Chapter One

"Unexpected"

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Scott McCall made his way out of the shower room to his locker, a towel wrapped around his hips. Adrenaline still burned in his chest over Jackson's words in the hallway. He dropped his phone on the bench and opened up his locker, glancing around at his team mates. The rest of the team was still celebrating their win. They were loud around him, and joyful shouts of, "State! State! State!" rang through the room.

Scott was glad for the win, and the weight on his shoulders had nothing to do with lacrosse.

"By the way, McCall," said Danny, and Scott came out of his thoughts to look at him. Danny's smile was friendly. "Apology accepted."

Scott returned the smile, but he looked bewildered. "I didn't apologize."

"Every time you got the ball tonight you passed it to me," said Danny smugly.

Scott chuckled under his breath and shrugged a little, rubbing a towel over his hair. "Every time I passed the ball to you, you scored."

Danny's smirk widened a little, and he heaved the strap of his backpack over his shoulder. "Apology accepted," he repeated firmly. He smiled as he passed Scott and left the locker room.

Scott's smile flickered after Danny was gone. He turned back to his locker and dried the rest of his body as the rest of the team filed out of the locker room, still shouting their victory chants. He took his time as he pulled on his briefs and his gray jeans. Everyone else had gone now, and there was no reason to hurry. His thoughts drifted as he buttoned his jeans and sat on the bench, reaching for his converse sneakers...

Allison was speaking to him again. That would be something to hold onto, in the coming days. Or weeks, or... years... as he imagined things might never stop being complicated, probably always in new and different ways... He needed to find Derek. There were questions that needed answers, and Derek seemed to have vanished over the past few days...

He pulled on his socks and started lacing his first shoe. Suddenly, there was a clang and the lights in the locker room went out.

Scott paused and looked up. "Danny?"

No response came. Frowning, he got up with one shoe on his foot and made his way around the row of lockers. He walked toward the locker room door, and flicked the light switch. Nothing happened.

His thoughtful frown deepened a little. His eyes flickered to the rows of lockers, up to the beams near the ceiling. He glanced down to the bench where his towel was draped, then looked around again. "Stiles. Is that you?"

Something moved in the dim, shifting light of the shower ventilation fans. A lacrosse ball had rolled out of the shower room. It came to a stop at the base of the first row of lockers, and Scott made his way slowly over to it. He moved into the brighter light of the shower room and reached down to pick it up. He held it in his hands, then looked up again hesitantly, his attention on the shower room now.

Uncertainly, he stepped into the shower room, alert and slightly on edge. After a few more steps, a dark form came into view near a dripping shower head. It startled Scott in the dark, but then he could see... it was Derek.

A flood of reactions took Scott at that moment. "Thank God, where the hell have you been?" he expelled, walking closer to Derek. He was almost angry, but mostly relieved. "Do you have any idea what's been going on?" He was close enough to see the other beta's eyes, and what he saw there made him pause. He stopped for a moment.

Derek didn't react to him. His pale eyes left Scott's face to fix on something behind him, over the other beta's shoulder.

Confused, Scott turned halfway, glancing behind him. He inhaled quickly and did a double take, his gaze fixing on none other than Peter Hale.

The alpha slowly emerged from behind a partition. He moved gracefully into the brighter light of the shifting shower fans. He held a lacrosse stick in his hands, and he turned it over, a bemused expression lighting his features as he appeared to study it. "I really don't get lacrosse," he commented casually. His voice carried an air of danger that Scott couldn't ignore. He realized Peter was blocking the door now.

Scott felt as though he was stuck in place, staring at the alpha. "It was you..." he whispered, and the accusation was in his eyes.

But Peter didn't seem to have heard him. "When I was in high school, we played basketball," he continued, giving Scott an occasional glance while he inspected the lacrosse stick. "There's a real sport."

Scott shifted position, turning to look at Derek. When he saw that Derek would only look at Peter, he turned to look back at Peter as well, who was still speaking.

"Still, I read somewhere that the game of lacrosse comes from Native American Tribes, and they would play it to resolve conflict. Do I have that right?" He hoisted the stick up to rest it on his shoulder with a careless shrug. "Hm. Well, I have a little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott." Peter lowered the lacrosse stick and leaned it against the wall. He turned the full intensity of his stare on Scott. "But I need your help to do it."

Scott met the alpha's eyes. His body was tense. A line appeared between his brows, a solid frown forming on his face. "I'm not helping you kill people," he said in a low voice.

But Peter seemed almost amused, though nothing in his gaze imparted friendliness. "Well I don't want to kill all of them," he said with a small smile, "Just the responsible ones. And that doesn't have to include..." he hesitated, like he was trying to remember a name, and looked past Scott to Derek.

"Allison," Derek quietly intoned.

Scott looked back at Derek. This time Derek did look at him, but Scott couldn't find anything in the other beta's eyes. There was no hint of acknowledgment.

The feeling of unease in Scott's stomach expanded uncomfortably. "You're... on his side?" He said uncomprehendingly.

Derek looked away from Scott and back to Peter without responding.

Scott felt anger beginning to burn in his chest once more. "Are you forgetting the part where he killed your sister?" His voice rose at the end, louder and more incredulous.

"It was a mistake," said Derek quietly, glancing back to Scott. His face seemed expressionless and almost blank. There was a darkness about him, unrelated to the dim light of the turning fans.

Scott felt as though his breath was compressing in his lungs. "What?"

"It happens," said Derek coolly, watching the younger beta.

"Scott," came Peter's calm voice.

Scott slowly turned his head to look at him as he tried to register the shock.

"I think you're getting the wrong impression of us," said Peter smoothly, rubbing his hands together lightly. "We really just want to help you reach your full potential."

"By killing my friends," said Scott coldly. His brows were furrowed in anger.

Peter fixed him with a mildly bemused, half-smiling stare. "Sometimes, the people closest to you..." he paused and took a step closer to Scott, who held his ground. "Can be the ones holding you back the most."

Scott exhaled sharply. "If they're holding me back from becoming a psychotic nut-job like you... I'm okay with that."

There was prolonged moment of silence while Scott and Peter watched each other. Then, with a soft inhale, Peter starting walking forward.

Scott straightened up and shuffled backward a few steps. He cast another look sideways at Derek, but Derek only glanced between the two of them, not moving, saying nothing. After a split second, Scott forced himself to stand his ground and face Peter. He knew both of them could hear the rapid pounding of his heart.

Peter stopped a few inches from Scott and raised his hand, calmly observing the growing claws at the tips of his fingers. Then he looked at Scott, and a chilling smile curled his lips. "Maybe you could try and see things... From my perspective."

Without warning, Peter's hand streaked past Scott's face, gripping the boy by the back of the neck. The sharp claws easily punctured through flesh and muscle to reach his spinal chord.

Scott's body went rigid, his back arching. His head rolled back as Peter's nails dug in deeper, his cries of pain choked by the tightness of his throat. Then suddenly Peter released him.

Scott's knees collapsed and he tilted toward the floor. Memories that were not his own flooded through his mind, and he fell hard, his muscles seizing. His body curled forward, then he writhed onto his back, arching off the floor. He threw himself onto his side, his back toward Peter. He covered the back of his neck with his hand, his eyes rolling, choking on strangled gasps.

Derek had started forward, a flicker of a surprise crossing his face at Peter's move. He strode toward his Uncle and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "You told me he wouldn't be hurt," he said loudly to Peter.

"He'll be fine," said Peter dismissively, prying Derek's fingers out of his shirt with ease. "I just gave him a few memories. When he sees it through my eyes... well," he smiled dryly, looking down at Scott's rigid, seizing body. "I bet he'll be more willing to stand with us."

"And if he's not?"

A low chuckle escaped Peter's lips. "If you really think he's determined enough..." he shook his head slowly. It seemed almost like all of this was just an amusing gamble for him. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."

Derek exhaled a quiet growl. "You told me..."

"I know, I know," supplied Peter smoothly, "He won't be hurt." The alpha pushed Derek aside. He bent over and heaved Scott off the floor, dropping him over his shoulder like a sack of flour, and turning back to Derek. "I don't know why it matters to you, Derek. He's not a Hale. He's not your beta. He's mine. He's the boy who was in the woods on the right night, at the right time. Nothing more."

Derek didn't answer. His eyes were dark as he glanced between Peter and what he could see of Scott. It was clear that Scott wasn't conscious. The younger boy was reliving some of the less pleasant Hale-family history, and Derek was familiar with the unpleasant sensation. Implanting memories was much more unpleasant than extracting them. The beta's eyes flicked coolly to Peter's face and he gave a short nod. "Alright. If you're taking him, I'm coming with you."

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