☾

"So Jackson got a restraining order on Scott and Stiles but not you?" Allison asked as she and Mary Anne walked through school and towards the library to meet Scott and Stiles. Even though they were supposed to stay away from each other, mainly Scott staying away from Mary Anne and Stiles.

After that heart-to-heart with Nikolai, Mary Anne fell into her bed and stared up at the ceiling, twisting the necklace around her neck and the ring. The feeling and fact of Stiles being her Soulmate hadn't really sunk in yet, but it explained a lot.

She fell asleep with him on her mind, thinking that she finally found the one.

"Yeah," Mary Anne answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't know why, but that means I can still talk to him about this. He may be stubborn, but I can be more stubborn so I'm gonna make sure he knows what the hell he's doing."

"I don't doubt you," Allison snorted. "Seriously, you are the about the tiniest fifteen-year-old I've met but you are definitely the most aggressive. You'll most likely use force."

Mary Anne shot her a smirk. "I can say the same about you, Argent."

"Oh!" Allison perked up. "My mom was asking about you and Lydia the other day. I told her you were watching Lydia since you two have been friends for years and Stiles is keeping an eye on you since you're dating."

"Why would you tell her that? Now it feels like she knows everything about me. How about I give you my social security number for her while you're at it?" She asked sarcastically.

Allison had to smother a laugh as they entered the quiet library, the tablet with the page from the bestiary that talks about the Kanima tucked safely in her bag. What Allison told her about what Lydia translated gave her the chills, making her even more determined to stop whatever is going on before it gets out-of-hand.

The smaller blonde followed Allison to one of the bookcases, mindful of the cameras Gerard put around the school, which is absolutely ridiculous and suspicious. As Allison stopped Mary Anne moved to stand in front of her, shoulder pressed against the bookcase, watching she pulled out the black tablet from her bag and slipped it through the gap in the books where she knew the boys were on the other side.

"It's everything Lydia could translate," Allison said quietly. "And trust me, she was very confused."

"Yeah, what'd you tell her?" Scott asked just as quietly.

"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," Allison answered, smiling a little at the ridiculousness of the excuse.

"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," Stiles informed them with a straight face.

"Oh - oh, great," Allison said awkwardly, a smile on Stiles' face and it stuck when Mary Anne gave him an incredulous look.

"How the hell do you find the time to do that?" She asked, baffled. She only had time to help them and do homework, barely any time to do anything for leisure.

But her question went unanswered as Scott asked his own question. "Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?"

"Not really," Mary Anne answered and Allison continued.

"But Stiles was right about the murderers."

Stiles did a discreet fist pump, whispering, "Yes!"

"It calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance," Allison said. "There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the Kanima to execute murderers in his village."

"All right, see? So maybe it's not all that bad," Stiles said, trying to be optimistic.

Mary Anne added what she remembered from the text Allison showed her when she drove her to school. "Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to."

"All bad, all very, very bad," Stiles relented.

"Here's the thing, though," Allison whispered. "The Kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be..." she trailed off as the librarian came over to put back a book.

"Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it," Scott recited from the text.

Stiles looked up from the tablet to the two girls. "Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself."

"What if... It has something to do with his parents? His real parents," Allison suggested.

"Yeah, does anybody actually know what happened to them?" Scott asked, eyes flickering towards Mary Anne. "Do you know?"

She shook her head. "No, we never really discussed the topic of our parents. We were too busy being at each other's throats."

"Lydia might," Stiles suggested and Mary Anne nodded, knowing that Jackson actually cared for her best friend and might've told her about what happened to his birth parents.

"What if she doesn't know anything?" Scott asked.

"Well, he doesn't have a restraining against me," Allison pointed out. "So, I'll talk to him myself."

"Okay, what do I do?" Scott asked, a little lost.

"You have a make-up exam, remember?" Allison gently reminded her boyfriend. Scott looked behind him at Stiles who only nodded, and he seemed a little hesitant about it. Allison reached across the shelve to lay her hand on Scott's. "Promise me."

"If he does anything, you run the other way," Scott said.

Allison held her head high. "I can take care of myself."

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's gonna need to take care of me. If he does anything...."

"Like?" Allison asked.

"Anything... Weird or bizarre... Anything."

Stiles moved his head between the shelve to look at Allison and Mary Anne. "Anything evil!"

Allison gave him a look and put a hand on his face and gently pushed him out, Mary Anne chuckled quietly under her breath as he flailed around, trying not to lose his balance and cause a disturbance in the library.

"Hey, careful with him," Mary Anne chastised her playfully, earning a small but unapologetic smile from Allison who turned to her werewolf boyfriend, the smile turning into one of reassurance before taking the tablet again and she headed off down the aisle to start her search for Jackson.

"Are you going to go with her?" Scott asked Mary Anne, an anxious look in his eyes. "You can help her."

"No, Stiles and I are gonna talk to Lydia," Mary Anne decided firmly. "Lydia doesn't really trust Stiles, but she trusts me. And Allison is stronger than you think, she can take care of herself. So stop doubting her." She knew it was a low-blow, and she did feel a little bad for the hurt look on Scott's face, but she felt like it needed to be said. "Now, you have an exam to make up, so you should go do that while Stiles and I talk to Lydia."

And without another word, she went the way Allison left and Stiles gave Scott a shrug before scrambling away to catch Mary Anne as she passed the aisle he was in. "How are we gonna find her?" He whispered, pushing open the library doors.

The smaller blonde cocked her head a bit. "It can't be that hard to find her. So let's find my friend and see what she knows about Jackson's parents."

☾

Once the couple did find Mary Anne's strawberry blonde friend after a while, they were instantly met with an answer of denial. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

Stiles gave Mary Anne a look as they followed Lydia down the hall, one on each side of her. "Come on, anyone who ever says 'I'm not supposed to tell anyone' is always dying to tell someone, so tell us!"

"Why do wanna know?" Lydia asked without looking back at them.

"We can't tell you that," Mary Anne said quickly. She felt guilty for keeping all these secrets from her best friend, avoiding her when Lydia needed her, but she told herself it was to protect her and others. For the greater good, even if she got hurt in the progress. She was fine with getting the brunt of it, with sacrificing herself for them. Her pack.

Then why did she still feel guilty?

"Then I'm not telling you," Lydia sassed.

"But you are telling us that you could tell us something if you wanted to tell us?" He asked quickly, looking slightly confused by his own words and to be honest even Mary Anne was confused.

And apparently, so was Lydia. "Was that a question?"

"It felt like a question," Stiles and Mary Anne said in unison.

Lydia chuckled, not amused, "Well - tell me if this feels like an answer. No."

Stiles made a noise of annoyance, stopping for a moment to look at his girlfriend. "Is she always this difficult?"

Mary Anne could only shrug helplessly as the two chased after her, up the stairs but somehow lost her as she walked away quickly. "Lydia! Lydia, come on! Ly - Wait!" Stiles called after her and in a flurry of blonde hair and black leather, he was pushed up against the wall by the other Beacon Hills blonde werewolf resident. Mary Anne sighed and glared at the back of Erica's head, nails aching to turn into claws already as she approached them. "Ow! Ah, ah, hey, Erica."

"Why are you asking Lydia about Jackson's real parents?" She questioned him, a hand on his chest and her claws already out.

Mary Anne stepped next to them, arms crossed over her chest and smirking at Erica. "Why are you bringing out the claws on camera?" She asked rhetorically, jerking her head to the side where she knew one of Gerard's cameras were set up.

Erica turned her head to look at it and quickly retracted the claws, letting go of Stiles as she looked back. "That's right. I'd ask you to be Catwoman, but I already have someone to be the Catwoman to my Batman," he said confidently and took Mary Anne's hand, walking past them when Erica called out something that made them both turn around to look at the other blonde werewolf.

"If you're wondering about Jackson's real parents," she started, leaning against the wall she had just previously pressed Stiles against a few minutes ago, and what she said next made the blood in Mary Anne's veins turn to ice and boil at the same time. "They're about half a mile from here. In Beacon Hills cemetery, right with your parents, Mary Anne."

Stiles gripped her hand tightly, already sensing the anger rising in Mary Anne towards Erica who only grinned and started to walk away, exuding nonchalance. His head turned around and down to see his girlfriend's face contoured in anger, lips pursed, thick brows furrowed and a tinge of faint gold and green ringing her pupils. "I can't wait to sink my claws into her," she growled lowly, her other hand balled into a fist.

"You can do that later, but now..." He trailed off and dragged Mary Anne with him to chase down the werewolf, yelling, "Wait, wait, wait!" He slowed down once they caught up to her and by that time Mary Anne had put a lid on her anger, but only for a while, and to help she had to let go of his hand before she would break it from how harsh her grip was.

She gritted her teeth before saying, "Do you know they died?"

"Maybe," Erica considered haughtily. "If you tell me why you're so interested." Stiles shook his head slightly but all three slowed down and paused, and without looking back at them Erica asked, "It's him, isn't it?"

"What?" Stiles asked, heartbeat rising in panic. "Who? Him who?"

Erica started to walk away again, slowly but Mary Anne could see her head tilting to the side and she was thinking. "The test didn't work, but it's still him. It's Jackson."

Stiles' jaw dropped and Mary Anne squeezed her eyes close. "Fucking hell," she cursed under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

They continued to chase her as they approached the locker rooms, trying to defuse the situation. "You can't tell Derek, okay? There's a lot more to this that you don't know about. And just because you got the Alpha bite makeover doesn't give you a license to go around destroying people," Stiles ranted.

Erica turned briskly to look at them. "Why not?" She asked rhetorically. "That's all anybody ever used to do to me. I used to have the worst crush in the world on you." Mary Anne faltered slightly, finally understanding why Erica kept flirting with him. But it didn't excuse her actions, and it only made her contempt towards her grow. She guessed being a werewolf made her possessive of... Her mate, or boyfriend. "Yeah, you, Stiles. And you never once even noticed me. You were always pining for her," she moved her eyes from Stiles to Mary Anne with malice in them but his eyes were trained on something on the floor behind Erica. "Even when she wasn't here, away in New York and when she was here before that, she didn't even notice you like you did to me. Exactly how you're not noticing me right now."

Both blondes followed his gaze and noticed a pool of water coming from underneath the door to the boy's locker room and almost immediately the door opened and Scott tumbled out on his back, a shirtless Jackson following and grabbed the front of his hoodie. Mary Anne's eyes widened and without hesitance all three dived in, Erica getting Jackson off and away from him, restraining him with her enhanced strength while Stiles and Mary Anne handled Scott.

"Scott, Scott, Scott! Guys!" Stiles yelled, trying to get a good grip on the flailing boy.

With her help, Stiles got his arms around Scott and pulled him at a safe distance away from Jackson, her own hands pressing against his shoulders, able to somewhat hold him back.

"What the hell's going on?" Mary Anne mentally groaned at the voice which belonged to Harris. "Enough! Enough." Stiles and Mary Anne let go of Scott when he stopped trying to lunge at Jackson but Mary Anne was still on high-alert, ready to restrain him once more if needed. Allison walked out, looking almost as disheveled as her boyfriend and Mary Anne summed up in her head that Scott was protecting her from Jackson, but her attention went back to their dick of a chemistry teacher.

"What do you idiots think you're doing? Jackson! Calm down! Mr. McCall, you wanna explain yourself? Stilinski! Archer!" Mary Anne only avoided his eyes until a creepily familiar voice caught her attention.

"You dropped this," Matt handed the tablet Allison had the information of the Kanima on to Harris.

He pointed it to Jackson and Scott while saying, "You and you." Then looked at all of them. "Actually, all of you. Detention. Three o'clock."

Mary Anne tipped her head back against the tiled wall while muttering, "Great."

☾

The seven teenagers piled into the empty library and Scott, Stiles and Mary Anne sat the closest table, with the boys next to each other and Mary Anne in front of Stiles. Her eyes flitted to Erica who promptly sat down next to her and the other teenagers sat at the table behind Scott and Stiles.

On the way there Allison told her what happened and Mary Anne had to resist the urge to find Jackson and gouge his sad little eyes out of sad little head for his little stint. And for causing them to get into detention because of his arrogance and stupidity for wanting the Bite in the first place, which had caused him to become the Kanima.

"Oh, uh - we can't be in detention together. I have a restraining order against these tools," Jackson informed Harris smugly.

"All of these tools?" Harris asked flatly.

"No, just us tools," Stiles pointed to him and Scott, as well as Mary Anne even though she didn't. He only wanted her to get as far as possible from Erica in fear of a fight beginning between the two female werewolves, and Mary Anne wasn't going to object to moving away from her.

"Fine. You three, over here," he pointed to the one next to the table the three were already sitting at. Mary Anne, who was more than happy to comply, shouldered her bag again and sat next to Stiles, plunking her bag onto the floor carelessly.

Scott lightly thumped his fist onto the wooden table, anger evident on his face. "I'm gonna kill him."

"No, you're not," Stiles objected. "You're going to find out who's controlling him and then you're gonna help save him."

"No, you were right," Mary Anne agreed, leaning her forearms against the table and curled her tiny hands into fists to stop her nails from aching, wanting nothing more than to pop her claws out. "Let's kill him."

"Oh, no," he mumbled, sighing through his nose at the fact his suggestions of murder was now influencing his best friend and girlfriend, which was bad enough with her given her anger and aggressiveness.

Mary Anne leaned back into her chair and crossed her feet at the ankles under the table, eyes closing and she attempted to try and slow her heart down. As much as every fiber of her being wanted to fight Jackson or Erica, she didn't want to risk exposing herself to Matt or Harris. And besides, she said she wanted to control her baser emotions better.

"Hey," Stiles got her and Scott's attention, her eyes opening and head turning to look at him. "What if it's Matt?" Mary Anne followed his gaze towards the boy in question who was innocently eating a bag of chips. "I mean, this whole thing comes back to the video, right?"

"Danny said that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing," Scott said quietly, leaning his chin against his folded arms.

"Exactly!" Stiles insisted. "He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."

Mary Anne tilted her head, lips pursed and she considered his theory while Scott added to it. "So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your jeep?" Okay, both of them had a point in Mary Anne's opinion, but she was siding with Stiles, there was just something off about Matt to her.

"Yes!" Stiles agreed.

"Why?" Scott asked.

"Because... He's evil," Stiles muttered, looking over at Matt warily who was still munching on chips.

"You just don't like him because he likes Mary Anne," Scott pointed out.

"It's not that," Stiles denied, clearly lying. "The guy... Bugs me. I don't know what it is." He mirrored Mary Anne's position with a sour look. "Just look at his face." Mary Anne and Scott did so and just saw Matt offer some of his chips to Jackson who shook his head.

"Any other theories?" The male werewolf deadpanned.

"No, Stiles is onto something," Mary Anne piped up quietly, gaining the boys' attention. Stiles looked surprised and mildly pleased that she agreed with him and Scott still looked dubious. "Although there is a lot of holes in his theories, it's plausible to me. He just seems off to me, like when we first met he just smiled too much. And he has this look when he asked me out... It's just... I have a bad feeling about him and those feelings are almost never wrong."

"See?" Stiles gestured towards her. "She agrees with me. And she's always right."

Mary Anne fought back a blush at the praise but sighed at the still skeptical Scott. "Okay don't believe me," she threw her hands up and shifted restlessly in her chair, blowing some strands of hair out of her face and played with the long sleeves of her black and white striped shirt, underneath denim overalls that ended right above her old black Chucks. "I know I'm right. And when you see that we're right, we can tell you, 'We told you so'."

Scott shrugged and relented, "Okay, you two get bragging rights. But only if your theories are right."

Her attention went to the table Matt, Jackson and Allison were at when the boy spoke up. "You okay?" Jackson was getting up, hand on his forehead and he looked sick.

"I have to go to the bathroom," he said, voice strained.

"Are you alright?" Harris asked from behind the library desk, actually sounding concerned. Que the apocalypse, Mary Anne mused mentally. "Hey, you don't look so good."

"I just need to get some water," Jackson said as he walked out.

Harris got up and looked at the group. "No one leaves their seat," he ordered before taking off to check up on Jackson.

Once the door closed Scott, Stiles and Mary Anne stood up in sync and much to her annoyance, they sat at their previous table, Stiles next to the other she-wolf and the other two in front of her.

"Stiles and Mary Anne says you know how Jackson's parents died," Scott started.

"Maybe," Erica said.

Mary Anne rolled her eyes and leaned forward, deadpanning at her. "Talk."

"It was a car accident," she said to Mary Anne specifically, knowing exactly which nerves to strike, but it made Mary Anne think for a moment. That was why Jackson didn't put a restraining order, he knew what it felt like to become an orphan because of a fatal car crash, and that was why he was sometimes nice to Mary Anne growing up. She could relate to him like no one else could. "My dad was the insurance investigator, and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he's eighteen."

Mary Anne internally groaned, mildly annoyed that the rich boy was going to get even richer at eighteen. Well, she had no room to talk since the Archer family was pretty well-off.

"So not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even richer at eighteen?" Stiles reiterated, voicing Mary Anne's thoughts.

"Yep," Erica smirked at him.

"There's something so deeply wrong with that," Stiles shuddered slightly.

"Well, your girlfriend is getting a settlement at eighteen because of the same thing," Erica taunted Mary Anne. She didn't even try anymore, she just rolled her eyes again and gave her a look, actually trying to control herself and her anger for once. But it was actually dwindling away, along with her jealousy as she saw that Erica never even posed a threat. She suddenly questioned why she really disliked her in the first place. "You know what? I could try to find the insurance reports on my dad's inbox. He keeps everything." And for once Erica was being helpful as she opened up her pink laptop.

"Wow, gee, thanks for your kindness," Mary Anne muttered sarcastically, everyone hearing her but only Stiles reacted, giving her a brief quirk of his lips.

Just then, the overhead speakers rang through the room. "Scott McCall, please report to the principle's office." He and Stiles looked at each other and Mary Anne smiled sympathetically and shrugged one shoulder at him.

"Whatever you did, good luck," she patted his shoulder as he got up to head out to the principle's office.

Mary Anne couldn't tell how long it was but soon after Scott left Jackson and Harris returned, but they didn't notice as they got the reports up, Mary Anne moving to kneel beside Erica and look at the digital files.

"Whoa, look the dates," Stiles said.

"Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA. The estimated time of death - 9:26 P.M., June 14th, 1995," Erica read from the file.

Mary Anne winced and said in a grave voice, "Jackson's birthday is June 15th." Erica looked down at her and this time without any malice or mischief, so she only raised her eyebrows up at her. At the sound of a zipper, Mary Anne turned her head and saw Harris getting ready to leave so the six teenagers got up, ready to leave as well when Harris chuckled, almost nefariously.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. Uh, yes, I'm leaving. But none of you are," he said smugly. "You may go when you're done with the re-shelving." He patted the massive carts full of books. "Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Mary Anne glared daggers at the man and if looks could kill, he'd be more than just six-feet under. "He's the fucking devil, I swear," she exploded once he left and Stiles only looked at her sympathetically. "And I thought Peter was." That got a quiet snort from him, and Mary Anne forgot about her anger, for a few moments.

☾

After Scott came back, he, Allison, Stiles, and Mary Anne moved in between two bookcases with a cart, discussing their newly required information.

"It means he was born after his mom died - by c-section. They had to pull him out of her dead body," Stiles explained, leaning his forearms against the metal cart like the other three. The words made Mary Anne only feel a little sorry for Jackson - no one should have to come into the world like that.

"So was it an accident or not?" Allison asked quietly.

Mary Anne shrugged, "The word all over the report is 'inconclusive'."

"Then his parents could have been murdered?" Scott theorized.

"If they were, then it falls in line with the Kanima myth," Stiles answered. "You know? It seeks out and kills murderers."

"But for Jackson? Or the person controlling him?" Allison questioned.

A determined look fell upon Scott's face. "We have to talk to him. We have to tell him." He was already walking away when Allison and Mary Anne protested in unison.

"He's not gonna li-"

"That is so not a good idea!" Mary Anne sighed and shook her head, her stomach churning with dread and apprehension. Knowing she, or the other two, could stop Scott, she picked up a few books to put away, walking a bit up the aisle, placing two back when chaos was unleashed. Suddenly, crashes filled the library. Her spine stiffened and her gums ached as her fangs involuntarily popped out, eyes glowing, books falling from her arms. Before she could even register something flying over her, the overhead lights falling, an arm wrapped around her waist as Stiles grabbed both her and Allison to pull them away and to the floor.

Tables were flipped and sparks fell from the ruined overhead lights, done within minutes. By one person alone.

A scream echoed in her ears, one of pain, among the chaos. A sharp pain flared up in her head, dull enough to ignore, but sharp enough to notice when it first started.

Mary Anne heard a growl that she knew came from Scott and a hiss she recognized from when the Kanima, or rather, Jackson trapped her, Stiles and Derek in the pool. The aforementioned werewolf was knocked back into another cart of books, quickly recovering and catching sight of his friends. He instantly got up and crouched down on the floor behind the bookcase, right in front of Allison while Mary Anne was crouched protectively in front of Stiles, her werewolf features subsiding, save for a faint ring of gold and green respectively around her pupils.

The four witnessed a half-transformed Jackson lull his head around, almost like he was in a daze, or being controlled. His arm lifted, a piece of chalk in hand, writing something that sent chills running down her spine.

STAY OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU

Before anyone could stop him, Jackson leaped out of a window, glass shattering and falling to the floor to join the mess. Scott stood first and the other three followed him, stepping out into the wreckage. Both Stiles and Mary Anne saw Erica lying on the floor in the next aisle on her side, starting to convulse, gasping and letting out short breaths, the two rushing over to her. Despite her feelings, Mary Anne knew it was serious. Erica wasn't supposed to have seizures anymore, the Bite cured it.

Stiles stepped over her to crouch behind the convulsing blonde, grabbing her bicep, while Mary Anne got to her knees to help Stiles try to steady her.

"Whoa, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Stiles grasped the other couple's attention, pulling Erica up and into his arms, and this time, Mary Anne didn't feel a surge of jealousy, instead, it was concern. No matter how much she disliked Erica, she wasn't going to not help her, especially if it was as something as serious as a seizure.

"I think she's having a seizure."

Scott dived to the couple while Allison went to check on Matt in the next aisle, not knowing what to do with a werewolf having a seizure, but Mary Anne was right next to him, sliding her hand underneath her mass of blonde curls to wrap around the nape her neck, stabilizing her head.

"He's alive," Allison informed them, Scott turning his attention to her through a gap in the books.

"Hey, we need to get her to a hospital," Stiles stated.

Erica protested shakily, "Derek - only to Derek."

Mary Anne pursed her lips and shared a look with Stiles, who only looked confused but Mary Anne understood a little. She understood it was a pack thing, something Scott told her about. A Beta's bond to their Alpha was strong, so it was instinct for Erica to want to have Derek for this.

"When we get her to the hospital -" Scott started but Erica cut him off, saying the same thing in a wavering voice, still gasping.

"To Derek. To Derek."

"Go," Allison said firmly.

Scott moved to go to his girlfriend, Stiles instantly calling out, "Hey, Scott!" But he didn't listen.

"I'm staying here with you."

Mary Anne had to refrain from rolling her eyes.

"They can't take her by themselves. Not like this," Allison pointed out, worry bleeding into her voice. "And Matt - I've got to call an ambulance for him, just go."

"This doesn't feel right."

"It's okay."

Mary Anne tuned them out and used her other hand to hold one of Erica's hands who held onto the small appendage tightly, going on intuition as she murmured, "Just hang on, Erica. We'll get you to Derek. We'll get you to him, don't worry." Unbeknownst to her, Stiles was staring, wondering where this side of her came from, especially when it was directed towards Erica. Thankfully, he didn't have to dwell on it as Scott came back around and slipped his arms under her knees and back, taking her carefully but quickly from his arms, who started to rise like Mary Anne. The two went ahead of the werewolf, leaving the library to bring her to her Alpha.

☾

The trio got her to where Derek and his pack were hiding, an abandoned subway. Erica's condition only grew worse as they got there. Her breathing was shaky, heartbeat erratic, body convulsing uncontrollably. The Alpha had instantly taken her and moved her into a subway car, the three teenagers following.

"Pull her up!" Derek ordered, Stiles taking the initiative immediately and moving behind Erica to hold her up on the floor, Scott and Mary Anne kneeling near her but she was the closest to the other blonde.

"Is she dying?" Stiles asked the question that had been running through Mary Anne's mind the entire time.

"She might, I..." Derek trailed off, actually flustered and concerned. He took the arm that was closest to Mary Anne, pulling up the leather sleeve and continued. "Which is why this is gonna hurt."

Mary Anne's eyes widened as Derek twisted her forearm, the snap of her bones audible, causing Erica to let out pained screams.

"You broke her arm!" Stiles yelled, baffled, while all Mary Anne could do was hold a hand to her mouth. It was the same instinct as before, and when she first met Erica, worried for her well being, despite their mutual detest for each other.

"It'll trigger the healing process," Derek explained. "I still gotta get the venom out. This is where it's really gonna hurt." Derek squeezed until the skin broke and blood spurted out, only making the volume of Erica's cries increase, until it just stopped and she fell limp against Stiles, looking up at him and breathing heavily.

"Stiles... You make a good Batman." She then turned to Mary Anne who had glassy eyes and pain radiating in the same place Erica had her bone broken, like she could literally feel her anguish. "And you make a good Catwoman." She proceeded to lose consciousness, succumbing to the pain.

Once it was over, Erica was still passed out in the car as Derek left the car, Scott standing to follow. Mary Anne turned her head and looked at Stiles who was stilling holding Erica, and again, there was no jealousy or anger, only sympathy for the girl. "I'll be right back," she whispered, sending him a small smile. He returned it, but he was still squicked by the sight of Erica's blood and the sound of her bones crushing audibly. "She was right; you make an amazing Batman."

Stiles huffed out a breathy laugh. "Same to you, Catwoman."

The two shared fond looks and loving smiles before she stood to her full height and followed the other two werewolves out of the subway car quickly, catching up with them and standing next to Scott.

"You know who it is," Scott accuses him, their steps slowing down and stopping as Derek turned on his heel to face the two teens, sitting on a crate.

"Jackson," Derek said indifferently.

Mary Anne narrowed her eyes. "You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn't you?" She joined in on the accusations, seeing right through him. Derek only responded with a short bob of his head.

Scott looked down at Mary Anne, a silent conversation with each other. She knew what had to be done, even if she didn't particularly like it. She knew they were gonna need all the help they could get to solve the Kanima problem. "We're gonna help you stop him," he decided, voice hard. "As part of your pack." Derek looked at them, lips pursed and expression impassive, but his eyes showed his surprise. "If you want us in, fine. But we'll do it on one condition. We're gonna catch him, not kill him."

"And?" Derek prompted, raising his eyebrows.

Mary Anne spoke this time, "And we do it our way."

☾

Finally! I updated this!

I'm so sorry for being so absent, that I haven't really posted a new chapter since July. Like I said on my conversation board, I've been dealing with drama and high school (first year, and I already hate most of my classes), and I had a period of writer's block and self-doubt. Thank you for those who stayed, and thank you for three thousand views on this book. I really don't deserve it.

And I hope y'all can forgive me for my lateness and failure to post a new chapter.

I'm still trying to forgive myself for it.

And three more things:

1. Do y'all like 3rd person POV better than 1st person POV? Just asking 'cause I obviously changed the POV...

2. Please give me your thoughts, either at the end of the chapter or as you're reading it! I'd really appreciate it and it gives me more motivation and confidence in the things I write.

3. Finally, thank you @skepticalstilinski and @AlexMorgan3213, you guys gave me the motivation to continue this series. It meant more to me than y'all know.

Void_Stiles_is_Life xxx