some ambient animal noises and then heartbeats and breathing. That was weird, it almost pulled her out of focus as the breathing around her got louder; she almost shook her head to clear it. Instead she told herself to focus on the heartbeats, drowning out everyone's breathing. It was still odd, since her own heartbeat was louder than everyone else's and the other three were beating entirely out of sync with each other. This… this was really trippy…

Malia chose to close her eyes to help herself focus- her eyes would be closed anyways during the lying part. It wasn't hard to concentrate on only the heartbeats, she was pretty good at focusing her ears, but it was hard to pinpoint which beat belonged to whom. So she envisioned the three sounds around her, in relation to how close she heard them, gave each heartbeat a different color. One was way off to the side so it had to be Derek, his was blue. Peter and Kira were both close to her though so it took a moment to separate the sounds, figure out which one was slightly off to the side- that was Peter, he became green. So the one in front of her was Kira, which she envisioned as orange; after that, she dimmed the blue and the green hearts, focusing only on the orange, on Kira's. She nodded when Kira's heart was the only one that she could hear, everything else drowned out.

"Alright so this is Kira's average heartbeat. It is possible to become attuned to it, where you could pick it out of a crowd but that is extremely hard to do. For now, it's only important you hear it so you can notice the changes," Peter whispered, not wanting to break her concentration. He walked over to Kira and told her to think back to her first day at Beacon Hills.

She wrinkled her nose but recalled the memory of the ride to school with her dad, remembered how the butterflies were going crazy in her stomach. Making new friends was always so hard! She allowed herself to become immersed in those memories, her heart speeding up as she envisioned herself first stepping foot in the high school, looking around at all the unfamiliar faces.

Malia listened carefully, the orange pulse of light in her mind's eye flashing quicker than before, but still quite regularly. Subconsciously she sniffed the air as well, easily picking up on Kira's scent, a light, extra scent coming off her. That must be what nervous smells like, Malia thought to herself, since just catching the scent of it brought the familiar feeling to mind. She couldn't really describe what it smelled like… just how it made her feel.

"Alright, now, Kira, I want you to tell a lie."

"Uhh... about what?"

Peter thought for a moment, having her come up with a lie off the top of her head would probably make her heart work overtime and confuse Malia. Might as well lead her into it. "Feel free to answer these however you want, let's see if Malia can pick out the lies just based on your heart. How old are you?"

"16…"

"What color is your hair?"

"Brown."

"What color are your eyes?"

"B-blue." Might as well lie for that one after two truthful answers. Malia wasn't supposed to be focusing on the questions anyways, just the way her heart spiked.

"Lie," Malia called out, easily noticing the skip. Kira really was bad at lying, her heart did more than just a tiny skip.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Um, none that I know of… Mom's old though…" Kira wrinkled her nose again, short answers were probably better. The more she talked, the more she probably skewed the results… oops.

Peter smiled to himself, maybe that was something they should ask Noshiko, if Kira had older Kitsune siblings in the world. But that was for another time. "Can you speak Japanese?"

"Fluently…"

"Lie," Malia said again. That one had been harder to pick up compared to the first but still, there had been a skip.

"How tall are you?"

"Um… six… foot?" Did that count as a lie? She hadn't been expecting that kind of question, couldn't be sure if the blip of her heart had been the same because of her moment of confusion.

Malia opened her mouth and then paused, processing what she'd heard. Kira's heart had… for lack of a better word, fumbled… it wasn't the same as when she was nervous and it was different from the other lies, but Malia was willing to bet it still counted. "Lie."

"Have we had sex?"

"What? Y-no! None at all!" Kira flushed and actually reached out the smack Peter.

Peter laughed then, breaking Malia's concentration. "I'm sorry, couldn't help myself, I was wondering if you'd tell the truth on that one or make another lie. Malia, do you think you've got a basic handle on how to detect lies? I know it was only a short experience."

"Yea, I think so. It's something I'd have to work on, like I wasn't even registering the questions, I was so focused on her heart but… I picked up every time her heart spiked. I'll just need practice on listening to both a beating heart and a conversation at the same time…" It had been so obvious though, now that she knew what to listen for. The orange light in her head stuttered a few different times, presumably when Kira was making up lies. Just small spikes, not nearly the same as if she were feeling terror but, noticeable all the same. Peter never told her that she'd gotten any wrong so she assumed she'd done well. "I also managed to pick up on her nervous scent, before you started asking questions."

"Good! I saw you sniff the air but I didn't want to distract you. Scents can be harder since there are many complex human emotions and you have to sort through how your Wolf responds to each of them. Now, ready to reverse roles?"

"Yea, this time I can also concentrate on how it feels to make a lie, like you said. That would help me really understand what I'm listening for in the future." She shook her head and relaxed, focused on just calming her heart.

It took Kira a second to re-focus her hearing but it didn't take as long as before. It helped that Malia was close by- not like that time she had to find Peter in the woods! She even managed to ignore her own heart really well, it was just on the outskirts of her mind. "Ready."

Peter started off by telling Malia to imagine taking a math test, grinning as he heard her heartbeat skyrocket- perfect example of overall nervousness. He waited a few moments for Kira to familiarize herself with it and then started asking Malia questions as well.

"Do you miss being a coyote?"

"Yes."

"Do you have your driver's license?"

"Yes." She even emphasized it with a nod of her head. Outwardly she wasn't bad at lying but she had felt the twinge in her chest just before opening her mouth.

"Lie." Kira was amazed that Malia pulled that off so well. Why was a Werecoyote better at lying than she was?!

"Is math your favorite subject?"

"No!"

Kira smiled, Malia couldn't bring herself to lie about that one.

"Do you love being out in the woods?"

"Nu-huh."

Kira didn't need to have good ears to know that one was a lie, but, of course she knew Malia fairly well. Still, she heard the telltale blip and called it out.

"Is Lydia your best friend?"

"Yup!"

"Lie again."

"Last one, do you feel like you're getting better at control?"

Malia smiled, "Yea."

Kira smiled too, feeling a little more confident in her abilities as well. "Are we going to work on more… chemo-signal stuff or maybe go back to learning how to use her Anchor?" This was really interesting to learn about but she didn't want to take up Malia's precious training time by intruding on it. She had plenty of time alone with Peter, and even her mom to train with.

"We should probably do the scent stuff now, before my Coyote gets too tired and stressed out," Malia voiced. She remembered how she felt at the end of their last session, with Peter constantly putting her Coyote on edge, over and over… If they waited until afterwards, her Coyote probably wouldn't feel up to it.

"Good suggestion, we can do that now, if Kira feels like she can pull up some strong emotions?"

"Yea, I'm sure I can, I have plenty of memories."

"Okay, go ahead and get started, let's have Malia guess what you're feeling instead of telling her outright. It's important that she understands what she's picking up from someone and if we guide her too heavily, her Coyote might not learn how to make those connections on her own."

"Right." Kira would have to practice this with her mom in the future, or even just around the Pack during the day. It would be good practice at learning how her friends were feeling… hopefully they wouldn't take it as her prying or being nosy… Anyways, emotions, time to feel emotions. She took a deep breath and went with something easy- happiness! She recalled when Peter told her that he'd train her, like really train her and not just tell her about her powers.

It didn't take long for Malia to catch the scent and she smiled too, the feelings pouring from Kira were really strong. "Very, very happy, right?"

"Yea, that one was a really happy moment," Kira acknowledged. Next was embarrassment- a real easy one for her. In fact she recalled the first day of class, when her dad had just called her out on being his daughter and being totally friendless… That had been the worst! She watched as Malia wrinkled her nose, obviously not liking the feeling the chemo-signals were giving her.

"I don't… know this one, I can't… categorize it…"

"Oh, really? I didn't even think about that…" It made sense though, embarrassment wasn't really a big thing for wild animals, they cared more about survival. And Malia never had any qualms about saying what was on her mind. "But not even… when kids are making fun of you at school for not knowing math?"

"No… I don't feel… whatever this is… When I asked Stiles for a good word to describe those moments, he said that I probably felt self-conscious about not knowing the answer. He said it could come from either feeling… 'defective', or from having a lot of attention on me."

"I'm going to guess embarrassment? That's what it seemed like to me?" Peter guessed. When Kira nodded, he went on to explain, "This is a good example- to a lot of people, the two feelings generally go hand-in-hand. If you're feeling self-conscious in a situation like that, most people also feel embarrassed. But you don't. In the wild, being wrong can lead to death, so of course that feeling still makes you uneasy, even if it's over something trivial like math. But you have no use for embarrassment- humiliation or shame about yourself. Now you have a new feeling to categorize in your mind, even if you can't recall feeling that way in the past." Peter liked that Malia wasn't held back by things like embarrassment, she didn't have time for it, not really. High schoolers would eat her alive if she was embarrassed every time such attention was on her. It made sense that she hated having such attention of course, any wild animal would feel like a target in that situation. But overall, Peter liked that she didn't have too many horrible Human habits to overcome; it was easier to teach the Coyote to back off some than it was to teach the Human to accept the Animal.

"I can do self-conscious… just so you can see the difference I guess?"

Malia nodded, that would be helpful. The more feelings she experienced, the better! She breathed through her mouth for a moment, clearing out her nose of smells and giving Kira time to pull up a memory. But when she did finally smell the air, she noticed how close the two chemo-signals were, even though her Coyote hadn't recognized embarrassment. "Subtle difference, I get how they could be considered close though. Embarrassment might still be harder for me to recognize in the future, just because my Coyote doesn't really have a solid reaction to it. But now that I know what it's similar too, I'll have to remember that. I do recognize it though."

"Okay, I'll do another one… hmmm," the Kitsune took a minute to think about which emotion to focus on. Something basic, there was no need to confuse Malia just yet with the more complex emotions. Better stick with the ones she knew Malia had experience with- like anger! And all she had to do was think of Scott's accusations from the other day at lunch. Even though he had apologized, recalling his words made her so mad!

"I know that one! You're pissed- like when I fought with Liam."

"That's very good, I'm glad that you don't seem to be having a hard time with this at all. For some Weres it can be hard to really put into words what the chemo-signals are making you feel. I think all that time you spent in the woods really helped you."

"I'm better than Scott?!"

Peter shrugged, "No idea, Scott and I don't train together. I'm sure he knows what chemo-signals are, I think Derek explained it to him but I'm not certain how easy they were for him to grasp."

They all looked to Derek to see if he'd comment; he sighed when he realized they weren't just moving on. "I told him about it when Stiles went missing that one night, during the Nogitsune trouble. That had been easy though, I told him to just breathe in and tell me what he felt. Stiles had spent a lot of time up on the roof, I would've been disappointed if he hadn't gotten it. The chemosignals were really strong. Plus, he's always around Stiles, he would know Stiles's chemo-signals best. But we haven't really tested it since then… he might not practice much, and he has a different bond with his Wolf compared to me and Peter but, he's not stupid either. Just inexperienced."

"Stiles is a good person to practice scents with I think, he feels everything so strongly. I'm glad that Scott is capable, I'd feel even worse if our lives rested in his hands and he couldn't grasp something like strong scents. He probably didn't know the word for it but I'm certain his Wolf was helping him with detecting chemo-signals from the beginning, understanding and processing the signals coming off of everyone around him. It's much easier to understand when you have the word for it though."

"Yea, besides, didn't you say it was mostly harder to put it in words? Not necessarily understanding what the scents make you feel?" Kira asked.

"Exactly, the brain can have a hard time coming up with words for emotions but Scott… he's always been so pure of heart, he's never shied away from his emotions as far as I can tell. I can't imagine it would be difficult for him to recognize the emotions he's getting from a friend. Someone like Isaac would have a harder time since he's used to ignoring his emotions, blocking things out. He'd of course still feel something from the chemo-signals but he'd have a hard time explaining it to us."

Malia tilted her head, wondering why it was easy for her to put things into words… it had been a long time since she had even had Human thoughts, had used English. It was true that everything had come back to her fairly easy, enough that they allowed her into high school but, it was still surprising that her brain was good at categorizing her known emotions. "I probably have Stiles to thank for it… he's always trying to help me relate to being Human again, so he's always walking me through things like how I'm feeling or why I'm feeling a certain way. That's why I know what it means to feel self-conscious, because he told me. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be good at the 'putting it into words' part at all."

"That might be the case, Stiles does love to talk and he wants you to understand your situation. Either way, it's good for you. And if you ever have any questions about unknown scents I'm sure he'd be happy to help you figure them out as well."

"Yea," she agreed, smiling. Stiles might irritate her sometimes with his over-protectiveness but she really did appreciate him and all the things he was helping her with. And she appreciated that he wasn't afraid of her despite her past, despite knowing how easily she could hurt him. "I think I'm ready to work on my Anchor again… speaking of Stiles… he's the one I almost hurt in the loft… Control is more important right now."

Peter nodded, "If you want to put the other things on hold for now, we can spend the rest of the time working on your Anchor, I'm fine with that. You have the beginnings of understanding now, something for you to practice on your own as you learn more about how to be a Were."

Kira nodded and stepped away from them, walking over to Derek to sit on the hood of her car. "Guess that means it's time for me to go back to practicing my thing too."

"You don't sound too excited about that," he teased.

She raised her brow, surprised by his comment- Derek was always so serious! "It's just kinda boring trying the same thing over and over again… like I know that's the only way to learn how to do it but…"

"You could practice your other skills can't you?"

"Well I'd rather not just constantly hurt myself just to work on my healing… and I didn't bring my katana with me but I should practice my weapon summoning- that'd be a good one to strengthen."

"I guess it's orb training then"

"Hey, you could fight with me! I need to practice how to fight using my electricity right? I mean if we were to get attacked right now, I don't have any weapons with me. Peter said unarmed training is important too."

Derek groaned and made a face, "You do know that Wolves and electricity don't get along right?"

"Don't be such a grump Derek, you need to be training as well. If you only practice against me, you'll get stuck in a rut," Peter called out.

"I promise that I won't hurt you. I mean- I can tone down my shock output! I didn't mean… it sounded like I'm way better than you or something…" Kira hurried to clarify. That hadn't been what she'd meant to say at all!

He sighed, still not really wanting to do this but, his uncle had a point. It had been awhile since he'd done any real training. "Alright, I'll not use my claws either, those don't really look like old clothes." He might as well be fair when it came down to not hurting each other too seriously.

She looked down at herself, right… she should probably start wearing worn down clothes for this, just so her mom didn't get mad if she trashed them. "Thanks, I'd appreciate it. Claws would help with my healing but, learning how to fight first without getting hurt would be nice too." Kira squared up, letting her energy flow into her hands. She actually grinned as she realized how easy it was to pull up now- she didn't have to concentrate or psyche herself up for it like before. And if she was calm, it was much easier to keep the output low, which was important since she promised Derek she wouldn't hurt him. No need for her Release in tame situations like this- she really was getting stronger!

"And you're sure… you can do this?" Derek hedged, looking at her arms. He couldn't help but be reminded of Kate and her batons. He knew that she wasn't a Hunter, that she wasn't going to try and disable him or kill him… he just couldn't help himself, he was wary.

Kira slowly stepped forward and held out her hand, nodding for him to touch her. "It'll feel just like a static shock, enough so you know that I got you but that's it. I figure it would be the same with you 'scratching' me, I'll feel your Human nails but not really get all cut up."

Slowly Derek reached out and grabbed her wrist, jumping slightly as he felt the small shock; his body was just so tense… but he didn't let go, noticing that the shocks were small and sporadic, not constant despite the fact he was touching her.

"It'd be the same with these," Kira added on, producing a small orb in her other hand, letting it float over to him. It was strong enough to cause the hairs on his arm to stand as it floated by but then it came into contact with his skin, just a small zap before it dissipated. "I don't want to hurt my friends, even if it's supposed to be for training. I know electricity is one of the worst things for you, aside from Wolfsbane of course."

"I suppose it would be worse if you were a Kanima, you have conscious control of your abilities. Kanimas are always producing venom in their claws so any contact would cause paralysis. Alright, I'm game."

Kira nodded and stepped back again, preparing herself… she didn't really know how Derek fought so this was sure to test her abilities! The only warning she got was when he flashed his eyes at her right before charging- of course he was direct! She flipped backwards but he dodged her feet and closed the gap between them, lightly kicked at her stomach. Kira did her best to absorb the blow, reaching up to grab his ankle to 'shock' him as she flopped onto her back. He danced away from her, wanting to get away from her grasp and she jumped to her feet, shooting a small orb at him.

Derek dodged it easily, rushing forward to slash at the Fox but he paused when he noticed her smiling. He belatedly remembered how she could control the orbs, turning to see where it was but he was too slow. It flowed right into his chest as he stumbled backwards and then before he knew it Kira had jumped on his back, arms wrapped loosely around his throat.

"I think my shocks would really disable you at this point if it were a real fight, I call a win for me!"

The Were grumbled and dropped onto his back, laughing as Kira groaned, "My muscles are locked up and you're on my back, it's obvious that I'd fall this way. Gotta be prepared."

"I still win this round… wow you're heavy." Kira unwrapped her arms and pushed at his shoulders so he'd roll off her. Thank goodness there hadn't been any rocks or stumps behind them, she might really be hurting then. He had a point though, just because she had the advantage during a fight didn't mean she could let her guard down. And she knew that her smile had given her away… real fights were super tense but she couldn't help but be relaxed here. Hopefully one day she'd learn not to give her secrets away so easily.

"Okay, you win that round, I can't believe I forgot that you can still control the orbs after you send them out, they aren't like bullets… You won't catch me by surprise again."

"That's why this is good practice for you too then, you're learning how to fight a different opponent. But I can make quite a few orbs Derek, can you dodge them all forever?" Kira flung herself to the side all of a sudden, three orbs flying from her fingertips towards her 'attacker'.

Derek grumbled to himself as he ducked around the electric balls, remembering to keep an eye on his actual opponent as well. Luckily she seemed to be having fun just watching him jump around. He could tell that mock fighting was still new to her, it was dangerous to not take things seriously- that was something he'd always pounded into his Betas. Carefully he made his way closer to the Kitsune, while making it look like he was preoccupied. Then when he was a few feet away, he leapt at her suddenly, reaching for her throat. All he had to do was grab her throat before the orbs touched him and it would be a win.

Kira cried out in surprise, stumbling backwards but his hand still raked down the front of her shirt. If his claws had been out she'd be hurting pretty bad. And he didn't give her any time to collect herself, leaping forward again as his foot hit the ground. So she kicked at his wrist, figuring that she needed to go on the offensive while she still had strength; it was a little hard to really imagine how hindered she be from a wound that wasn't real though… Not that it mattered since Derek easily latched onto her ankle, his fingers digging into her skin- that would be a crushed ankle in a real fight. She dropped to the ground, knowing she was in trouble but then grinned as all three orbs finally caught up with Derek and disappeared in his body.

"Hard to say who'd win that one," he mused. This was… different. When he was training with his Betas they'd all been so easy to beat. All of their attacks had been so straight forward and transparent. Jackson as a Kanima had been a challenge of course but this was a mock-fight and Kira wasn't even taking it super seriously. This was definitely good practice for the both of them, she'd learn how to focus even for pretend fights and he'd learn more about how to fight enemies that could wield the elements.

"Yea, it would all have depended on how deep your claws went with that first swipe. I can heal pretty fast- even Peter was surprised how quickly I healed a broken wrist but, I definitely would've been affected by it for at least a few moments."

"And if your orbs were fully powered, I might not be dead right now but I'd be incapacitated for awhile, giving you time to heal."

"This is just a one-on-one fight too, I can see why practicing is the smart thing to do… I don't know how I lasted so long against the Kanima…"

"How did that fight go, Peter never really told me, just that you guys had won."

Kira sat up and started explaining it, not shying away from the fact that she'd been scratched only a few minutes into the fight, knowing that she had let herself get distracted. She knew that Derek would understand just how difficult it was to fight against a Kanima. They had all day to physically fight one another, taking a minute to discuss her previous battle would be good for her too. He was experienced, could give her pointers! While Derek helped her dissect the fight, Peter and Malia were on the other side of the yard, working on her Anchor.

He was growling low in her ear, pressing into her space, getting on her nerves basically. He wanted her mad, seeing how well she could focus on her Anchor, hold the anger at bay. Now that they had one session behind them and Malia understood things a little better, he wasn't afraid to start a fight with her. She knew that losing control was okay and that he wasn't going to attack her, even if she initiated a fight. "Can you stay in control Malia? Don't you want to hit me?" he goaded, moving around to face her. She'd already lasted longer than he thought but she had all week to really practice and get the hang of her Anchor.

She snarled and lunged at him, unable to take seeing the smirk on his face. He dodged of course, her teeth biting down on open air. The clack of her teeth helped to clear her head- just enough for her to remind herself that attacking was bad. She continued to growl but she did at least stop her hands from reaching towards him, stopped her feet from taking another step. Just ignore him, she told herself, physically shaking her head, snarling louder to try and drown out his words. She didn't even notice when Peter stopped talking, giving her enough space to calm down again, she was too busy concentrating. But when her growls finally quieted down, the only voices she heard were Kira and Derek.

"Ready to try again? You're getting better, you managed to rein yourself in mid-attack. Good job."

"It still isn't enough," Malia told him, straightening her back. "Anyone at school wouldn't have been able to dodge that, also no one at school is supposed to see my shifted form because that will bring more Hunters to Beacon Hills."

Peter chuckled, she was obviously ready to continue; she wasn't going to let him praise her half-assed attempts. Of course she knew that he was telling the truth, she'd never just stopped herself so suddenly before. It was important that even in the middle of an attack, she could overpower her Coyote for control again- that was something she hadn't really been able to do thus far. In their previous session, it always took some sort of outside action for her Human side to snap back, a command from Peter, Kira's aura, something. Peter could admire her drive though, just as long as she didn't beat herself up over it too much. So he stepped forward again, pushing her backwards with a light shove to the shoulder. Maybe some time soon they could start sparring, that would be fun.

-A few hours later-

Kira was panting, lying flat on her back… everything was sore, it wasn't fair. "I should've brought something to eat… I didn't know that I'd end up fighting with you though…" she managed to puff out between breaths.

"You can't be that out of shape…"

Kira opened her eyes and glared at him, "Not all of us spend 23 hours a day working out! We've been fighting nonstop for a few hours, I'm allowed to be tired!"

"What? I don't work out that much…" Sure he had a lot of muscle definition but that wasn't the only thing he did with his spare time.

"Please, Isaac's told us about how often he'd walk into the old station and find you doing push-ups or pull-ups… I have to sit in class for 7 hours a day."

"You train with your mom don't you?"

"Well… yea but that's with weapons. And we go slow, so Mom can actually talk to me about stuff- I'm actually learning not just going off reflexes. The boys have lacrosse every day, I just sit on the bleachers with Malia and watch them…"

Derek rolled his eyes, "Well then, looks like you need to devote some more time to fighting. Although, to be fair, you're a Kitsune, you don't really have to if you'd rather spend time on your Tails."

Kira groaned as she got to her feet, soreness already fading away, arms and legs not feeling quite so jelly-like now. "I like to mix it up, if I try to study the same thing for days on end I get bored… that was why we started sparring in the first place because I didn't want to work on my next Tail. Besides, this is something I can work on with the Pack and not just sitting off to the side, alone."

"It's good to try new things so you don't get stagnant, this was good for me too, I won't lie. C'mon there's a working faucet over on the other side of the house." Derek walked across the yard, watching the other two.

Kira hurried after him, pulling her shirt over her head, really she needed to bring a bag of old clothes for this! Her shirt was all sweaty and gross now and the slight breeze felt good on her skin! As soon as Derek turned the water on, she was ducked under it, soaking her face and hair, gasping at how cold it was.

Peter made the mistake of looking over at her, gasp reaching his ears. He stood there, eyes roaming her body as she straightened and shook out her hair, she was absolutely beautiful.

Beside him, Malia tilted her head in confusion, why wasn't he yelling at her, prodding her? She had said she was ready for another round. It had been a few hours already but she was feeling really good about all this and didn't want to stop just yet. That was when she saw that he wasn't even looking at her! She didn't have time for him to be slacking off, this was her time dammit. Malia leaned back and kicked her leg out, ready to bring him back to the present. She wasn't expecting his hand to whip out and catch her ankle and she huffed, tugging on her leg.

"You project your movements too much Malia. I clearly saw what you were going to do out of the corner of my eye. Just because I'm not looking at you doesn't mean I'm an open target," Peter warned her, still looking over at Kira. And of course because they were nearby, Kira picked up on their conversation and looked over at them, waving. He grinned as she realized that she was only half dressed and spun around in a hurry, hands coming up to cover herself with her shirt. Then he grinned wider as she realized that he'd see her body before and she knew she shouldn't feel shy about it and she half turned back, acting like it was fine. He understood though, it was drilled into everyone that being half naked out in public was embarrassing, shocking, and her brain wasn't really sure which reaction was appropriate.

Kira was chewing on her lip as she shyly looked over at Peter, skin feeling warm as he looked at her. This was different from his apartment, Malia and Derek were here… Even if Derek didn't even seem to notice, Malia was getting quite upset over Peter's shift in attention. The Kitsune's eyes widened as she watched Malia kick up with her free foot, using Peter's hand as a foothold for the ankle he was still holding. She leaned back, one hand bracing herself on the ground behind her as her other foot went flying towards his face. There was no way that she'd actually kick him, Peter's hand was already reaching out to grab her, he was twisting away from the kick. Kira stared at his body as it moved so fluidly, his arm knocking her foot away, his other hand twisting the ankle in his grip, throwing it up and over her body, and then his foot kicking Malia's arm out from under her. Malia was flat on her back in an instant, air whooshing out of her lungs from the impact. She wanted to be that good one day, and if she could look even half as amazing as him, that would be more than enough.

"That was rude Malia."

"We're here to train, not for you to ogle Kira."

Peter rolled his eyes, "We've been training, for hours! I was looking away for just a few seconds, it's fine. Where'd you learn to move like that anyways?" He'd been surprised at her adaptability, when she couldn't pull her ankle free, she decided to change tactics and just charged forward with another attack. It was brilliant, something that he would do- had done before with Derek when they were younger. He hated when someone wasn't paying attention to him when they were clearly supposed to be. And fighting was all about overcoming your opponent no matter how big the disadvantage was, were traits like that inherited? He liked to think so, since meant he had a good chance of really bonding with his daughter in the future.

"I just… moved. I realized that with my leg out like that, I couldn't effectively reach you with my claws so that meant reaching out with my other leg. I needed support since both of my legs were off the ground so I just bent back and used my hand."

"That was good, really good. That ability to adapt will save you in the future. Let's go back to control though shall we?"

Malia clambered to her feet, a scowl on her face, "Sure, now you want to go back to working on my Anchor. Took you long enough."

"There is no need to be so surly Malia, if you're going to act like a petulant child then we can end the lesson now instead."

"No I just… I want to make progress and I know we'll have to stop soon anyways because of the game. I don't want them to blame you and kick you out of the Pack if they think I'm not learning fast enough."

Peter nodded at her, "I appreciate the concern but Scott isn't that kind of tyrant. As long as he's convinced you're learning he'll be happy. He's more worried that I'm teaching you bad habits, that I'll try to poison you against him so I can take over the Pack in the future. That's what he's keeping an eye out for, that's what would make him kick me out of the Pack."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Scott is a good person, and he knows that you have issues with control right now. His main concern is that you're learning and begrudgingly he gave me a chance to try and teach you because he was obviously failing at it. Stiles of course doesn't trust me either but he wants the same thing, he wants you to feel secure in your abilities, even if he isn't the one helping you. So there is no need to rush through this."

Malia nodded, dusting herself off. He was right, she'd been out of line, Stiles was always telling her that she couldn't always say everything that popped into her head (he promised her that it was hard for him as well). But verbal apologies weren't really her thing, admitting that she was wrong didn't sit well with her sometimes… As she looked at the ground, she closed her eyes, concentrating, wanting to feel the Pack bond between them. She had no idea how to do it but she had to try; her Coyote reached out towards the Wolf presence coming from Peter, asking for forgiveness- it was important! She smiled as she realized what she was feeling, that she wanted to belong, be a part of the Pack for real. She needed Peter to know that she recognized she'd acted rashly and that she appreciated the time he was taking to be here. And then she felt his presence in her head again, calm and soothing, just like that first time.

"We've got time for one more," Peter told her. He was amazed at how fast she grasped her Were abilities; he hadn't taught her anything about how to communicate via their bonds, knowing that control was the most important thing. But here she was, initiating contact, actually figuring it out on her own. She was trying! He felt a sharp pang of sadness as he realized he'd missed this, missed training with Cora as a little girl, with Derek even when he was in the worst mood… And because of Talia, he never even knew he had a daughter, someone that he could've bonded with. But Talia's actions had probably saved her life, she wasn't in the house fire, wasn't known as a Hale at all, she was spared from Kate's wrath. He cleared his head as Malia nodded at him, ready; the past was in the past, nothing he could do about it now.

The Coyote was breathing through her nose, doing her best to ignore Kira and Derek… she could feel them watching her. That first day she was able to tune them out because they'd been on the other side of the yard, like earlier; now they were standing just a few yards away and they were silent. It was like they didn't want to distract her but they didn't realize that she picked up on their silence even more since that meant there was nothing for her to even try to block out. Of course they'd be watching her now that they were done, they'd want to judge her progress. Malia tried to stay calm, they were friends, not random people… it was hard though. On top of that, Peter was of course doing his part to rile her up, which was the part she was supposed to be focusing on- this wasn't how she wanted her last attempt for the day to be! Everything started to overwhelm her and she could tell that her eyes were starting to glow blue. She growled loudly, lip twitching as she fought back a fully fledged snarl; the audience, the angry words… her heart was pounding and her Coyote was trying to surface. Malia just kept trying to focus- she hadn't attacked yet, hadn't fully lost control. So Malia squeezed her eyes shut and tried to drown out his words, everyone's presence… calling up images of the forest. Her determination was so strong this time that she truly felt as though she were back in her den, back on four legs. She let the familiar surroundings soothe her, let the natural sounds fill her ears. Malia's body relaxed completely as she envisioned herself running her usual trails, not a care in the world. As she surrounded herself with the familiar territory, she subconsciously sucked in a deep breath, wanting to smell the dirt and the trees. Instead she got the strong scent of a Wolf, her eyes flying open as she scurried backwards, claws slashing out as she glanced around.

"That's a different reaction," Peter said, barely managing to dodge the unexpected attack. She had actually calmed down, wasn't growling anymore, then out of nowhere she had her claws out. Even Kira and Derek had taken a few steps forward, concerned.

"I, um… it's nothing."

Peter stared at her, "We're supposed to trust each other and I can't help teach you if you don't communicate with me. Remember, what happens here, stays here. Now why did you suddenly jump backwards?"

"I startled myself. I was able to drown out your words as I focused on my Anchor, I'm good at turning my ears down- I have to be now that I live in town with all the noise! And I'm always remembering the woods, always, I guess that's why it's a good Anchor for me, it's easy, natural."

"It worked, you stopped growling completely for a moment, even though you'd been on the verge of lashing out at me. That's good. What happened?"

Malia sighed and slowly walked closer to him again. "It's like I was back in the woods, I really felt like I was a coyote again. I took a deep breath, just wanting to feel that freedom. And instead I smelled a threat- you. The overwhelming scent of Wolf, because you were so close. So I reacted, distancing myself from the scent while trying to orient myself at the same time. I completely forgot that I was here, with others, as a Human…"

"That's not a bad thing. That means that we did indeed find a great Anchor for you. We just need to work on calibrating it. For now, I'd rather your Anchor works too well than not well enough. And a strong immersion like that will be great for the full moon. In the future you probably won't need to concentrate so hard and then you won't be caught off-guard by your real world surroundings."

"Yea, if something like that had happened at school, I could've hurt someone. At the very least my secret would be out and we'd have to deal with that…" Malia clenched her fists, pressuring herself to do better.

"I think once you reach the point where you can keep your Anchor on the forefront of your mind but also keeping your eyes open, that will help your brain realize you aren't actually in the woods."

She rolled her eyes, "That's basically what I was trying to do all today. If my eyes are open I just can't concentrate!"

"I think Peter meant that it should be your goal, not something you need to be doing right now," Kira called out. It wasn't difficult to see how hard she was pushing herself and Kira wanted her friend to know that it wasn't necessary. "By all means, try to keep calm with your eyes open but if you feel yourself starting to shift, close your eyes and just drown everything out like you just did. Eventually you'll be able to do it with your eyes open."

"What's frustrating is that I did it already! In History, when I got called on and I had to look through the book… I was able to mostly focus on my Anchor but a part of my brain was scanning through the book looking for the words Gettysburg Address… But I was only anxious then, since I knew people were all looking at me. With my lessons here, I'm usually fighting past my anger and I can't concentrate! Scott always makes it sound so easy!"

Peter stepped up and flicked her on the forehead, "Stop being so hard on yourself! We've already established that your experience is nothing like Scott's. So stop trying to compare your progress to what you've heard about his experience. Since we've started working together, have you shifted at school?"

"No, I've come really close but… no."

"Now compare how stressed you get at school with how stressed I make you during our lessons."

Malia nodded her head, "There's a big difference."

"So it makes complete sense that you have a higher fail rate out here than at school. Remember, my goal is to make you lose control out here. The goal is to have you out of control and then the Human half of you gains back control over the Coyote. That process is so much harder but so much more important. At school you are the Human half maintaining control so the Coyote half doesn't come out at all, that's the difference. All of this is to reassert the Human half as in control now, remember?"

"Right, we're reconditioning me." Malia closed her eyes again and remembered everything they talked about during her first lesson. She hasn't fully lost control to her Coyote yet, every time she'd shifted at school, she was still aware of her actions. She just couldn't un-shift right away which was a problem. This wasn't like what Scott felt at all, it was different which meant she had to do things differently than Scott. Just then she remembered how she'd taken a moment to soothe the Coyote last time. "I think…"

Peter tilted his head, waiting for her to find the right words.

"What we're doing now is helping- a lot! You've taught me a lot about how to utilize an Anchor, even helped me figure out one that would work. School's a lot easier now. But I remember something I did that first day, I can't believe I forgot, never tried it again. Can we try something else before we call it a day?"

"Yea of course."

"Help me figure out how to talk to my Coyote. I did it before but I was just kinda improvising."

"Well you improvised using the Pack bond too and that worked- amazingly well I might add. It took me by surprise. I think that's a good idea though, maybe even Kira can help, she has practice in communicating with her Fox Spirit."

Kira nodded and scooted closed to the pair of them, shirt back on. "Yea, I can't imagine that it would be much different for me than for you guys."

"Yea, I think if I learn how to just communicate with her better, it will help with this reconditioning thing. That way I'm not being like Scott, just exerting control over her, I'm working with her, like you and Derek."

Peer smiled, "I'm glad you remembered the difference. You're a Hale, at least by blood, and that counts as for a lot. The least I can do is help you have a symbiotic relationship with your Coyote like a real Hale. What exactly did you do before? I'd rather build on your previous attempt than try to confuse you by teaching you another way."

"Well, I closed my eyes and I focused on her, I can feel her inside of me. Like there is a distinct part of me that feels different. So I concentrated on that part of me and just reminded myself that I didn't need to feel threatened, to trust me, and to just stay calm."

"Good, like talking to a friend, that's the best way to do it. That's how I have Kira thinking of hers too. Now the trouble will be opening up that connection when she isn't 'awake' and on the edge of your awareness. It is possible that when you try to talk to her, she'll 'wake up' and try to assume control, like you're bringing her to the forefront for a reason. So keep that in mind. When I was first learning how to really communicate with my inner self, I'd look in the mirror and flash my eyes. That was something that I could do with very little effort and it would help me visualize my Wolf side."

"A lot of it kinda feels like you're just talking to yourself but at the same time, inside your mind you know that you're focusing on something specific so you… aren't just talking to yourself…" Kira added on. "That sounded better in my head…"

Malia shook her head, "No, I get what you mean, it is a lot like when I'm just thinking in my own head about stuff. But it is different somehow. So I can just, find a way to focus on my Coyote half so that way she knows that I'm trying to communicate with her and then just… tell her what I'm feeling?"

"Yea, pretty much. The more you do that, the easier it will be for the two halves to understand each other. Not every situation is dangerous, not every situation needs claws and fangs to deal with. But on the flip side, you can also use this method to listen as well. The Coyote can share feelings with you, they won't be verbal though, it's all instinctual but you'll still be able to understand. As long as she feels like you accept her, the two of you can work in tandem."

"I'll be able to use things like my listening and my sense of smell more naturally? Like instead of focusing on it?"

"Correct. For example, she starts to understand your connection with Stiles a bit better, understands the Human feelings that are connected with him. Then she'll be 'aware' when you're around him, checking his scent, his heartbeat, all that. You won't have to be consciously aware of it but if something is ever wrong with Stiles, she'll alert you to it."

"I still need to work on that part," Kira admitted. "I'm good at communicating with the Fox Spirit in specific circumstances but not just on day-to-day things… I feel like we are still pretty separate now that I really think about it. I know, technically we are separate," she said, seeing the look on Peter's face, "But I should still be able to do some of the stuff you're talking about right? Where she can subconsciously be helping me, keeping an eye on my surroundings and stuff."

"Yea, you can learn to do stuff like that as well, fair point. It would actually be easier for you, since you are separate entities, she can do those things without your conscious awareness. For us, technically we are aware of it but over time we can dull our awareness of it, learn to only notice meaningful differences in our daily routines. Maybe that's something the two of you can work on together, just in case Malia has some control issues at first. Scott would be pissed if I let her go off on her own and then something happened."

"Yea, better to be safe," Kira agreed.

Malia shrugged, if that's what they wanted to do. She figured that Scott would've eased up by now but apparently old grudges were hard to move past for 'regular' people. It wasn't affecting her practice so she wouldn't make a big deal about it. "So, any pointers?"

Peter motioned for both girls to sit as he started talking, "The key thing to do is to always remember that the Coyote, or Fox Spirit, has instincts and feelings that might differ from your own. They are a part of you but at the same time, it helps to think of them as a slightly separate entity from yourself. It helps to keep things simple, don't try to 'explain' complex things to them- they think pretty primitively. "

"So don't think in words?" Malia asked.

"Yea. That sounds hard but you've already done it a few times and it'll get easier. As will the listening part; if you start to understand them better, you'll know which feelings mean what." Peter knelt down in front of them, "Usually I have something specific in mind when I need to have a sit-down with my Wolf so I just open a line of communication and go from there."

Kira closed her eyes as he continued to explain things to Malia; since she had a little more practice than her friend, she figured she didn't have to listen to every word. Instead she decided to start practicing; for Kira she chose to visualize her aura. The aura was a representation of her Fox Spirit, to Kira her orange eyes were more of a reminder that she wasn't totally Human. It would probably work for Malia of course, but she was different, a Werecoyote. It didn't take long for Kira to feel the other presence inside her wake up, the aura in her mind shimmering brightly. She focused on thoughts of her latest Tail, the small orbs that needed to be hornets. Her frustration came to the surface as she thought of them, then confusion. She was asking her Fox Spirit why she was having such a hard time- her first three Tails were so easy! It was hard for her to believe that she was getting stuck all of a sudden, especially since Peter said that she could earn Tails as fast as she could learn them. So why was this Tail giving her so much trouble?

In her mind's eye she noticed the Fox Spirit shake her head, felt a calming vibe fill her mind. Not every Tail was so easily mastered, even if they seemed 'simple'. The aura shimmered and grew, arcs of lightning shooting off here and there… Kira was having trouble controlling her voltage, electricity was tricky. Kira frowned at that, she was great at not shocking others! She sparred with Derek for quite a few hours today without hurting him, and when she was with Peter, he promised that she wasn't hurting him… But she also remembered what Peter had told her, that it was much easier to lower the power to a large orb than to pack a lot of power into a very small orb. The Fox Spirit sent out more calming vibes, it was nothing to worry about; learning took time, it was nothing to be ashamed of. Even the Fox Spirit could admit that she was pretty powerful and that might be giving Kira a hard time. For her previous Tails, it had helped- learning how to heal came easily once she learned how to unlock that power, learning how to summon her sword to her, also easy. Even producing FoxFire was easy when it flowed from her body so readily. But trying to transform her electricity into hornets required a lot of finesse that she didn't quite have yet.

'Okay, so what should I be working on then…?' Kira mentally asked. She thought of the list that Peter had given her… she'd learned 3 of her fundamental Tails, the animal summoning was the 4th on the list, which apparently the Fox Spirit was telling her to skip for now. There was illusions and dream manipulation as well but neither of those seemed to be easy. If anything they would require focus which… with everything going on with Liam and Malia, Kira wasn't sure if she could dedicate time to. Plus she wanted to put in practice time with the Pack too, so they'd all grow stronger. Kira was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the Fox Spirit trying to get her attention right away, not until the aura started to glow brightly- right, she was supposed to be listening too!

Once more she watched as the lightning built up around the aura, then the aura sucked all that energy inside. Kira tilted her head, what exactly was she being shown? Kira had a fairly good grasp on that sort of control… but before she could question anything further, a sudden energy blast exploded outward, so strong that Kira physically jumped, her eyes flying opening as she was thrown out of her own thoughts.

Peter stopped midsentence and gently touched Kira's knee, "Are you okay? What just happened?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," she mumbled, heart racing. That had been intense, unlike anything she'd seen before! It only took her a moment to understand what it was that her Fox Spirit had shown her, the shockwave Tail. Kira smiled to herself, she hadn't thought she'd be ready for an Elemental Tail for awhile but if her Fox Spirit thought so, she'd be willing to try it!

"Kira?" Peter pressed, it wasn't like her to not give him a straight answer. She seemed okay but he knew that she'd been talking with her spiritual companion and it was odd to see her jump back to focus so suddenly.

She blinked, "Sorry, it's nothing bad, I promise. I… asked a question and got an answer, I was just surprised. I'll tell you more about it later, Malia's still trying to focus."

"No… it isn't working… I can already tell," Malia huffed. "Not the directions, I know that will help me talk with the Coyote but right now she isn't… 'listening' or something. I think it'll only work when she's more awake and I'll have a specific thing to talk with her about. Right now it's just… quiet."

"Are you sure you want to call it quits? It's possible that after all the training we've done, I'm sure the Coyote is resting now. You clearly aren't in danger any more, aren't getting riled up, I guess it really isn't too surprising that you're having a harder time."

Malia nodded, "I don't want to push it. I want to see Stiles before he heads off to school for the game anyways so I should head back."

Peter agreed, glad that Malia wasn't going to try and push herself too hard. Plus she'd probably want some time to herself to go over everything in case Stiles asked her questions. "Alright, I'll see you at the game then." He waited until she walked over to the faucet to get some water and then turned to Kira, "So, what exactly happened?"

"I was feeling frustrated about the Tail I'm working on. The other three came really easy so I didn't understand why this one was so hard. I got the first part down okay, the instructions part… as long as I keep it all simple. Turns out, I just don't have enough… fine-tuned control just yet, not for all the power I have. The Fox Spirit suggested I learn something else instead."

"And what would that be?"

Kira smiled, "The thunder shockwave."

"That's actually fitting. You have a lot of power built up inside you, that kind of Tail should be easy for you to tap into. I'm glad she was able to point that out to you; there's no point in struggling when you can be focusing your efforts elsewhere." Peter pulled her into a hugged, nosing her damp hair. He'd spent a lot of time with Malia today and hadn't really had a chance to watch her kick Derek's ass. Dating a high schooler was harder than he thought it would be, especially now that he was also trying to teach his estranged daughter more about her abilities. Peter sighed to himself, and there was still Liam to worry about!

"You okay?" Kira asked quietly.

"It's been so long since I've really been a part of the Pack, I'm so used to just being on my own… that I forgot how much time it can take up… I don't want things to go back to the way they were but, I also wish I had more time to spend with you."

"Well, since I'm also in school for 8 hours a day and I have homework… that kinda eats into our available time together."

Peter sighed again, "Exactly. And I was just thinking about Liam… Plus, there's still the one other Packmate that I need to fix things with."

Kira knew he was talking about Lydia. He had apologized but they both knew it wasn't really enough; she had a lot of healing left to do. But Peter was trying now and he didn't want to mess up again, so that meant he wanted to do something else for her. "I know she doesn't want to really be around you right now, it's still too early but… you aren't the only one that can teach her about being a Banshee, right?" She was taken by surprise when he suddenly kissed her.

"You may be onto something there. I was too focused on what I could do, but there might be a way I can help without really being involved. Thank you my love." He kissed her again, feeling much better than he had just moments ago.

Kira smiled to herself, even as Malia started pulling her back to the car. She wished she could stay but she'd be seeing Peter again at the game, and maybe even tomorrow too! Right now Malia was too eager to get home and wasn't in the mood to be ignored.

As the girls left, Peter walked over to Derek, wanting to get his thoughts on everything. "So, how do you think Malia is doing?"

"Very well, all things considered. She loses control a lot here but you know how to push her buttons. Lydia told me that she hasn't had to warn her about her shifting during class lately. That's a major improvement over the last few days. And now that she's figuring out how to communicate with her inner Coyote I think things will click for her," he answered.

Peter looked down at his nails, hiding his grin from view; it seemed like his nephew talked to Lydia quite often. Maybe his new plan would be even easier to implement than he thought. But he wasn't ready to bring that up just yet so he stayed focused on the afternoon session. Besides, he wanted to hear more about how his Mate was doing, "Kira getting better too isn't she?"

"She doesn't know how to take sparring seriously yet but yea, she's come a long way too. Three Tails already with great control of her FoxFire. Considering that when she first came to Beacon Hills, she didn't even know what she was? That's huge progress. I know part of it has to do with the fact that she's a Kitsune and that certain types of fighting come naturally to her but, still, she's learning quickly. I don't want to know just what a Kitsune like Noshiko is capable of…" The Nogitsune had been powerful but he had a feeling that even he had been weakened after all that time trapped as a fly beneath the Nemeton. Noshiko hadn't been weakened at all until she started sacrificing her Tails, she must've been a force to reckon with.

Peter couldn't help but chuckle at his nephew, "Kira might not take sparring seriously but she still kicked your ass didn't she? I may have been working with Malia but I was listening to the fighting. How's it feel, that an inexperienced Kitsune could still kick your ass? Told you- you're getting rusty."

Derek snarled and flashed his eyes, "She just has abilities I'm not used to fighting!"

"Someone's touchy. Don't worry, I won't tell Lydia about the hit to your ego." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Peter took off running. Derek always hated to be teased, it was the one thing that could always push him over the edge. Now that Peter was becoming a more integrated part of the Pack, he was starting to feel more relaxed, especially around Derek. Things weren't back to the way they were but they were a lot closer than a few months ago. Perhaps hanging out with someone as cheerful as Kira was helping change his disposition as well, just a bit. Peter smiled to himself as he ran through the woods, Derek right behind him. After this, he'd bring up his plan, once he wore Derek down a little bit.