Alice hopped down the stairs of her brother's loft two steps at a time, the soft material of her yellow skirt flouncing with every bounce.

Her brother had been adamant that the girl leave Beacon Hills immediately, but in response to his demands, the Hale girl had simply giggled and set off for his guest bedroom, where she stayed the night.

"You know," Isaac was saying as he paced back-and-forth in the loft, "I'm starting not to like this idea. It sounds kinda dangerous."

"Good morning," Alice sang, kissing Isaac on the cheek as she passed into the kitchen, causing the boy to blush bright red.

"You- you know what?" Isaac attempted to barrel forward, "I definitely don't like this idea, and I definitely don't like him."

"What idea?" Alice frowned at her new friend's distress.

"You don't get to know," Derek looked at his sister sternly, "you're not even supposed to be here."

Alice huffed, making a flicking motion with her finger at her brother.

Isaac jumped, startled as the book in Derek's hand went flying across the room.

"Alice," Derek groaned, "pick that up."

The brunette simply stuck her tongue out at the older Hale and poured herself some orange juice.

"What the hell just happened?" Isaac asked, his cerulean blue eyes widened in shock as he pointed to the book now laying against the wall on the opposite side of the loft.

"You'll be fine," Derek evaded, going to retrieve the novel.

"Does it have to be him?" Isaac's focus was brought back to the matter at hand at his Alpha's words.

"He knows how to do it," Derek was becoming annoyed, "I don't. It would be more dangerous if I tried doing it myself."

Alice quickly lost interest in their conversation, not responding well to the males' agitated tones. Instead, she focused her attention on a lady bug resting on the window sill in the kitchen.

She smiled, leaning in and gently resting a finger on the sill next to the insect, which scurried up her finger and into her hand.

The girl giggled at the feeling of the lady bug's soft legs tickling at her skin as it crawled along her hand, and she began counting the dark spots that speckled its red outer shell.

The loft door opened, the loud noise scaring the lady bug into flying away.

"Boys," a familiar voice called, and she watched with curious gray eyes as her uncle, Peter entered the loft, "F.Y.I, coming back from the dead has left my abilities somewhat impaired, but the hearing still works. So, I hope you're comfortable saying whatever it is that you're feeling straight to my face."

"We don't like you," Derek spoke dryly, "now shut up and help us."

Alice giggled slightly at Derek's words, but she shrunk back uncomfortably as her uncle's gaze fixed upon her.

"Alice?" he spoke in surprise, his blue eyes lighting up in happiness, "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Don't talk to her," Derek growled out.

"Now, that's no way to treat your favorite living uncle, is it?" Peter outstretched his arms, looking at his niece expectantly.

"Derek says I'm not supposed to like you," Alice whispered, her emotions conflicting as she forced herself to refuse a hug, which was something she was not used to doing.

"Derek," Peter frowned, "are you attempting to keep me from the only pure thing left in my life?"

"Yes," Derek shrugged, "I don't need you corrupting her."

"Fair enough," Peter sighed, flicking out his claws and smiling venomously at Isaac.

Derek pulled a chair into the middle of the loft, before taking a seat on the sidelines himself. Isaac sat hesitantly in the chair, his eyes flitting about nervously.

"Relax," Peter circled around Isaac like he was prey, "I'll get more out of you if you're calm."

Alice frowned, observing the situation and coming forward to hold Isaac's hand in her own comfortingly.

"How do you know how to do this again?" Isaac asked nervously, but he held on tightly to the female's hand.

"It's an ancient ritual used mostly by Alphas," Peter drawled out, as though he had better places to be, "since it's a skill that requires quite a bit of practice. One slip and you could paralyze someone. Or kill them."

"You've had a lot of practice though, right?" Isaac's grip on Alice's hand tightened.

"Well, I've never paralyzed anyone," the eldest male shrugged, tracing his claws along Isaac's neck.

"Wait," Isaac panicked, "does that mean that you've-,"

The curly haired boy's statement was cut off as Peter sunk his claws into Isaac's neck.

Alice whimpered as Isaac's grip on her hand became incredibly painful, but she didn't let go. She may possess supernatural abilities, but heightened strength was not one of them.

Derek's eyes flashed red when he noticed Alice's discomfort, but he couldn't move forward to help her in fear of interrupting the process and permanently damaging Isaac.

Peter's eyes flashed electric blue as Isaac's memories flooded into his mind, the latter struggling roughly against him.

The process lasted for only a few moments before Isaac threw the older beta off of him, Peter being pushed into the table behind them.

Derek immediately rushed forward as Isaac began gasping for breath, gently grasping on to his sister's bruised hand and relieving her of her pain, black running up his veins and into his own body.

"What did you see?" Derek demanded, not even phased by the pain that had Alice crumpling to the ground.

"Uh, it was confusing," Peter panted out, obviously disoriented, "images, vague shapes."

"But you saw something," Derek pressed.

Alice thanked her brother with a kiss on the cheek before rushing to the kitchen, retrieving a hand towel and running it under warm water.

"Isaac found them," Peter explained, as Alice began gently tending to the wounds on Isaac's neck.

"Erica and Boyd?" Derek raised a brow.

"I barely saw them," Peter stuttered, "glimpses."

"But you did see them?" Derek growled slightly.

"Worse," Peter frowned.

Derek blinked, his jaw clenching as he realized the situation.

"Deucalion."

❉

Alice traipsed behind her brother through the empty halls of Beacon Hills High School, her wide eyes trying to drink in as much of the scenery as she could while Derek gently tugged her along.

Without warning, the Alpha took a sharp turn into a nearby classroom, causing Alice to stumble slightly behind him.

Inside the classroom stood the spastic boy and the tanned werewolf she had met earlier, a tall, fair skinned brunette with model-like features, and ---

"Oh wow," Alice whispered as she took in the sight of the final girl in the room.

The girl had strawberry blonde locks, a few tresses of the silky strands pinned neatly back upon her head. Her complexion was fair, pale skin contrasting rosy cheeks and pink, plush lips. Her big, hazel eyes were framed with thick lashes that fluttered softly as she blinked. The girl was sporting a pink floral dress, tied around at the center of her waist with a thin, nude belt that matched the color of her heels perfectly.

Alice stared unabashedly at the female. She had no concept of societal expectations, nor did she care about what others would think. Alice thought that everyone was beautiful in their own way, but this girl had to be one of the most beautiful humans she had ever laid eyes upon.

"Who is this?" the strawberry blonde spoke up, her posture straightening as she surveyed the unknown girl, and Alice thought her voice sounded like a cool summer breeze flowing harmoniously through a field of strawberry bushes.

"Alice," Derek cleared his throat, "this is Lydia and Allison. You already know tweedle dee and tweedle dumb."

Stiles faintly scoffed in the background, but Alice could only focus on Lydia.

"You're just lovely," Alice beamed, but she kept her distance, feeling slightly shy in the beauty's presence.

"Oh," Lydia's eyes widened, "uh, thank you."

The queen bee tried her best to keep up a façade of confidence and superiority, but Allison smiled coyly beside her as she noticed her best friend's cheeks heat up, a pretty pink lighting up her soft features.

"Lydia Martin blushing?" the tall brunette giggled, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Can we just move on to the matter at hand, please?" Lydia snapped, her voice slightly shrill.

"Oh," Scott, who had been watching the encounter with a knowing smile, as he could easily pick up the racing hearts of both females, "right. A girl came up to Allison and Lydia in the hall, and grabbed their arms so forcefully that she bruised them. Allison thinks the bruises form some kind of pattern, so we figured you should take a look."

"You dragged me all the way out here for bruises?" Derek raised a brow in annoyance, crossing his muscular arms over his chest.

"Alright, sourwolf," Stiles spoke up, his leg bouncing wildly from where he was seated atop a school desk, "would you just take a look?"

Derek huffed, nodding his consent, prompting the two best friends to hold out their forearms and display the matching bruises etched into their skin.

"I don't see anything," Derek shrugged, after glancing at their arms.

"Look again," Scott pleaded.

Even if he wasn't sure if Allison's theory was correct, the werewolf would do anything to please her.

"How is a bruise gonna tell me where Boyd and Erica are?" Derek was rather one-track minded.

Allison stared the older Hale down, making it apparent that the rivalry between their two families had not died in the minds of Derek and herself.

"It's exactly the same on both sides," Scott pointed out, "exactly the same."

"It's nothing," Derek was adamant.

"Pareidolia," Lydia spoke up, "seeing patterns that aren't there. It's a subset of Apophenia."

Alice brightened at her input, admiring the girl's intelligence and diplomacy.

"They're trying to help," Scott defended upon seeing Derek's judgmental glare.

"These two?" Derek snapped, "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle, thank you, and this one, who shot about thirty arrows into me and my pack."

"Okay, alright, c'mon," Stiles butted in, waving his arms around, "no one died, right? Look, there may have been a little maiming, a little mangling, but no death. That's what I call an important distinction."

"My mother died," Allison hissed, looking at Derek accusingly.

"Your family's little honor code killed your mother," Derek countered, "not me."

Alice frowned at the heated debate, her anxiety levels rising with every angered word thrown about. She didn't do well with conflict.

"A girl was looking for Scott," Allison's tone was steady, "I'm here to help him. Not you."

"Wanna help?" Derek leaned forward, "Find something real."

Alice could feel her breathing hitch in her throat, and she gently tugged at the bottom of her brother's shirt. The man backed off immediately, his gaze softening as he began to lead his sister out of the room.

"Wait," Scott stopped them, "give her a chance. Let them know you're on our side now."

"Well then maybe you should tell her what her mother was actually trying to do that night," Derek snapped.

With that, he rested the hand on the small of his sister's back and led her out of the room.

❉

Alice sat silently in Derek's Camaro as her brother got situated, watching with rapt attention as Lydia and Allison chatted to each other as they walked out of the school to Allison's car.

"No," her brother glared beside her.

"What?" Alice looked at her brother with wide eyes.

"You're not allowed to fall for one of them," Derek huffed.

Alice frowned, glancing back at the strawberry blonde, quickly flicking a low hanging branch out of the girl's way with a twitch of her finger when the girl was about to walk into it.

"I'm not," she refuted his claims softly.

She didn't need werewolf hearing to know that her heart stuttered at her words.

❉❉❉❉❉❉

Sorry for the wait!! Dedicated to NutellaTyler for hassling me until I wrote this. (I loved it don't worry)

I hope their first impressions were satisfactory?? I don't really know how fast I want to take this. We shall see.

Lots of love and stay hydrated

-Belle xx