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Greetings! So I've been toying around with the idea of an alpha female and wanted to take a stab at creating this character. I want to focus a lot on werewolf "culture" so to speak. I like the idea of what kinds of laws govern werewolves and their packs. Hopefully my ideas aren't too out there or repetitive of other stories in the fandom. Also, with the "hubris" story arc for Derek this season, I thought it would be interesting to have him encounter another alpha and spar with her both verbally and physically. Scott and Jackson will play large parts in this story, and of course the wonderful Stiles will make some appearances. Well I hope you like and please review because it lets me know where I can improve and helps to boost confidence (if you like the story, that is). Thank you!

Amy pulled her wavy mass of chocolate brown hair into a thick ponytail. She studied the massive house on the corner. "Nothing a little concentration and persistence can't solve," she said, inspecting the pliers she grasped in her right hand. Her ice blue eyes glittered. "And luck of course."

It was a cool evening in autumn, so she didn't have the sounds of crickets or tree frogs to help to mask her presence. However, she didn't really need any help. The twenty-year-old alpha was stealthy even by werewolf standards. Humans would be a breeze. However, these weren't your average humans. Not by a long shot.

She frowned when she reached the front door to inspect the alarm system. It was a simple closed circuit. She could disarm that with a quick swipe of her claws. But this family wasn't stupid. Surely they used the cheap alarm system for window dressing. The real magic took place inside the house, AFTER an intruder dared to enter.

'Doesn't matter,' she thought. 'I've got nothing to lose anyway.'

And she didn't. Her pack was dead. Their killers left Amy severely injured. The little life growing inside of her was extinguished by the quick thrust of a machete into her abdomen. Amy was spared not because she was a female or because she was an alpha. Rather, she was allowed to live so she would be forced to bear the memory of her pack and her child's brutal slaying.

They were a small group but they were hers nonetheless. It was Amy, her two brothers, Ryan and Ben, and three others, one of which was the father of her unborn child. The pack was tight knit and loyal. The fateful night fourteen months earlier changed everything in an instant. Their murderers were forty strong and remarkably powerful. There was no worse fate than seeing your family sliced in half and living to tell the tale. None worse that Amy could imagine anyway.

She sighed, her brow crinkling in thought. She didn't want to hurt the inhabitants of the house. They were hunters, yes, but they had no part in killing her pack. She simply needed information that was all. It's not that she hadn't tried other avenues first. She'd called out to other packs for help, most recently one in Washington. None were too interested in even talking to an alpha without a pack, much less a female.

Not that werewolves were chauvinists. It was just that female werewolves were notoriously more powerful than the males. And an alpha female, especially one born that way, was highly respected, but also feared. Most packs didn't want to bother, especially the alphas. Few alphas wanted to play co-captain, which always perplexed Amy. Didn't they know a pack with two alphas was basically unstoppable?

In any case, she'd have to rely on the humans now. The hunters would lead her in the direction of more packs. Someone would eventually take her in. It's not that she'd die on her own. Alphas could survive without their packs but that's all it really would be, survival. Not living. She needed a family.

Of course, she knew she could always start a new pack. However, that would be an arduous exercise that would take many months to accomplish. There was seeking out a potential beta, feeling them out and getting to know them. They had to build mutual trust. She was lucky enough to have both of her brothers born wolves. The three others in her group were friends from a very young age that took years to decide to join the pack. Amy knew she'd never be that lucky again.

She steeled her will and decided that whatever lay beyond the security system was worth finding out where a potential new family was. She placed the pliers in the back pocket of her jeans, hoping she wouldn't be forced to use them on some unfortunate hunters fingernails. But she held on to them just in case.

Amy made quick work of the alarm and entered the house. It was close to two in the morning and the six members of the household were all unconscious from what she could gather. The first floor didn't produce anything she needed so she decided to try the next level. She smirked when she approached the trip wire at the bottom of the stairs. "Clever," she said quietly. "But not good enough." She sprung forward, clearing all thirteen steps and landed silently at the top of the staircase. She then continued her search for an office.

The first two rooms were sleeping quarters. Amy noted a little girl of about five dozing while clutching an enormous stuffed giraffe. She gazed at the tiny sleeping form. Her child had been a girl too, and would have been born wolf. She set her jaw, remembering why she came to the house.

She slipped away from the door to the little girls room and suddenly stopped short. She gulped. Someone was awake.

Amy moved soundlessly down the hallway and peeked into the last room on the right. The good news was she'd found the office. The bad news was that a very large man was currently parked at the computer, flanked by an impressive looking Beretta and a crossbow. She studied him, determining that he was tired and certainly not at his peak performance level. He also wasn't expecting visitors. 'Easy,' she said to herself.

In a matter of seconds, she'd slipped into the room unnoticed, grabbed the Beretta and slammed it into the man's head, knocking him out cold. As he lay on the floor with a nasty gash on the back of his head, she hopped on the computer. "Perfect," she said when she saw that his email was already open. No waiting for the computer to boot up, no pesky passwords to deal with and, most importantly, no need to use the pliers. She suddenly scolded herself for knocking the man out before making sure that his email was actually opened. She quickly shrugged it off, however. There was work to be done.

She flipped through the nearly fifty emails he had. Most were forwards about something funny or inspiring. The usual. However, one of them stood out. "Chris Argent," she said. "I know you." The Argents took to hunting in Washington on occasion. Amy had never met Chris but she'd heard many stories about him and his family. "So what's new, Chris?" she asked, opening the email.

It was a very long email for a man that she'd envisioned to be rather taciturn. "So Beacon Hills is where you've been hiding, ey?" She read further. "Derek Hale," she said. "My, you've been keeping busy."

Satisfied with the information she gathered, she returned to the email that the man was originally reading before she entered the room. Amy stood up, feeling a new sense of purpose. Next stop…Beacon Hills. And the first order of business was to pay a visit to one Derek Hale. Chris Argent revealed that he was snapping up people left and right for his pack. Amy sincerely hoped that he was in the market for an alpha female.

Of course the Argents presence in town would be a challenge but that was low on Amy's list of concerns. The lure of finding a new pack was too strong to deny. She took one last peek at the little girl on her way out. Someday that little girl would grow up to be a hunter herself, possibly even coming after Amy one day. But that day would be a long time coming. There was much to do in the meantime.