c h a p t e r t h i r t y f o u r
larper protection programme

"Harper Verum..."

Harper turned around at the sound of her name, but she instantly regretted it when she saw Erica and Isaac stood there, all geared up in their leather jackets and cheesy smirks. The brunette took a step back, wary of how close they were to her. Unfortunately, her back pressed against the brick wall behind her.

"Why are you out here all by yourself?" Isaac questioned, his tone amused. "Shouldn't you be with that boyfriend of yours? What's his name? Miles?"

She rolled her eyes, "you know his name. Why are you both being such... so douchey to me? I was both of your friends before you took the bite from Derek. I don't understand."

Scott had stayed close friends with her after he had been bitten, but her other friends had turned into complete power-thirsty assholes. They didn't even care either, they just smirked.

"Because we have a job, Harper." Erica edged closer towards her. "And when our alpha gives us a job, we complete it."

Her heartbeat sped up at Erica's words. If Lydia had passed the Kanima test, then why did they still want to test her? She gulped, her brown eyes wide as she looked between her former friends.

"I'd love to help you with your job, but I actually have somewhere to be." She gave a sheepish smile, about to move out of their way when Erica grabbed her by the throat, forcing her against the wall.

Harper winced when her head hit the bricks, Erica's rings digging into her soft skin.

"That's a really good grip you got there..." She wheezed. "Would- would you mind letting me go?" Her voice broke the longer she was being held.

Isaac clenched his jaw from behind Erica. "Put her down." He demanded. "She's not going anywhere, Erica. So put her down."

Erica growled slightly, her hazel eyes flashing a golden colour as she dropped Harper. The Empath sighed in relief, her hand going to massage her neck as she glared at Erica. The werewolf glared back.

"Derek wants Lydia not me, so leave me alone." Harper tighened her grip on the straps of her backpack, holding it closer to her.

Erica smirked, "the last time I checked, you can't pass a test by not completing it."

She lifted her fist up, quickly moving it to slam it into Harper's face. The brunette dropped to the floor quickly, eyes wide as she frantically scrambled away on her hands and knees. She heard Erica cry out as her fist slammed into the wall and Isaac growl at her.

Harper managed to get up onto her feet and she dashed across the car park to where she saw the familiar blue jeep. She had never been so thankful to see Stiles, Allison, Lydia, and Jackson inside it. She opened up the passenger door, slamming it shut as she buckled up quickly.

"Hey, what's-"

"Drive." Harper rushed quickly, looking through the window to see the two werewolves coming towards them. "Bloody hell, Stiles! Drive, drive, drive!"

Stiles obeyed, quickly taking off out of the car park. He kept stealing worried glances at his girlfriend as she rubbed her neck, continuing to look back in concern.

"What the hell happened?" Lydia questioned from the back seat. "What happened to your neck and why were you running?"

Harper turned to face her. "Sore throat. Oh, and I saw Ms Redsoft and I didn't hand in my English homework last week so I had to leg it." She lied convincingly, though everybody but the strawberry blonde knew that it wasn't true.

"Oh..." Lydia sighed. "I thought you were passing Economics easily. Why are you in this study group?"

The teenagers had told Lydia that they were going to Scott's house to study for the upcoming Economics test, but it was just a coverup for what they were really doing- saving her life. Lydia was unknowingly in a lot of danger, so they were protecting her there.

"Same reason as you." Harper replied. "I'm helping."

Lydia just nodded, but she didn't look convinced.

About five minutes later, the blue jeep finally pulled up outside the McCall household, much to Harper's relief. The five teenagers all piled out of the car and onto the pavement, Harper's arm instantly linking with Lydia's as she guided her up the concrete stairs.

"If we're studying at Scott's house, where's Scott?" Lydia questioned as she looked up at his house with raised eyebrows.

"Meeting us here." Stiles told her as he unlocked Scott's door with his spare key. "I think. I hope."

As soon as they were all inside, Stiles turned around and locked all three locks on the door, drawing the curtains shut on either side where there were glass windows. He peered through them before turning around.

Lydia raised her eyebrows at him.

"Uh..." Stiles stalled. "There's been a few break-ins around the neighbourhood."

He spotted a wooden chair beside the stairs and grabbed it, quickly wedging it underneath the door handle. Harper had to refrain from yelling at him how completely obvious he was being. Lydia wasn't stupid, she would figure it out.

"And a murder." He lied, causing Jackson to sigh. "Yeah, it was bad."

They remained in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Allison gave a pointed look towards Jackson. Jackson rolled his eyes before turning to his ex girlfriend.

"Lydia, follow me. I need to talk to you for a minute." He jerked his head towards the stair case.

Lydia sighed, "seriously?" She groaned. "What is going on with everyone?"

They walked away and Harper turned to face Stiles and Allison.

"Erica and Isaac tried to get me to do that stupid Kanima test in the school car park after school." Harper announced, causing both of them to look panicked. "They said that you can't pass a test if you haven't taken it."

Stiles ran a hand through his buzz cut, "oh God. So not only are they after Lydia, but they're still after you? This is just great. Perfect."

Harper bit her lip. "Why do they even think it's me? Derek knows what I am."

Allison frowned deeply, "human?"

"Empath." Harper sighed, realising that nobody had told Allison yet.

The hunter's eyes widened. "You're an Empath? Gerard told me that there is only one family left in the whole world. That's you?"

"That's me." Harper nodded, rubbing her temples. "Empath- not a Kanima."

"It's such a bad theory, but Derek thinks that because Empath's can be controlled quite easily, that you are a part of it. He thinks that there might be more than one." Stiles continued to check out of the window.

He suddenly froze, causing Harper and Allison to look at him strangely. The Stilinski boy turned around, horror written all over his face.

"They're here." He tossed Allison his phone, telling her to call Scott and get him to come to his house.

Harper looked out of the window through the curtains, her eyes wide when she saw four very familiar figures standing across the street. Derek, Isaac, Erica, and Boyd all just stood there, staring at the house eerily. Her heart skipped a beat and she pulled away from the window, frightened.

...

Night had fallen and the four werewolves were all still stood outside the house, this time talking to each other. Allison had her bow in her hand ready, and Harper was stood next to Stiles, anxiously waiting for their first move. Were they going to wait for them to come out, or were they going to break in?

Scott had said that he was on his way ages ago, but so far there had been no sign of the only nice werewolf in Beacon Hills. Stiles was getting stressed, mumbling words under his breath as he stood at the window, running his hand through his hair continuously.

Allison kept looking down at her phone, and Harper noticed her typing something. "What are you doing?" She asked quietly.

"I think..." Allison sighed sadly. "I think I need to call my dad."

Stiles' eyes widened, "but if he finds you here, you and Scott..."

"I know." Allison paused. "But what are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, okay? They're here to kill Lydia, and potentially Harper."

Nobody said anything as Harper moved forwards, taking Stiles' sweaty hand in her own. She lifted her other hand up, squeezing his hand gently, avoiding her broken finger. His hazel eyes casted down to her and he let out a shaky breath, moving her hands up to kiss them.

"I got an idea." Stiles suddenly spoke up. "Just shoot one of them."

Allison scoffed, "are you serious?" She whispered back, raising her eyebrows.

"We told Scott that we could protect ourselves, so let's do it. Or at least give it a shot, right? Look, they don't think we're gonna fight, so if one of them gets hit, I guarantee they'll take off. So just shoot one of them."

"This is a bad idea." Harper shook her head, but made no attempt of stopping her friends.

Allison peeked through the curtains. "Which one?" She asked, swallowing thickly.

"Uh..." Stiles glanced out the window. "Derek. Yeah, shoot him, preferably in the head."

Harper chimed in, "guys, if Scott was able to catch an arrow, then I think Derek definitely could."

Stiles nodded quickly, "okay, just shoot one of the other three then."

"You mean two?"

"No, I mean three."

The couple both pulled back the curtains, their eyes widening when they saw that there was indeed only three werewolves stood outside. Derek, Erica, Boyd... but no Isaac.

"Where is Isaac?" Harper hissed, feeling a queasy feeling in the bottom of her stomach. It was as if her heart was in her throat and she couldn't breath.

Allison shakily took a step back, raising her bow so that it was level with one of them. Suddenly, hands ripped her off of her feet and threw her across the room so she landed on the floor with a loud thud. Isaac then shoved Stiles away from Harper, causing him to land on the living room floor.

His eyes glowed yellow as he grabbed the only brunette left standing, pulling her up off of her feet.

"Found him." Harper gulped.

She watched as Allison quickly scrambled up the stairs to find Lydia out of the corner of her eye, Stiles watching them worriedly as Isaac pulled something out of his back pocket. It was a tiny glass bottle filled with what appeared to be Kanima venom.

Stiles scrambled to get up and Isaac flung his claws out, holding them to Harper's neck. "This doesn't have to get messy, Stilinski." He spat, flipping the cap on the bottle.

Harper struggled in his iron grip. "Let me go, Isaac." She grunted. "You know I'm not the Kanima."

Isaac's grip on Harper loosened when somebody grabbed him from behind, throwing him backwards. Harper fell onto the wooden floor beneath her, cringing at the impact on her hands and knees as she quickly crawled over to Stiles who grabbed her, pulling her into his embrace.

They watched as Scott threw Isaac around his hallway, growling and snarling at the younger werewolf. Harper pulled herself and Stiles up to their feet, backing away as they continued to fight until eventually, of course, Scott won.

...

Scott threw Erica and Isaac's bodies out of his house and onto the grass directly in front of Derek and Boyd's feet. Derek smirked up at Scott, Allison, Harper, and Stiles, unfazed by the fact that two of his beta's were injured.

"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott." Derek raised an eyebrow. "You're not an omega. You're already an alpha of your own pack." He suddenly smiled. "But you know you can't beat me."

Sirens began to wail in the distance as Harper and Stiles shared looks, edging closer towards each other.

"I can hold you off until the cops get here." Scott glared down at him.

A hissing noise came from the roof above them, causing everyone to tense. The four teenagers on the porch rushed off to stand next to Derek and Boyd, trying to get a look at the Kanima. It screamed at them, making Harper flinch and take a step back.

And then, it took off.

"Get them out of here." Derek told Boyd, gesturing down to the unconscious Isaac and paralysed Erica.

Lydia suddenly rushed out of the house, tears streaming down her face. "Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" She yelled.

Everybody gaped at her. They were sure that when the Kanima came out of Scott's bedroom window that it had been her.

"It's Jackson." Harper realised, looking to where it had run off to.

But it was long gone.

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HI I LOVE FINN WOLFHARD HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR

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