𝐀𝐋𝐏𝐇𝐀 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐓
i've met some pricks in my time but you sir, are a fucking cactus

STILES let out an irritated sigh which made Alex turn around to see what he was staring at. A man, an FBI agent, stood there, and when he saw Stiles, he let out a sigh much like Stiles had done.

"Who's that?" Alex asked Stiles, leaning forward where her lips were millimeters from touching his ear. She heard the intake of breath and the increase of heart rate which made her smile.

"Scott's dad," he whispered back, turning his head to stare at her. Their eyes linked gazes and froze for a second. His pupils enlarged the longer he looked at her.

"And why do we hate him?" She breathed out, tilting her head slightly. When she tilted her head, she noticed how the light reflected off of his eyes, allowing her to not only see a whisky coloe, but also a rich, warm, honey color.

"Long story short, he's a douche and hurt Scott."

Alex nodded, only needing to hear those words. Scott might not completely trust her, but she saw him as a good friend. This group, this pack, even if they don't completely trust her, they still made her feel more at home than she has ever felt.

Scott's dad made his way quickly over to where they were sitting. "A Stilinski at the center of this whole mess. What a shocker," he said sarcastically which made Alex purse her lips. "And who might this be?" He gestured to Alex with a tight lipped smile.

All she did was smirk, tilting her head slightly upwards where he could fully see her blue eyes. He sighed before turning back to Stiles. "Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"

"If you ask the questions without the usual level of stupid." Alex snorted at Stiles response and laid her hand on his arm.

Where's your dad, and why's no one been able to contact him?" Agent douche bag asked, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"We don't know," Alex quickly came to Stiles' and his dad's defense. "We haven't seen him in hours."

"Is he drinking again?"

Stiles heaved a sigh. Alex lowered her hand from where it sat on his arm and laid it on his hand. His soft but clammy hand. He flipped his hand over, entwining their fingers together. She smiled widely at the sight.

"What do you mean, again? He never had to stop."

"But he did have to slow down. Is he drinking like he used to?"

Alex jumped out of her seat in a flash, Stiles' hand falling from her grasp. She poked the douche's chest, her face heating up in anger.

"Now, you listen here, you egotistical jacka—" She was cut off as Stiles hand covered her mouth and was pushed behind him.

"All right, how about this?" He snapped, his hand slipping into her's releasing the hand he had on her mouth. "Next time I see him, I'll give him a field sobriety test, okay? We'll do the alphabet, start with "F," end with "U."

"How about you just tell me what the hell happened here?" Agent Douche questioned, seemingly to not give a flying fuck about Stiles' dad. Alex exhaled loudly, trying to keep her temper under control.

"We don't know what happened here," Stiles stated, speaking for the both of them. "We were stuck in the elevators the whole time."

"You're not the one's who put the name on the doors, are you?"

"What name?"

STILES and Alex walked into the Argents apartment right behind Allison and her father since they were just getting home themselves.

They left the hospital the moment we saw "Argent" written in red on the elevator doors. If that doesn't scream that he's the next sacrifice, then they don't know what does.

"The word is Guardian, Allison. More than anyone, you know that's a role I haven't exactly lived up to lately," Chris replied as he took a few steps into the dark apartment.  

Allison rolled her eyes as she sat her bow down next to the office door, "But she took Scott's mother and Stiles' father. That's not a coincidence."  

"Yeah, I'd also consider the fact that someone put your name up in large block letters on the elevator doors. That kind of felt like a warning to me," Stiles said as they all took places around Argents desk.  

Alex nodded in agreement, "Personally, I think it screams warning."

"I think it's Morrell," Allison apple up, "She knows a lot more than she lets on, and she might even be trying to help us."  

"Well, she needs to get on that a lot faster, okay? Seeing as how the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away." Stiles stressed, taking a seat in one of the empty chairs.  

Argent leaned up against his desk. "Stiles, don't give up hope."  

"They could already be dead."  

Alex shook her head. "I don't think so," she spoke up, "There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning, still moving pieces into place." She turned to Chris, pointing at him. "And you're one of them." She sighed, using her free hand to run through her hair. "Everything she's done has been on a telluric current, so Melissa and the sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents, right?" She looked up from the map that Chris had put out for them.

"You seriously want to go after her?" Stiles interrupted, his voice raspy and low. "I mean, what if she just takes you like the others, huh? No offense, but what's the difference between you and them?"  

Right as Stiles finished the clicking sound of a gun caught my attention. Argent stood there with his gun in hand, and a look of determination on his face. It didn't matter to him that he was potentially in danger, the only thing that mattered was finding Stiles' dad, and Scott's mom.

"I'm carrying a forty five. Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face, but personally, I'd like to see how she holds up with half her skull blown off. We've got one priority right now, and that is to find Melissa and your dad. We've got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The only thing we don't have is time, which is why I need the three of you."  

Stiles let out a small sigh before nodding. "Where do we start?"

"The place where the sacrifices have been committed have usually been different from where the bodies have been found," Alex pointed out, leaning over the map. "Chris and I think the placement has to do with the strength of the current, so there's the school, the animal clinic, the bank."

"Wait a sec," Stiles abruptly spoke, "she wouldn't use the same place twice, would she?"

"Only if she didn't succeed the first time," Chris told him which sent both Allison and Alex into realization.

"Scott's boss."

"Deaton." Alex nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. "It was her only failure. That could mean something."

"That's just one place so far. We're gonna need a lot more help."

"You doubt me?" Alex asked Stiles and upon seeing his scared expression, she winked at him.

"What about Lydia?"

"Lydia?" Chris looked at them in confusion. "What can she do?"

"Uh, Lydia's got sort of a talent." Chris rose his eyebrows at Stiles. "She somehow ended up finding a couple of the bodies, um, without actually looking for them."

"What is she? Psychic?"

"She's something."

"OH." Stiles voice of shock brought Alex out of hee calculating thoughts. She looked up to see Chris checking his time, and Allison twirling her Chinese ring daggers. "I thought you guys were retired."

"Retired, yes. Defenseless, no," Chris simply retorted to Stiles. "Make sure your phone's on. If you hear from Scott, you let us know immediately."

"Yeah, I'm thinking that's gonna be kind of unlikely," Alex commented, clicking her tongue.

"You three, try to remember he's just doing what he thinks is right," Chris roughly told us.

Alex snapped her head to the door upon hearing a fifth heartbeat. Isaac Lahey stood there in all his blonde glory.

Isaac frowned. "I can't shoot a gun or use a crossbow, but...well, I'm getting pretty good with these." His free hand outstretched, showing the claws Derek had granted him.

"I don't believe it. Scott can't really be with them - he can't be."

Alex understood why Scott did it, but even if someone held someone she loved captive, they would be dead.

Stiles' face fell as he spoke, "You didn't see the look on his face, though. It was-" Stiles sighed as he tried to explain his best friend's betrayal. 

Lydia looked over at Alex before her eyes flicked back over to Stiles. "Then what can I do? I mean, I get that I'm some kind of, like, human Geiger counter for death. But I don't know how to turn it on and off yet. All I know is that she tried to kill me because of—"Her eyes then widened.

Stiles glanced at her in confusion, "Because of what? Hey, Lydia, what?" 

"When she called me a Banshee, she was surprised by it. What if that's not why she tried to kill me?" Lydia asked quickly. 

Alex sighed, running her hands over her face, "Then why did she?" 

"That's what we need to find out."

"WHAT?" Alex looked back at Stiles in confusement.

"Oh, God," he mumbled out and she heard the huge intake of breath and his heart beat rising.

"What is it now?" She asked, worried, cupping his face in her hands.

"It's from Isaac. Jennifer, she... she has Allison's father." Alex's eyes widened in realization. "She took him. She's got all three now."

"There's still time," Alex spoke, lowering her hands from his face and onto his shoulders. "Stiles?"

He pushed himself away from her and went in circles, his eyes wide in fear and terror. The sound of his erratic heartbeat and the fear in his eyes made her heart ache.

"Stiles!?" That's when she realized he was having a panic attack. Quickly, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him into the locker room.

They both slid to the floor, me trying to comfort him. "Just try and think about something else, anything else," she stuttered out, her eyes widening as she had no clue on what to say or do to comfort him.

"Like what?" He meekly asked her, looking up into her eyes.

"Uh, happy things. Good things. Uh, friends, family." She winced as she heard what she said. "Oh, I mean... not family."

"Oh, God," Stiles grumbled out, closing his eyes.

"Okay." She took in a deep breath. "Try and slow your breathing."

"I can't. I can't." Stiles started hyperventilating.

Alex closed her eyes tightly, trying to think of a way to save him when, without thinking, she grabbed his beautiful face in her hands and pressed their lips together. Even though this was a last minute thought to save his life, it didn't mean she didn't enjoy it. She did more than enjoy it. She loved it.

His lips tasted like mints and there was even a tad bit of honey in there. The way his lips tasted sent her brain into a frenzy that she barely even registered when Stiles' breathing went back to normal. But, she did, so she pulled back.

Or at least she attempted to, but arms wrapped around her waist and lips pressed against her's. She let out a grunt upon not being ready.

And that's when it hit her.

She kissed Stiles. Stiles is kissing her. He kissed me back.

Happiness bubbled up inside her and she smiled against his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck, her hands getting tangled in his hair.

Needing breath, Stiles pulled away, opening his eyes, allowing her to see the darkened color of his eyes. "Wow," he breathed out.

"Yeah, wow," she agreed. I mean, she had had many, many, many kissed in her thousand year life, but none like that. With him, it seemed like their lips were meant to be connected like that.

Call it cheesy, but that's exactly what it felt like — home.

"HOW'D you guys find out?" Scott questioned, approaching Deaton, Stiles and Alex, his eyebrows rose as he noticed the blonde.

"Lydia. You?"

"Morrell." Scott nodded at Stiles. "None of the other alphas know where it is either."

"So, if this works, are you gonna tell them?" Stiles asked.

"I can't stop Jennifer without them."

But you have me, Alec thought. "How about we concentrate on finding your parents first?" Alex got back on track, pointing to Stiles and Scott.

"What's the plan?"

"Essentially, you, Allison, and Stiles need to be surrogate sacrifices for your parents," Deaton informed the puppy eyed boy.

"We die for them?"

"But he can bring us back," Stiles told his best friend before facing Deaton. "You can... you can bring us back, right?"

"You remember the part where I said it was dangerous?" Alex fired at Stiles, the nerves getting to her. "If it goes right, the three of you will be dead for a few seconds, but there's something else you need to think about. This is a dangerous thing for more reasons than one. You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill the pages of a bestiary with. It will draw them here, like a beacon," she informed them, remembering the time she sacrificed herself to find a close friend of her's to only find her dead at the hands of Niklaus.

"Doesn't sound any worse than anything we've already seen," Stiles mumbled to her, chewing down on his thumb nail.

"You'd be surprised at what you have yet to see."

"Is that it?" Scott questioned.

"No", Deaton deadpanned. "It'll also have an effect on the three of you. You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of a darkness around your heart, and permanent, like a scar."

"Like a tattoo."

"ALL right," Deaton's voice sounded. Looking toward the three teenagers, he questioned, "What did you bring?"

Stiles looked down at the slightly dented Sheriff's badge in his hand, stating: "Um - I got my dad's badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"It doesn't need to look good if it has meaning."

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac asked, glancing down at the bullet in Allison's hand.

"Yeah, my dad made it as kind of a ceremonial thing," Allison explained. "When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the Code."

"Scott?" 

The werewolf with the crooked jaw looked up from his mother's watch, and began to explain, ""My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say that it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked." 

"Okay," Deaton began once the teens had explained their sentimental objects. "The three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially, well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether."

"Alex... You go with Stiles." Both Stiles and Alex blushed furiously. "Lydia, you're with Allison."

"Are you sure?" Allison hesitantly asked. "I mean, Scott and I both have to go under."

"It's okay," Scott told her with a small smile.

Deaton, Lydia and Alex got behind the bathtubs, watching as Scott, Allison and Stiles hesitantly got into ice filled bathtubs.

Alex sucked in a breath as Stiles grabbed ahold of her hand, visibly shaking. He looked up at me, his head tilted back. "Don't let me die, okay?" She nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. "Promise?"

"I-I promise," she told him before lightly pushing down on his shoulders, his eyes closing slowly as his head submerged into the water.