c h a p t e r   t e n
alpha attack

Harper smiled at the person behind the counter, putting the DVD's into a plastic bag along with their receipt.

"Have a good day." She waved as the man left, the door almost slamming shut behind him.

Now it was just Harper in the store, along with the other worker. She forgot his name since he was quite a few years older than her and she didn't talk to him much. Her Wednesday night shifts were always so boring, but she needed this job.

Harper felt bad asking her grandma for money so she did what she had to do and got a job. Sure, it was minimum wage, but it was better than nothing. She'd only had the job for three months and she already wanted to quit.

"I'm gonna go check the lights." The other worker told her as he walked by, dragging a ladder along with him. "They've been flickering on and off all night."

"Okay, I'll be in the back. I need to go and get the new DVD's Jerry ordered." Harper nodded, moving into the back of the store.

The brunette hummed quietly to herself as she ripped open the plastic covering the stack of brand new DVD's, one by one scanning them and placing them into another box.

About ten minutes later she finished up and came back into the front of the store. The other worker wasn't on the ladder anymore but Harper didn't taken any notice as she moved behind the counter again, her chin resting on her hand.

"Can somebody help me find The Notebook?" She heard a familiar voice call after a few minutes, causing her to giggle. "Hello?"

Harper walked over from behind the counter, not surprised to see Jackson Whittemore stood there, looking around the aisles like some kind of lost puppy.

"Harper?" His eyes fell on the brunette and he sighed. "What are you doing here?"

Rolling her eyes, she replied sarcastically, "Hunting for elephants. What do you think, Jackson?"

Jackson just rolled his eyes back at me. "Well do you know if anyone is working here?" He snapped, looking around the empty store. "I need some assistance." He yelled the second part for everybody to hear.

Harper sighed loudly. "Do you not see my shirt?"

She pointed a finger at her workers badge pinned to the awful polo shirt she was forced to wear.

Jackson scanned it, a look of disgust crossing his face. "You work here?"

"We can't all be adopted into rich families, Jackass." Harper retorted, rolling her eyes. "And the Notebook is over here."

She began to lead the way, Jackson walking behind her until she tripped over something, landing on somebody lying on the carpet. Harper cried out when she realised it was the body of the other worker, except his throat had been slashed and she was in a puddle of his blood.

Shrieking, Harper began to stumble backwards, Jackson quickly grabbing her arms to attempt to pull her back. He stumbled too, knocking over the ladder in the process. It hit the lights, cutting all electricity from the store and leaving them in complete darkness.

Harper whimpered from beside Jackson, completely overwhelmed.

Jackson breathed heavily. "We need to get out of here." He spoke quickly, guiding her to her feet. They both turned around, ready to run out of the store when a low growl came from the entrance.

Harper's heart stopped as she looked into the glowing red eyes of the Alpha. It was on all fours, growing at them menacingly, causing her brain to go fuzzy.

Don't pass out. Don't pass out. Don't pass out.

It was like her feet were glued to the ground, but Jackson grabbed her, pulling her into his chest and ducking away behind a shelf of DVDs.

They both breathed heavily, Harper's hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying. God how she wished she could just stop all of her emotions right now so she could actually focus.

Jackson slowly moved his head around the corner to see if the Alpha was still there, jumping back when the dark figure rushed around a corner.

Harper could feel the Lacrosse captain's heartbeat on her back, thumping rapidly as his hands visibly shook. The brunette wasn't much better, in fact, she was probably worse. Jackson thought that it was just a mountain lion, but Harper knew. She knew that that thing was the Alpha that had bitten Scott and killed the video store guy.

DVDs  suddenly began to fall from around them, clattering to the ground. One hit Harper's head and she flinched, trying not to yelp from the surprise. Jackson exhaled loudly, attempting to contain himself.

And then, suddenly, the sound of shelves banging into each other came to their attention, causing her brown eyes to snap open wide. The Alpha had knocked over a shelf and now all of them were falling over each other, like dominos.

Harper rushed out, grabbing Jackson's arm, but he moved too slow. The shelves fell on top of him, squashing his legs beneath them. He groaned loudly, his eyes squeezing together in pain before he looked at her.

"Go!" He warned her. "Go, Harper!"

No matter how much of an asshole Jackson was, Harper was not leaving him to die.

"No!" She shook her head quickly, grabbing the upper half of his body and trying to pull him out. No matter how much she tried, there was no use.

Harper suddenly stopped when she heard something behind her and then felt a warm breath on the back of her neck, causing her blood to run cold. Jackson stopped struggling too, his eyes wide. The Alpha's long claws gently scraped across the back of Harper's neck, sniffing her as if it was a dog and she was his toy.

Her eyes squeezed together, waiting for it to slit her throat. But it never came, instead it's deep voice whispered her name in her ear, before a few Latin words, and then everything went black.

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When Harper's eyes flickered open, she was immediately overwhelmed by everything going on around her. A man was asking her questions from above her, red and blue lights flashed her vision and the sound of Jackson arguing with somebody flooded her ears.

"-you hear me?" The paramedics voice suddenly came into focus. Harper blinked before nodding slightly. "Good. You fainted from shock. Is your head okay? You didn't hit it."

She nodded, her mouth feeling dry. "Yeah, I'm fine." She croaked, shaking slightly as she sat up. She looked out of the ambulance, frowning when she saw the person Jackson was arguing with was Sheriff Stilinski.

Lydia sat in the ambulance beside him, a frown on her face as she stared at nothing, looking very emotionally traumatised.

"Oh whoa, is that a dead body?" A very familiar voice cried almost excitedly.

Harper's eyes snapped over to where some paramedics were pulling out a gurney, an arm hanging off the side of it.

"He-he-" She began to stutter, suddenly becoming aware of all of the blood over her jeans and polo shirt. "Wh-" Harper couldn't form any proper words, her body shaking so much that she couldn't control it.

The paramedic looked at her worriedly. "Okay, breathe in and out. Hold for four seconds, let out for four seconds. You're having a panic attack. Do you normally suffer from these?"

Harper chocked, "I need Stiles." Tears began to flow now and she hated herself for it. It made her feel even more pathetic that she was crying when she wasn't even hurt.

"Who's Stiles? Is he in the contacts on your phone?" He asked calmly as she breathed in and out.

Harper's shaky, heavy breathing wouldn't stop, rattling her entire body as she squeezed her eyes shot. "Stilinski." She managed again, the panic in her body swelling, and swelling, and swelling, starting to completely take over.

"Harper?" Harper heard Stiles' voice again, causing her brown eyes to snap open.

His worried figure rushed over to her, his hands moving to hold her shoulders, his eyes scanning Harper's body, almost bulging out at the blood soaking her jeans. Stiles made direct eye contact with her, automatically thinking the worst.

"It's okay, Harps." He told her as calmly as he could, but he was panicking, too. "It's okay. Breathe with me, yeah?"

She nodded, more tears squeezing out as she copied what the Stilinski boy was doing, breathing in and out in time with him. His hazel eyes never left hers, his hands trembling slightly as he moved to push some of her hair out of her face.

"You're doing amazing, Harper." He mumbled, grabbing her dainty hand and unclenching it so that he could intertwine their fingers. "You're okay. I'm here, and I'm not going to leave you. You got that?"

"Y-yes," Harper breathed, sniffling as the last of her tears came out, gulping down the anxiety that she was stopping from attacking again. "Thank you, Sti."

Stiles chuckled, shaking his head. "I will always be there for you when you, Harper. When you're happy, when you're sad, when you're angry, anxious, depressed, content. I'm here for you."

Harper squeezed his hand tighter. "Please don't let go yet."

He smiled slightly. "I wasn't going to." His voice came out just above a whisper, her eyes shifting from where they were looking at their hands to his eyes. He was watching her the whole time, a small blush on his face when she smiled back at him.

Harper's face suddenly fell when she remembered. "Stiles..." She whispered. "It was the Alpha."

His eyes widened, his face also falling. "Are- are you sure? How do you know?" He stressed.

"I saw it. It's eyes were bright red and it ran on all fours. It wasn't anything like Scott or Derek. It-it said my name." Harper closed her eyes towards the end, hating how much it felt like she was reliving it when she spoke.

Stiles let out an inhuman noise causing her to open her eyes. "It what?!" He cried. "It said your name? Did it hurt you?"

Harper shook her head. "I mean, not really." She ran her spare hand through her hair. "I was helping Jackson and it said my name and then it whispered these words in my ear and I went unconscious. The paramedics said that I fainted from shock, but Stiles..."

Stiles frowned. "You think it has something to do with whatever he said to you." He finished her sentence for her.

The brunette nodded. "It sounded like some kind of spell, like something out of a movie."

"A spell?"

"Well, it obviously wasn't a spell, but it was something." She spoke, frustrated. "I'm more concerned about how that thing knew my name, to be honest."

Stiles nodded, thinking things through. "Okay." He paused. "We need to tell Scott."

Harper agreed. "Yeah. But Stiles?"

"Mhm?" He looked up from where he had gotten his phone out, texting Scott all of the information that she had provided him with. "What is it?" He spoke softly.

Harper couldn't help but blush a little. "Do you... do you think you could stay at my house over night?" She fiddled with his hand, a nervous habit of hers. "I'm just really scared. And you, um, you make me feel safe."

Stiles' whole face lit up. "I- I make you feel safe?" He repeated in disbelief, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "I'm useless."

Her heart almost shattered at those words. If there was one thing that she hated more than bad people, it was when Stiles Stilinski thought bad of himself. Stiles was so incredibly amazing and he deserved the world, she just wished he could see himself through her eyes for five minutes.

Harper bit her lip. "Please don't say that." She whispered, squeezing his hand again. "I'm feeling so emotional tonight that if you say another thing to put yourself down I will probably burst into tears."

"But-"

"No." She shook her head, her throat feeling tight. "You, Stiles Stilinski, are one of my favourite people alive. You're so amazing and smart and kind and funny and I wish you would accept it. You make me feel safe because out of all the seven billion people on this earth, I trust you the most."

"Me?"

Harper chuckled, tears in her eyes. "Yes, you, you dork." She used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes before the tears could fall.

He smiled back at the English girl, grabbing her other hand so that he was now holding both of them. "I trust you the most, too." He rubbed soothing patterns with the pads of his thumbs until somebody cleared their throat from behind him.

The two teenagers both looked around to see Noah stood there. "Harper, are you okay?" He asked her worriedly.

Harper nodded. "I'm fine now, thank you."

He smiled. "Good." Before sighing. "Did you walk here?" When she nodded he gave a slight smile. "Let me drop you home then, I'm sure your grandma wants to know why you're so worried."

"Thank you so much, Noah."

"Dad?" Stiles spoke up. "Can I stay over Harper's tonight? She's just feeling really anxious, and I am her best friend, after all."

They both looked up at him, giving their best puppy dog eyes. Noah sighed in defeat, nodding. "Let's go home on the way and get your clothes and stuff for tomorrow, though."

After a short ride to the Stilinski household, Stiles and Harper then took his jeep over to her house. As soon as Harper walked through the door a pair of arms were around her and her grandma had pulled Harper into her chest as she cried.

"Grandma!" Harper exclaimed worriedly. "Why are you crying?"

She shook her head as she pulled away, her eyes red and tired. "Meizhun called me! She said there was an accident down at the video store... and look at you! You're covered in blood." She sobbed.

Rose referred to the old woman that worked across the road at the charity shop. She was Rose's only friend in America, since all of her other friends were either dead or back in England.

Harper hushed her. "I'm okay, grandma. It's not my blood, I tripped over the body. But I'm perfectly okay, I swear." She squeezed Rose tight in another hug. "Just a little shaken up, that's all."

"I can't lose you, Harper. You're all-"

"I know." Harper cut her off, not wanting to have the conversation in front of Stiles. "Which is why I try to keep my reckless choices to a minimum."

She chuckled, sniffling. "As long as you're okay..."

Harper nodded, "I am. But is it okay if Stiles sleeps over?"

Rose smiled. "Of course. Stiles and Scott are always welcome."

"Great." Harper kissed her cheek quickly. "I'm going to go to bed right now, since I'm really tired."

Grandma nodded again. "You don't have to go to school tomorrow if you don't feel up for it. You have full permission from me."

"Thanks." Harper gave Rose's hand a squeeze before she took off up the stairs, Stiles following right behind. As soon as she entered her bedroom, she flopped onto the bed. Stiles closed the door.

"You okay?"

"Mmm-hmm." She mumbled. "You can get ready for bed first, since I take longer."

Stiles sent a smile her way before heading to the bathroom. He came back wearing his pyjama bottoms and a white shirt. "You don't mind if I take my shirt off while I sleep, do you?" He asked worriedly.

Harper shook her head. "Go ahead. I'm gonna go and get dressed now... and have a shower."

The brunette's stomach filled with butterflies as she grabbed her pyjamas and went to the bathroom to get ready. After taking a long shower to get all of the blood off of her, she got into her tank top and black pyjama bottoms, brushed her teeth and took off all of her makeup.

Harper had slept in the same bed as Stiles a hundred times before, but now she liked him like a crush, and he was going to be shirtless. Her palms felt slightly sweaty as she re-entered the room, smiling when she saw the Stilinski boy underneath the covers, only his bare shoulders and his face showing.

Turning off the light, Harper climbed in beside him after plugging her phone on charge. She snuggled into the covers, facing towards her best friend. Stiles didn't say anything as she tossed and turned for the next hour, unable to fall asleep.

"Stop moving." He mumbled sleepily about an hour later.

Harper froze. "Sorry," she whispered.

Stiles sighed, moving to wrap his arms around her petite frame and pulling her into his naked chest. Blushing, Harper got comfortable, leaning against his warm body as his arms snaked around her body.

"Better?" He whispered.

"Better." She confirmed.

Harper had to hold back from saying, "you're not you when you're hungry", and ruining their moment.

She felt him smile. "Good. Sweet dreams, Harps."

"Night, Sti."

— isaaclovesmexican
alisha
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