☾

"So you kissed him? How? When?" Allison questions, making me grin as my eyes shift over the spines of different DVDs. I'm walking around the video store, only being here for a few moments. When I walked in it was empty, but I shrugged it off. Maybe the employee with the nightshift is in the back.

"He took me home after studying last night and we stopped about a block away from my house. We walked and just... Talked, and when we stopped in front of my house, I kissed him," I partially lie. "I didn't give him a chance to respond at first, so when I pulled away and was trying to apologize, he just grabbed my face and kissed me. It was my first kiss with a guy."

"Aww, that is so cute," Allison gushes, making me roll my eyes at the pure cheesiness of the situation. I open my mouth to reply when a familiar voice calling out makes me pause.

"Can somebody help me find The Notebook?" Jackson. Ugh, why does he have to be here?

"Uh, I gotta go, Ally. I'll talk to you later," I say just as I hang up without letting her respond, stuffing my phone into the pocket of my black leather jacket. I step out and walk towards him, returning the glare he gives me.

"Do you know where it is?" He asks impatiently.

I scoff, rolling my eyes; it's becoming a habit nowadays. "Do I look like I watch that movie?" I question sarcastically.

He huffs and starts walking past me and I turn around, spotting something I somehow didn't notice before: an abandoned ladder with the end of a light fixture leaning against the top of it. "Is anybody working here?" He calls out. The only sound is a phone ringing, making me suspicious. One's an accident; the abandoned ladder. Two's a coincidence; no one seems to be working here even though the store is open. I didn't even notice that when I walked in. "You gotta be kidding me," Jackson mutters as we walk forwards, towards the direction of the ladder.

I stop when I notice something on the floor, poking out from behind a shelf, a pair of boots. There's three, a pattern.

Involuntarily, my ears pick up only two heartbeats, mine and Jackson's, and because of my still newly sensitized nose, I smell something with a metallic tang I've long recognized to be blood from my long history of accidents resulting in me getting injured. The scent is strong and most likely fresh.

Oh, Gods, we just stumbled upon a dead body. This probably happened a few moments before I came in which was a couple minutes before Jackson came in.

"Jackson," I warn as he goes to investigate, but he ignores me. Just so I'm not alone, I walk fast to keep up with him. I quickly regret my decision when we both stop and my eyes fall on a man with blood spilling onto his chest, his throat slashed. I can feel my own blood draining from my face but I don't gag or scream, I merely stand there, shocked.

Jackson stumbles back, grabbing my wrist to get me away from the body and he bumps into the ladder, causing the light to fall and it does dark. Ah, he made the power go out. Way to go, dumbass.

My blood runs cold when I hear a low growl, both of us turning around to see a large black figure crouched on the ground a few feet away from me. I can see the red glowing eyes, making me gulp; it's the Alpha. I know it. I recognize it from my dream from the night before the bus driver was attacked. He killed that man and now he's most likely gonna kill us.

Jackson and I instantly move to hide behind a shelf, his heart racing and I take deep breaths to try to calm down my own erratic heartbeat. The last thing I need right now is a panic attack. DVDs fall from the shelves which causes me to flinch as fear courses through me. Gods, I can't die. I just kissed my crush last night and I haven't even told him how I feel! I don't even know how he feels!

Crashes fill my ears and I know the shelves are falling. Before Jackson can even react, I leap from my spot and out of the way, landing on my side and on my hand, a snap audible to my ears. A small strangled cry of pain leaves my lips as I use my other hand to push myself up and into a seating position, my eyes landing on Jackson who is face-down on the floor, the shelves on top of the lower half of his body, trapping him.

"Jackson!" I whisper-shout, about to crawl over to try to help him but searing pain shoots up my hand, racing up the rest of my arm. Biting my lip to keep in a scream, I look down at my left ring and middle fingers. They've bent awkwardly, red and swollen, showing that they're broken. With a shaky hand, my other one, I gently grab the ring finger first and gasp silently as I snap it back into place, doing the same to the other one and I have to bite my lip to prevent a whimper from escaping. Guess healing comes with the enhanced senses, but it still hurts like a bitch.

My eyes move up, widening when I see the Alpha on top of the shelves, its claws running down Jackson's neck. I can't see what it's doing, but a dull purple glow emits from his neck.

The thing's head snaps to me and I scramble away, scooting on my behind towards the doors. It lets out a low growl and jumps from the shelves, landing a foot away from me and it stalks towards me, like a predator stalking its prey. I freeze, most likely going into tonic immobility as it moves closer, as I can't move. I literally can't move. All I can do is squeeze my eyes shut as its hot breath fans over my face, its pants filling my ears.

"Mary Anne," it whispers, voice low and distorted.

A whimper of fear leaves my lips when I feel its claws moving my hair away from the nape of my neck and then it pierces my flesh, making me cry out in sheer pain, breaking me out of my fear-induced paralysis. A few tears spill over and start running down my cheeks despite my eyes being closed, crying out of pure terror.

But then, it's gone.

A roar sounds through, and then glass shattering and feminine screaming. Finally, I open my eyes, still feeling numbing fear coursing through every inch of my being.

I let out a shaky breath and reach behind me to touch the back of my neck, hissing in pain when I touch the wounds. Retracting my hands, my eyes focus on the blood staining the pads of my fingers.

The Alpha didn't kill us.

Then he has something else planned for us...

☾

I'm sitting in the tail-end of an ambulance next to Lydia who is clutching onto my hand for dear life. Apparently, she and Jackson showed up here so she might have seen the Alpha. If she did, hopefully, she mistakes it for a large mountain lion.

An EMT already patched up the cuts, a large piece of gauze now covering it after being sanitized. Thankfully, I don't need to go to the hospital. There seems to be no nerve damage, and because of the wideness of the wounds, it'll just scab over and doesn't need stitches. Thank the Gods for that; I've probably have gotten enough stitches in my fifteen years of life to last me another fifteen.

My attention is caught when I hear the sound of a car door shutting, seeing the Sheriff walk over, a concern and sympathetic look on his weary face.

"Why the hell can't I just go home?" Jackson snaps at the Sheriff. "I'm fine and Mary Anne is fine."

"I hear ya, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard. They just wanna make sure you don't have a concussion," Stilinski says patiently.

"What part of 'I'm fine' are you having a problem grasping?" Jackson asks rudely, making me narrow my eyes at him. This boy is unbelievable. Mr. Stilinski has to be one of the nicest men I've met in this town. "Okay, I wanna go home."

"And I understand that," Stilinski replies calmly.

"No, you don't understand, which kinda blows my mind, since it should be a pretty basic concept to grasp for a minimum-wage rent-a-cop like you! Okay, now, I wanna go home!" Jackson yells, pissed off.

"Oh, whoa, is that a dead body?" An all-too-familiar voice calls out, making my head turns towards the source. Sure enough, Stiles is standing at the police cruiser, the memory of our kiss from last night flashing through my mind.

"Stiles?" I call out, surprising the EMT's since I didn't really talk before, which led them to think I was in shock, which isn't true. His eyes fall on me and they widen as he shuts the door, weaving his way through other people to get to me.

"Mary Anne?" He asks, confused and also concerned.

I give Lydia a look, kissing her forehead affectionately and she reluctantly lets go of my hand to let me go to him. Giving her a small, grateful smile, I stand and meet Stiles half-way, throwing my arms around his waist and burying my head in his chest.

I clearly took him by surprise, but he quickly wraps an arm around my shoulders, his other cupping the back of my head. "What happened?" He whispers in my ear, holding me tightly against him.

"It was the Alpha," I whisper, my voice strained and rough. "He, um, he scratched me."

He gently coaxes me to move my head to look up at him. "Scratched you? Where?" He questions frantically, eyes wide and alert, hands grasping the sides of my head gently.

"The back of my neck," I rasp, throat sore and head pounding.

His long fingers gingerly move to the base of my skull, moving until he touches the edge of the bandage. "It didn't kill us, but I don't know what it was trying to do," I murmur, willing my voice not to waver. He pulls me into him and I bury my head into his chest once more, feeling safer than I have all night in his embrace.

We stand there, wrapped up in each other until his father's voice breaks us apart. "Mary Anne, do you have any way to get home?" Stilinski asks, making me turn in his son's arm and face him, Stiles' arm remaining around my shoulders.

"Uh, yeah, I came here on my bike," I answer. "My sister is on a night shift at the hospital and keeps her phone on silent. You could try to reach her but she won't answer until the end of her shift which is gonna take more than a couple hours. I can just ride my bike home."

He seems reluctant, so Stiles speaks up. "We can take her home and we can figure out her bike later?" He suggests. I nod shortly, leaning against him slightly; like I said before, I feel a lot more safe around him, so I don't really want to let go of him right now. Stilinski sighs but agrees, turning back around and walking off to probably talk to one of the deputies.

The arm around my shoulders tightens and we turn around to make our way towards the cruiser, and I look over my shoulder to glance at Lydia and Jackson briefly before looking back at the car. "Thanks," I say to Stiles who opened the door for me, letting me slide in first before following me in, shutting the door behind us. He opens his arms and I take the invitation to cuddle, curling into his side and wrapping an arm around his waist with my other hand twisting into his flannel shirt beneath the jacket.

His arms snake around my shoulders, holding me close to him while pressing soft kisses against my hair. "I'm so happy that you're safe," he mumbles, moving his lips to my temple. "Even though you got hurt."

I shrug a little, leaning my head against his so I could look into his eyes. "Think of it as a scar to remind me that I survived the Alpha."

He smiles a little at that, moving his one hand to cup the side of my neck, mindful of the bandage since he has abnormally long fingers that could probably wrap around the entirety of the side and back of my neck. "What else happened?" He asks quietly, caressing the hinge of my jaw with his thumb.

I tighten my grip on his flannel shirt, looking down for a moment before flickering my eyes back up to meet his. "It said my name," I murmur. "Stiles, it knows who I am."

Concern washes over his face, a tiny sigh leaving his lips. He's probably gonna say that I should stay out of the supernatural to stay safe. Before he has a chance to say anything, I swiftly press a soft and lingering kiss on his lips. He responds just as softly, hand still against my neck, his impossibly long lashes flutter against my cheekbones as his eyes slide close, head tilting to the side a bit.

"I can handle this, Stiles," I insist, disconnecting our lips and our eyes open at the same time. "I'm strong enough. Please trust me on that?" His eyes flicker all over my face before connecting with mine again, nodding once.

"Okay," he gives in. "I trust you."

I send him a small smile, leaning my forehead against his jaw, closing my eyes and inhaling his scent and listening to his soothing heartbeat. His scent consists of mint and something woodsy, like cologne. It's nice and distracts me from the scent of blood that seems to be engraved into my senses now.

Soon the Sheriff gets in the car and starts to drive towards my home. I can't tell how long it takes to get there, since I'm all wrapped up in the bubble Stiles and I found ourselves in, engrossed with each other. He continues to press soft kisses against my temple and forehead while I nuzzle into his jaw, soaking in the comfort his embrace offers.

The bubble is popped when the car comes to a stop in my empty driveway, making us break apart. "Call me if you can't fall asleep, okay?" He whispers as he lets me slip over him to get out. I nod and press a chaste kiss on his cheek, giving him a small smile.

"Thank you, Sheriff," I say, genuinely grateful.

He returns the smile through the rear-view mirror and he gets out the car to open up the back door of the cruiser. I quietly slip out and walk up the path to the front porch after nodding my head in thanks to the Sheriff, hands stuffed into my jacket pockets and back hunched.

This probably ranks in the top ten worst nights of my life.

☾

I wake up with a jolt, struggling to breathe as my eyes search frantically around my room, my heart threatening to jump out of my chest and run away. When I close my eyes, two red glowing dots are the only things I can see, chilling me to the bone.

A loud bing! makes me jump and yelp, heart skipping a beat. I search around my room with my eyes until I realize it was the notification ringtone for my phone. I sigh and reach over to my nightstand, grabbing my phone and blink rapidly as the bright light momentarily blinds me.

1 New Message

I open the message once my eyes adjust and a soft smile makes its way to my lips, the fear tempering slightly.

From Stiles:
Hey, I'm coming to pick you up so you have about 30 min to get ready.

To Stiles:
Alrighty, I'll see you when you get here.

I click off my phone and drop it on the pillow next to the one I slept on, heaving out a breath and flipping back the covers, slipping out of my warm cocoon. As shaken up as I am from last night I won't pass up the opportunity to hang out with Stiles. I don't know exactly what we are, but I want to take it slow. Let my feelings for him grow a bit and find out how he feels about me.

I make my way to the bathroom and use the facilities before turning to the shower, twisting the knob to make the water hot. As I wait for the water to heat up, I move to the counter and reach up to the back of my neck under the mass of blonde tresses, finding the corner of the bandage and peeling it off slowly. A little hiss of pain leaves my lips as I gingerly touch the wounds, making a mental note that they go down my neck in a straight line. They feel slightly smaller than what they were last night, telling me they're healing. Slowly, yet quickly for a human. Or whatever I am.

When steam begins to fill the room, I quickly strip out of my nightclothes, stepping into the stall and sliding the shower door close, dousing myself in the hot water instantly. A small moan of relief leaves my lips as the scorching water soothes my bunched up muscles. I must've slept wrong, given my twisting and turning during the night. I quickly lather my hair in shampoo and rinse it out before adding conditioner, making quick work of it.

I swiftly wash my body and turn off the water when it gets cold, stepping out and wrapping my flushed body in a towel and walk to my bedroom. Drying off, I go through my closet and dress comfortably in a black sweater, dark wash jeans that have ripped knees, with my black heeled knee-high boots, and my trusty red leather jacket, braiding my hair without brushing it. I don't really care what I look like today, I had a long night and I'm still tired.

Honking from outside catches my attention and I look out the window, seeing a now familiar blue jeep parked outside my house. I smile a little and snatch my bag, phone, keys, and wallet, leaving my room and heading into the kitchen to grab a granola bar from the counter before leaving, stuffing it in my jacket pocket.

Stiles is tapping his hands against the steering wheel, nodding his head to some tune. "Hey!" I shout, catching his attention. A wide grin spreads out on his lips and he lifts his hand in a wave, reminding me when he did that on my first day back at school.

"Hey," he greets as I open the passenger door, sliding in and tossing my bag in the back seat where his bag is. "How'd you sleep?"

I shrug, trying to avoid the question. It was terrible, filled with tossing and turning from a nightmare that I can't remember. "It was fine," I lie, meeting his eyes and sinking my top teeth into the corner of my bottom lip.

He frowns, catching my lie. "Mary Anne," he sighs, dropping his hand from the keys since he was about to start the engine and take off. "I told you to call me if you had any trouble sleeping."

"I know, I just didn't want to bother you." I squirm uncomfortably in my seat but maintain eye contact with him, licking my dry lips. "Can we talk about something else, please?"

"Yeah, okay," he agrees, eyes determined and hopeful. "Like, oh, I don't know, what exactly are we?"

I open my mouth to answer but no words escape my lips, unable to form a good answer. "I don't know," I finally say, speaking honestly. His face falls for a moment, but it still makes my heart twist. "Look, I feel different. I feel scared." His brow furrows in confusion so I explain quickly, "I came here to get over someone; my ex-girlfriend, Aurora, who only dated me because of a bet she made with the captain of our football team, who I happened to find her in bed with about a year after we started dating. I was hurt and was still trying to get over it when I met you. And when I did meet you, I felt things quickly and it's something I have never felt before. That scares the hell out of me, that I'm letting go of the past so easily."

"Hey," he gently cuts in, hooking a finger underneath my chin to lift my face so it's closer to his. I'm breathing quickly and my words were rushed, so he's trying to calm me down.

"I don't want to get hurt," I whisper, my eyes watering and I let one tear slip away. What I said before is true; the scariest part is letting go, especially the past.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he whispers, cupping my cheek and rubbing his thumb against my skin. "but, obviously we need to talk. Just to start off, we knew each other as kids, but you kind of forgot about us when your parents died, so I don't blame you for being scared after losing people you've cared about. I know what you've gone through, and I can't imagine causing you even more pain, Mare." His voice is breathy as the nickname rolls off his tongue. Wait, we knew each other as kids? "I've had a crush on you since the third grade, I want nothing more than to be with you. I've imagined it for years."

"Then be patient with me," I plead gently, my previous revelation about us knowing each other as kids being pushed to the back of my mind for the moment. "I want the same thing, and I don't want to rush into things because that can destroy it. But, I do want to be with you, too. We just... Have to take it slow, okay?"

He nods, shifting forward and brushing his lips against mine. "Then, will you, Mary Anne Archer, do me the greatest honor of being my girlfriend? I'll do the whole slow thing if it means I get the chance to be with you."

"I'd love to."