Chapter 6
Stiles wrung his hands together as Isaac moved to open the door of the loft. His friend turned to him, his hand on the handle.
“You okay?” Stiles nodded and Isaac yanked open the door. The scene before him looked so average and normal that Stiles felt some of his tension fading away. A girl was sprawled on the floor in front of the television, one boy was sitting on his laptop at the table, and the other boy was lounging on the couch reading a book. When they heard the door open, they all turned to look. The girl on the floor immediately jumped up and rushed over to them.
“Oh thank god, I was going crazy with just these two for company. I love meeting new people. I’m Olivia.” The short, energetic blonde stuck her hand out. Stiles grasped it and shook it. “That’s Remy, and tall, dark, and brooding over there is Dawson.”
“ I’m Stiles.” Looking around he saw the boy on the couch, Dawson, watching him tensely.
“Oh you’re the one who Da…”
“Hush Olivia” The one who was sitting at the desk got up and walked over to them. He slung an arm around Olivia who stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re going to have to excuse my little sister. Her mouth gets away from her sometimes.”
“Sister?” Stiles asked, quirking an eyebrow at them.
“Yeah, we were taking a short cut home from school through the woods behind our house when the alpha attacked us” Remy answered Stiles’ unasked question.
“Remy was sent by mom to pick me up from a late night musical rehearsal.”
“We thought we were lucky to escape with a few scratches and bites” Remy gave a short bitter laugh. “Little did we know.”
“He killed our entire family so we’d be forced to join his pack.” Olivia said looking at Stiles’ feet. Remy’s arm tightened around her. Stiles’ heart went out to the two of them.
“But we are here now, and Scott’s a true alpha, so I know he’ll be worlds better than our old one.” Remy said with a hopeful smile.
“If he lets us in his pack” Olivia said under her breath. Remy elbowed her but Stiles laughed.
“If you knew Scott better you would know that he has a compulsive need to help everyone, everywhere, always.” Stiles told them “He’ll let you in his pack.”
“I think he’s waiting to hear from his second.” The boy on the couch finally spoke, although he didn’t look up from his book.
“What’s a second?” Isaac asked
“They’re the Alpha’s second in command. The one they rely most heavily on for advice. That’s you isn’t it?” Remy asked looking at Stiles
“What…me? I don’t know. I mean I’m not a werewolf”
“From what I’m getting Scott’s pack isn’t exactly normal. Wolves in a pack with humans, a coyote, a fox, a banshee, and a god knows what. I don’t think having a human as a second is all that odd considering. I mean you are his best friend right?”
“Yeah since we were in diapers” Stiles considered it. He liked the idea of being Scott’s second. He really hoped that Scott felt the same way.
“I’m watching Game of Thrones if you want to join.” Olivia said suddenly, breaking the silence that had formed. She returned to her position on the ground and patted the floor next to her. Stiles and Isaac looked at each other and shrugged then they plopped down next to her. Stiles had never seen the show before and grew restless after half an episode. He had no idea what was going on in it and he didn’t have the mental energy at this present moment to try to figure it out. Plus he had never been good at staying still for so long. So he got up and wandered around the loft for a bit. It felt weird to be here without Derek or Peter’s presence. Although he had known all along that Peter couldn’t be trusted he had been bummed to see his suspicious confirmed. He would never admit it out loud but Peter’s knowledge had been an important asset to the group. Plus Stiles couldn’t help but slightly enjoy his sarcasm and witty comments; he enjoyed anyone who had mastered the art of sass.
Finally Stiles knew he couldn’t put off any longer what needed to be done. So he went and sat down on the coffee table next to the couch. Dawson froze but didn’t look at Stiles. Stiles had figured out quickly that Dawson was the one who had hurt him. The poor boy looked as though he expected Stiles to start shouting at him. That was not what Stiles wanted at all.
“Whatcha reading?” He asked as nonchalantly as possible.
“Harry Potter”
“Oh which one?”
“Goblet of Fire, it’s my favorite.”
“Yeah, I don’t do a lot of reading that’s not about supernatural creatures or algebra, but I did see the movie. I like the part where the twins try to put their names in the goblet and end up as old men.” Dawson smiled and finally looked at Stiles, but when their eyes met his smile faltered and he looked away.
“I don’t blame you, you know” Stiles said softly. This brought the boy’s eyes back to his.
“What?”
“Look, I know how crazy the full moon makes new wolves. Many have come close to hurting me including my best friend and my girlfriend. So I don’t blame you and if we are going to be in a pack together I think it would be best if we put this whole thing behind us.”
“In a pack together?”
“You don’t honestly think we’d put you out on the streets did you?
“I thought maybe after what I did…you mean it?
“Of course, I’ll talk to Scott and I know he’ll agree.” Stiles smiled and Dawson returned the smile look like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. Stiles could see that the boy had been beating himself up about the whole situation. Stiles really did like the three teens and knew they needed protection as much as Scott needed strength, especially now that there was a new group of hunters in town. Once they realized what a jackpot Beacon Hills was they would never leave, at least not before they had killed every supernatural being in the place. Stiles knew the hunters were supposed to have a code, but he also knew that it was sometimes broken. And if these hunters had traveled so far to kill 3 teenagers who hadn’t harmed anyone Stiles knew that they were breaking the code.
Stiles and Dawson both jumped when Isaac and Olivia both began shouting at the TV.
“They did NOT just kill him!”
“What the hell is with this show! Olivia why did you ever introduce me to this show!” Isaac shouted angrily. Stiles rolled his eyes at their reaction.
“Not a Game of Thrones fan?” Dawson asked noting his eye roll.
“This was my first time watching it. All I could figure out was that Joffrey’s a little bitch and that winter is coming.”
“People also die a lot” Dawson offered. Stiles laughed as Isaac and Olivia glared at them.
*****
Malia tried to remain calm as the elevator creaked painfully upwards. She would kill Isaac for this, or at least punch him right in that smug little face. How dare he bring Stiles here, especially without her. Stiles had promised he wouldn’t do anything stupid without her again, and this qualified as stupid.
Finally the elevator stopped and the doors opened. She was out of them in a flash. She dragged open the door to the loft. Her heart rate slowed slightly as she saw Stiles lounging on the couch, his feet plopped on the table in front of him. She relaxed a bit knowing he was safe, that is until she saw who he was sitting next to. Before she could stop it the anger came bubbling back up.
“Malia?” She heard the uncertainty in Stiles’ voice as he sat straight up and looked at her. She growled softly as she looked around at them all, they were all hanging out like everything was fine. It wasn’t fine at all.
“Malia!” Stiles said louder. He was right in front of her now, his hand outstretched but not touching her.
“How can you come here Stiles? How can you be in the same room after what they did?”
“Malia they didn’t mean it. He lost control, you know how that is”
“I never hurt you”
“Yes but you could’ve” Stiles took a step closer. The other wolves remained frozen to their spots.
“Move aside Stiles”
“No. You aren’t a coyote anymore. Disputes are not handled by fighting as humans, they are handled by talking.”
“Stiles. Move.” Malia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was actually defending them, didn’t he realize they could snap his fragile body in two at any moment. Yes the full moon may have made them crazy, but she still didn’t know anything about these wolves and that made them dangerous.
“Put the claws away and I will move.”
“No.”
“Malia, you’re stronger than this. You can’t let anger and fear control you.” He took another step forward and touched her arm. Out of pure instinct she put both hands to his chest and pushed. He took a step back and doubled over in pain.
“Oh god Stiles” all the anger faded as she rushed over to him. She had gotten a lot better at controlling her coyote instincts but her control slipped when she was angry. She had been so careful with Stiles’ wounds because she knew they still hurt even though he said otherwise. She could tell by the slightly stiff way he carried himself and she saw the slight grimaces when he thought no one was watching.
"I’m okay. Malia I’m okay. I just got the wind knocked out of me a bit.” She knelt in front of him and took his face in her hands. He met her eyes and she listened to the steady beat of his heart. He was really okay and he wasn’t angry at her. She sighed and brushed a flyaway strand of hair off of his forehead.
“I’m sorry”
“It’s okay, but please don’t hurt them.” He took her hands and kissed them “Stop and think for a moment. Remember what it felt like when you were first getting used to the full moon. They had just seen their entire pack murdered. They were lost, alone, and scared. I’ve forgiven them, now you need to.” Malia closed her eyes to think for a moment. She did remember what if felt like to not have control. If Stiles had been a random stranger she probably would’ve torn him apart. The only thing that stopped her was her feelings for him. These damn feelings. She never used to be so irrational. Her judgment was always severely clouded when it came to Stiles. She knew she couldn’t blame the omegas for what they had done.
With her eyes still closed she nodded her head. She heard Stiles' sigh of relief followed immediately by the pressure of his lips. She kissed him back for a second before pulling away.
“I still don’t know anything about them.”
“That’s what I was doing here. Getting to know them, it’s called socializing and it’s how we learn things about each other so we can figure out if we trust them or not.” Malia knew this was probably basic stuff. Stuff that she had known at one point but forgotten during her time as a coyote. Stiles was always so patient with her and so good at explaining things in a way that would make sense to her. He seemed to understand how her mind worked more than anyone else.
“Okay, I’ll try” She took the hand he offered and they stood up. She looked around the loft feeling suddenly awkward.
“I’m sorry” she said mostly to the floor.
“Hey no worries, he’s your boyfriend, you were just being protective.” The girl on the floor smiled at her brightly.
“Plus she was a full blown coyote for 8 years, she’s still trying to grasp basic human interactions” Isaac put in.
“Yeah what’s your excuse?” Malia spat. Stiles snorted unattractively beside her but seemed to think better of laughing when he looked as Isaac’s face.
“You’re going to have to get along with him eventually” He told her
“I just don’t trust him.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
“Well I trust him. Just give it time, he’ll grow on you I promise.” Malia silently vowed to try harder, for Stiles’ sake. She could tell that it was important to him that she get along with Isaac. She knew a pack was stronger if all of its members trusted each other, but she also could tell that was not the only reason he wanted them to get along. It was something more…human. She was his girlfriend and Isaac was his friend and she thought maybe he wanted the two of them to like each other because he liked both of them. From what he had told her Isaac was one of his closest friends and he had been there practically since the beginning. Someone that important to Stiles was worth taking the time to get to know.
- N x
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