CHAPTER THREE
All too soon

--

STILES STILINSKI HAD NEVER BEEN SO SCARED IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE. His eyes wide and brimmed with a waterfall of tears, near overflowing in a cascade of pearls down ghostly white cheeks. As he came face to face with what could only be described as his imminent death, his beating heart came to an abrupt holt, tingling pains ride up his spine as this sickly virus known as terror plagues through the rest of his body, infecting every sense he has with paralysis.

The gloriously terrifying beast that stood towering over him, being a near exact replica of the drawing in the rustic journal.

The wolf snarled, bearing it's huge yellowing teeth, the deadly snarl seeming to be highlighted in the cold glow of the rising moonlight. The horse-sized dog took a padded step forward, startling the buzzcut boy out of his immobility.

The boy stepped back, tripping over the discarded journal in his panic. As soon as he made contact with the floor, his state of shock had dissipated as he began to frantically scramble backwards away from the beast. The painful sensation arising in his chest, one all to familiar but still long forgotten. His throat began closing up, the choking of breath and welling of newfound tears blurred his vision, hating himself for how weak he was feeling.

The snow coloured creature let out a loud growl at it's escaping prey. Stepping forwards again and placing a heavy paw on the boy's lower legs, preventing him from moving any further.

Stiles, having no where to go, looked into the eyes of the Alpha wolf, the red eyes burning back at him as salty tears ran down his reddening cheeks. The wolf lowered itself closer to the boy's face, who responded by fearfully scrunching his eyes closed at the sight of the oncoming canines, quietly praying to any and all higher powers that he did not formerly believe, hoping to god that this wasn't going to be his end.

As if having heard the quiet mutters of the boy apologising to his friends and his dad, the pressure on his feet worsened to the point where he thought his bones were going snap like twigs do under footfall.

The breath of the large beast fanned hotly over his face, the heat immense and only alerting the young teen further to how close this beast really was. The wolf stopped moving, it breathing quieting, suddenly enough that Stiles' curiosity got the better of him and he peeped open his hazel eyes.

The monster let out a deafening roar.

The force of the noise was enough to knock the wind out of the teen, his ears ringing despite the desperate attempts to cover them with his hands, his eyes also sealed shut once again as if that could possibly aid his attempt to block out the overpowering noise, and nearly as soon as it had started, it had finished.

Tears were freely tumbling down his cheeks, his breath coming out in ragged cries of despair. The panic in his chest slowly diminishing. His hands loosened over his ears, his eyes still closed tight, the only sound he could here were those of his own breathing and the faint ringing in his ears.

Am I dead?

Slowly opening his tear filled eyes, Stiles scanned the area. Not seeing any sign of the wolf.

He looked down at the ground next to him, the journal also having disappeared.

There was no sign that the wolf was ever there, no footprints in the dirt, no disturbance in the leaves.

Stiles quickly got up to his feet, racing to his jeep, getting in and instantly driving off.

He didn't stop until he was parked in his driveway, somewhere he deemed safe in the rural area. His breathing was still heavy, as though he was desperately trying to get the oxygen to stay in his lungs, cold sweat perpetrated the skin of his forehead, cooling down his panic almost instantly.

"It was all just my head, just me worrying, that couldn't have been real." He sighed, leaning his forehead onto his hands which were still tightly gripping the steering wheel of the stationery vehicle. "Its not real."

The words he repeated over and over in his head became his clarity, his breathing stabilised, he slowly sat back upright. Scrunching up his nose at the now sticky sensation on his forehead.

Looking down to his hands, his eyes widening at the sight. There was his clarity.

The sticky, half dried coat of saliva, that still covered his hand.

--

"Well what do you think?"

"I think you're crazy, but so is everything else right now..." Scott sighed after listening to his friends account of the previous night. He wouldn't admit it to his best friend, but the topic of conversation had fear panting through his chest, taking him back to the night of the Lacrosse game when he witnessed the giant wolf himself, the forcefully resurfaced memory which he had told himself many of times, was just a figment of his imagination. "But after hearing what Deaton said to your dad yesterday, this wolf you saw has to be the Alpha."

"I know, that's what I was thinking! But what would that Nox kid have to do with an Alpha, do you think he's a werewolf too?"

"No I would have picked up on it if he was." Scott rubbed a hand over his tanned face, wiping away the light sheen of sweat that had formed, the two pulled up to the school gates in the dead of night, in front of the yard full of buses, including the badly damaged one that remained there.

The two were set in an almost eerie silence as Stiles shut off the jeep. The pair getting out of the vehicle and walking towards the gate.

"Hey, no, just me, someone needs to keep watch." Scott says, lightly hitting the other's arm.

"How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?" Stiles asks, locking his hands on the gate and beginning to climb.

"Because there's only two of us!" Scott stresses, pulling Stiles by the arm and off the gate.

"Okay why's this starting to feel like your Batman and I'm Robin," Stiles points between himself and his friend, exaggerating his annoyance. "I don't want to be Robin all the time!"

"No one's Batman and Robin any of the time."

"Not even some of the time?" Stiles asks disappointed in this revelation.

"Just stay here-"

"Oh my god!" Stiles draws out, walking back to the jeep in annoyance.

Stiles huffs as Scott scales the fence, walking cautiously over to the bus. He was trying to occupy himself whilst his friend did his thing, tapping tunes against his steering wheel, hoping to occupy his mind from wandering back to the fright of the other night.

Except that doesn't seem to happen.

His eyes catch something glowing in the trees, red orbs of blood and power meeting his own hazel pools.

His breath was caught in his throat, although this time he was not as scared. He continued staring into the dark scene, his eyes adjusting more to the light, being able to make out the full outline of the wolf faintly in the dark. Though his eyes found there way back to those ruby gems. The wolf slowly retreated into the woods, though not without a final glance at the boy, a glance that almost beckoned Stiles out of his car and into the woods alongside this magnificent creature.

But all too soon the wolf was gone.

Stiles looked back to his friend, seeing a flashlight making it's way towards the bus that Scott was in, Stiles immediately jumping to action in sounding his car horn. Scott dashed out of the bus, Damn near flying over the fence due to his werewolf powers.

"Go, go!"

The two sped down the road, driving fast into town and away from the school.

"Did it work, did you remember?" Stiles borderline shouted at the wolf boy next to him, the adrenaline of the situation kicking in.

"Yeah, I was there last night," Scott pauses, catching his breath and looking to Stiles. "And the blood, a lot of it was mine."

"So you did attack him?" Stiles looks to him, knowing that the answer to that question would be a life changer for Scott.

"No." Scott confirms, being sure of himself in that answer. "I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine. It was Derek."

"What about the driver?"

"I think I was actually trying to protect him."

"Wait what, why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

"That's what I don't get." Scott stuttered. Confusion falling over his face and a far away look in his eyes as he searches for the answers.

"Its got to be a pack thing." Stiles suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Like an initiation, you do the kill together." Tying together the facts was something Stiles had always been good at, so it gave them a most probable answer.

"Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?" Scott snarked, almost scoffing as he did so, this whole werewolf thing starting to be a real pain in his arse.

"Yeah but you didn't do it, which mean you're not a killer."

"And it also means that I can go out with Allison." The signature goofy McCall grin taking over his face and a dreamy like expression in his eyes.

"I was going to say that it means you won't kill me." The near disappointment in his voice evident on his face, the small part of him that kinda hated his best friend being in a relationship growing slightly. It all just reminded him of how he was getting nowhere with Lydia, or anywhere with anyone, and now that Scott had Allison, he was more alone than ever.

"Oh yeah, that too."

--

Once again, Scott had ditched Stiles. Only this time it was for his group date with Aliison, Lydia and of course Jackass- I mean Jackson.

It was around six o'clock in the evening and the sun was starting to set, as Stiles drove through the preserve roads he was very conscious of the curfew and how he didn't really want his dad to catch him breaking it.

He wasn't really thinking when he parked at the side of the road, looking around to find himself in the same place that he had been just the other night with the stolen journal.

He cautiously got out of his blue jeep, hyperaware of his surroundings, every little crunch in the leaves, every small gust in the branches.

"H-hey! I know you're out there!" He shouted hesitantly into the cluster of trees. He waited a minute, silence followed, his confidence grew. "Here wolfy wolfy- ah!"

Stiles quickly spun around, the small growl of the wolf having shocked him as it emerged from behind his car. The awkward boy backed up a bit, putting some distance between himself and the wolf. He honestly had no clue why he was doing this, he supposed at one point he had caught on to Scott's tone, the possibility of not being believed being too much for the Stilinski child to bare.

In a sense, he could also admit that he wanted to prove this to himself,that this creature was real, that this wasn't some twisted dream made from his sleep deprived mind. This was real.

The giant snow furred wolf stood in front of the boy, staring down with curious red eyes at the human teenager. There was no threatening aura around the creature like there was in their first meeting.

Stiles was able to take a proper look at the wolf before him, being able to point out some key differences from the journal's pictures. This wolf was not as big as a horse, but shorter than the boy. It was in fact about the size of a pony, but was still big enough to be ridden.

He noticed the scar that resided over the creatures left eye, the pink skin sticking out against the white fur. The scar looked deep, and had fortunately missed the enchanting red eye that it ran across, looking to be at least four inches long.

Without thinking, he reached out a pale hand, his enchantment towards the creature outweighing his fear. He had an indescribable desire to touch the white fur, to stand closer despite the obvious danger that he could be in.

With the wolf watching cautiously as the boy moved, it seemed to anger and all of a sudden a pressure hit the air. The wolf snapped out, jaws clashing loudly, barely missing the teen's hand.

A warning.

The boy jumped backwards from the threat, startled by the sudden change in behaviour. However, before his panic could build, before his mind became hazy and his breathing unachievable, the wolf turned, walking back into the woods and out of sight.