"Have a great day, Mrs. Davis," Isabel Evans said with a smile to the middle-aged woman with the golden retriever.

"You, too, Isabel. I'll see you next week." Scott McCall held the door open for her as he came in for work. "Thank you, Scott." The retriever jumped up and licked his face. Scott chuckled and scratched her behind the ear.

"Missy, down." Missy obeyed the command and trotted on, tongue lolling out of her mouth.

Isabel chuckled. "Hey, Scott."

"Hey. What's up?"

"Just routine stuff. How was school?"

"Routine for once."

"That's always a good thing."

"In this town, yeah."

Isabel laughed. Scott disappeared into the back as the next client came into the clinic. Isabel smiled at the teenager. "Hi. How may I help you?"

~~~

Isabel stuck her head into the back. "Need anything else, Doc?" Isabel heard Scott in the cat clinic cleaning the cages.

Dr. Alan Deaton gave her his customary, always ready smile. "Nothing at all. Thanks, Isabel."

"Then I'm going to head home."

"Scott told me that the Montgomerys sold Michelle's house. You're not living back at the hotel are you?"

"No, I'm not," Isabel smiled. "I'm living with Derek."

"Oh?"

"He offered when Michelle's parents told me that they were selling the house and unless I was going to buy it, I needed to find elsewhere to live."

"I've known Derek a fairly long time, since he was a kid in fact. He seems happier with you around. Truly happy."

Isabel smiled.

"I haven't seen him like this since he was fifteen."

"I think we're helping each other heal from our broken pasts."

"Healing is good." Deaton smiled. Isabel's phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and smiled. "Have a good night, Isabel."

"You, too. Bye, Scott." Scott waved through the window as Isabel answered the phone. "Hi, handsome."

Derek Hale chuckled on the other end. "Is that how you greet everyone?"

"Nope. Just you."

"Are you still at work?"

"I'm walking out now. Why?" Isabel stepped into the parking lot, taking her keys out of her purse. The parking lot was mostly deserted. Her midnight blue Mustang and Deaton's silver Forrester were parked next to each other. A black Camry and a red Aspen were parked across from the clinic while Scott's dirt bike was parked against the building.

"I just didn't want you to get in trouble for being on your phone during business hours."

Isabel laughed. "Have you met my boss? And when did you become a stickler for the rules?"

"Good point. I am Beacon Hills' resident bad boy after all." She heard the laughter in his voice at the reference to one of the first comments she made to him. His record with the Beacon County Sheriff's Office proved as much, although both times he'd been arrested the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence against him.

Isabel laughed herself as she climbed into her car. "Well, bad boy, I'll be home soon."

Derek chuckled. "I see you've gotten used to calling it home now."

"Anywhere you are is home for me. I'll see you soon."

"I'll see you soon."

Isabel hung up and pulled out of her parking spot. Several minutes later, the Camry pulled out as well, following her as a blond-haired man stepped out of the shadows, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. He watched the two vehicles leave before walking over to the Aspen and following them in it.

~~~

"Just because he's Malia's father doesn't mean I have to trust him," Lydia Martin said. She was sitting at her vanity, putting on her makeup. Her phone was propped against the mirror, Kira Yukimura and Stiles Stilinski's faces on the screen.

"I never said you had to," Stiles retorted. "I haven't trusted the man since I met him."

"He was a catatonic burn victim when you met him."

"No, he was a psychotic burn victim when I met him. Right before he kicked Derek's ass down the hall in the long-term care facility the night we figured out that he was the Alpha."

"Oh. Well, he's the one who bit me and would have been happy to let me bleed out on the lacrosse field."

"Peter?" Kira asked.

"No, the Pope," Stiles retorted. "Who else has psycho tendencies around here?"

"Kate and Araya?"

"Okay, you have me there."

"You said he somewhat helped you with understanding your abilities," Kira ignored Stiles. "What does he know about Banshees?"

"It's his fault I'm a Banshee, to begin with. Look, Kira, I know you don't know him very well..."

"Neither one of you have seen him since the incident at school, have you?"

Stiles and Lydia didn't answer.

"I know Malia decided to move in with him," Stiles said.

"Did Scott not tell you?"

"Tell us what?" Lydia asked.

"He completely shifted," Kira informed them. "Protecting Malia. Scott said he tore the Valkyrie that attacked her apart. She's the one that figured out that Peter was her father. Nobody told her."

"He can shift again?" Stiles looked worried.

"Why do you look worried?"

"What did he shift into?"

"A hamster. What do you think he shifted into?"

"A wolf monster?"

Kira just looked at him. "A wolf monster?"

"Peter's Alpha form looked like a giant wolf that could go on all fours or stand upright," Lydia explained. Stiles set his phone down on his desk. Lydia could hear it ringing.

"Yes, Stiles?" Scott answered.

"Why didn't you tell us Peter could shift again?"

"Oh, man! I completely forgot about that!"

"How could you forget about seeing a giant monstrous wolf?" Lydia asked.

"Dude, do you have me on speakerphone?"

"Yes, now answer the question."

"Because he didn't take that form. That was his Alpha form, remember?"

"What form did he take? Like you and Derek?"

"Yeah. He's a Beta, not an Alpha. Why are you guys asking about Peter?"

"They think that Peter is going to somehow get into Malia's head," Kira said.

"You didn't see him after he talked to Talia. Something, a small something, seemed to change in him. I don't know what she said to him, but I think it opened his eyes."

"So you trust him?" Stiles asked. "The guy that bit you then left you to figure everything out on your own."

"I had Derek to teach me. Sorta. And you to throw lacrosse balls at my face and get my ass kicked by three seniors after you keyed their truck."

Lydia giggled.

"It showed you how to control your heart rate, didn't it?"

"Look, Peter is part of the pack, just like Derek is. He needs us as much as we need him. He has more experience than Derek at being a werewolf. And he knows a lot more than he does too."

"Still doesn't mean we have to trust him," Stiles said.

"We gave the Twins a second chance," Lydia pointed out, seeing Scott's point. "Maybe we should do the same to Peter."

~~~

Lindsey Chasseur leaned her head against the car window, watching the scenery go by.

"You've been really quiet, Linds," her mother said.

Lindsey shrugged. Her blond hair was pulled up into a messy bun.

"I'm sorry we moved you again during the school year."

"Why can't we just stay in one place? I'm tired of moving all the time. I want to actually make friends for once."

"I know, sweetheart. But you know your father and I —"

"Have to go where your company sends you," Lindsey finished. "No matter how much it ruins your kids' lives."

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices."

Lindsey didn't answer, only looked back out the window and her mother stopped trying to make conversation. The rest of the family was already in Beacon Hills, California. Lindsey was the last to arrive, her parents waiting until the end of the semester to bring her. This was going to be the third high school in as many years. After the second one, she stopped trying to make friends. The last school she had no friends at all and kept to herself and fully planned on doing the same at this one. She didn't expect to stay the semester. There was nothing more that Lindsey wanted more than to stay in one place, fit in, and actually have friends.

~~~

The figure walked through the forest, moving silently between the trees. It stopped briefly, looking over the abandoned and burned house before continuing on. Minutes later, it found what it was looking for. A large tree stump in the middle of the forest. The figure sat on the stump, running its fingers over the wood.

"Power runs rampant in you again, my old friend," the figure said. "Much power. Seems you are indeed the beacon I suspected you to be once more." It chuckled. "Perfect." The figure stood, stroking the wood once more. "Let's see what Beacon Hills holds for us now."