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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶

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Meilani sat on her floor with her back against the end of her bed as she fiddled with the strap of the duffle bag filled with money in her lap. Stiles was on his way over to count the money with her and she was actually kind of nervous to see him. She had planned to talk to him about the whole mate thing since Stiles clearly was uncomfortable with the whole thing. Not that Meilani blamed him because even she didn't know how to feel about the whole soul mate and wolf mate thing. However, she still wanted to reassure Stiles that he didn't have to worry about Isaac and that she only had eyes for him, no one else. Plus, like Deaton said, Stiles will always reign higher than the feelings a wolf mate would give. So he really had nothing to worry about, especially not when it came to Isaac.

Isaac had told Meilani numerous times already that it was okay and they'll just figure out how to get used to being connected now. It wasn't even really Isaac that Meilani was worried about because she knew Isaac would never try to overstep and come between her and Stiles. He knew how she felt about Stiles and that he was happy enough that he was even just Meilani's best friends. At least he still had her in his life and could be around her. Sure it pained him to know that Meilani would only see him as a best friend, but he'd rather have her a best friend than nothing at all.

The sound of Roscoe pulling up into the driveway snapped Meilani out of her thoughts and she heard Stiles' sneakers hit the pavement as he dropped out of the Jeep. It was followed by the creak of the old door shutting and the sound of Stiles' keys jingling as he more than likely fiddled with them anxiously. He'd sounded okay on the phone when he'd called Meilani to let him know he was on the way and would be there soon, but Meilani could also hear the way his heart sped up the slightest bit. 

"Hey," Stiles greeted, suddenly appearing in the doorway to Meilani's room. His keys still rested in his hands as he played with them absentmindedly. "No one else is here?"

"No, Scott took Isaac out to eat and my parents are working," Meilani responded, hating that the two sounded like two awkward teenagers who hadn't seen each other in six months. They were together and loved each other and yet they were having small talk. It just didn't feel right, especially not for Meilani and Stiles. She pushed herself to her feet, letting the duffle bag drop to the ground with a low thud and walked over to Stiles to place a soft kiss on his lips.

Stiles' hands instantly went into the dip of Meilani's hips like they typically did when they kissed. His tense shoulders relaxed visibly as his lips moved against Meilani's and she could hear the way Stiles' heart skipped a beat as he held her closer to him. He sighed softly into the kiss as if he were finally breathing again and he slowly pulled away from her, rubbing his thumbs along her sides. "So, where's the money?"

"Um, I actually wanted to talk to you before we did that," Meilani said, playing with the buttons on Stiles purple and black flannel that he wore. She could feel her mouth dry as the nerves raged inside of her over having to talk about it. She needed to be an adult, though, and have the conversation with him so they could smooth things out. "You know . . . about the . . . mate thing."

"Lani . . ."

"No, I know you're uncomfortable with the whole thing."

Stiles scoffed softly and walked around Meilani, slapping a hand to his side. "I mean, do you blame me, babe? The whole thing is just . . . I don't know! You're connected to him, Lani. You feel what he feels. You ━ you feel his injuries and can probably feel if he dies. He touches you and you can feel better. Then there's me . . . I - "

"You who I'm in love with, not Isaac," Meilani reminded gently, not wanting any of this conversation to turn into a fight. She just wanted to remind Stiles that it would be him and only him. That Isaac wouldn't be a problem between them ever. She stepped closer to Stiles again and reached up to stroke his cheek. "It's always gonna be you. Deaton even said your effects are stronger than Isaac's, Sti. You don't have to worry about Isaac, okay? I know this is going to take some getting used to, but we always work it out in the end. I just needed you to know that it's you and only you."

Stiles was silent for a long moment, his hazel eyes softening as he stared down at Meilani and his hands coming up to hold Meilani's waist again. His heart rate had evened out again into a steady beat that helped Meilani stay calm as she listened to it. His presence alone brought her calmness and filled her with a warmth that was accompanied by butterflies with massive wings. It was almost like every time she looked at Stiles, she looked at him for the first time and fell in love all over again. A feeling that she never wanted to go away.

"So . . . you're saying I'm stronger than Isaac?" Stiles mused, breaking the silence that had fallen between them with a coy smile.

Meilani rolled her eyes and playfully pushed Stiles' shoulder as the boy's smile only grew in size. "I give you this cute speech about how it'll only ever be you and that you're my soul mate, and you take away the fact that I said you're stronger than Isaac?"

Stiles chuckled as Meilani feigned an angry look at him and ducked his head down to press his lips to Meilani's. His hands tightened on her waist as her arms reached up to wrap around his neck, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair. It was like they were the only two people in the world and the only thing either one could focus on was the feel of the other's lips on their own. Their hearts seemed to beat as one at the same rhythm as Stiles brought Meilani closer to him as if that were possible, practically forming them into one person. 

Meilani slowly pulled away from Stiles and moved her lips towards Stiles' ear, her breath fanning hotly over the skin. "How about I prove how it's all you?" 

Stiles' breath hitched in his throat as Meilani's teeth bit down gently on his earlobe and his hands twitched on her waist as a shudder went through his body. A low groan erupted deep in Stiles' throat when Meilani's lips pressed back to his and he just nearly caught the girl when she jumped into his arms. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck while her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, biting gently on his lower lip and smiled when it got another small groan from Stiles. His feet carried the two backwards towards the bed and just when he was a few steps away, tripped over the duffle bag filled with money that Meilani forgot she'd left at the foot of her bed. The couple went stumbling back and onto the bed and nearly sent Meilani flying off Stiles if he hadn't caught her before she tumbled off him.

Meilani panted slightly as her eyes trailed over to the black duffle bag filled with money as she grimaced slightly. She had been so caught up in Stiles that she completely forgot when he even came in the first place. 

"Well, I almost did the job for The Benefactor," Stiles breathed, his eyes still blown wide in lust as his heart raced rapidly still from the previous actions. He propped himself up on his arms to glance down at the duffle bag. "Maybe we should make sure all the money is there, huh?"

"That is what you came for," Meilani agreed, going to push herself off the bed when Stiles grabbed her arm. She turned to Stiles furrowed eyebrows as the boy stared up at her lovingly. "What?"

Stiles pressed a soft kiss to Meilani's lips and pulled away after a minute. "We will be continuing that later."

Meilani snorted and slid down onto the floor with Stiles next to her on the hardwood floor. She grabbed the duffle bag that had been kicked a few feet away when Stiles tripped over it, bringing it closer to them. Unzipping the duffle bag, Meilani tipped it over to dispose of the wrapped up dollar bills and a cassette tape bounced out on top of the pile of bills along with a cassette player. She stared at it oddly and picked it up to see a piece of tape had been taped to the front of it with PLAY ME scrawled across it in red pen.

The couple stared at the cassette tape and player for a moment as they were both wondering what the hell they were and why they were in the bag. Meilani exchanged a look with Stiles, having a silent conversation over whether to listen to it or not. The tape could possibly give them a clue as to what the assassins needed to do in order to kill the supernatural being on the list. After receiving an agreeing nod from Stiles, Meilani popped the tape into the player and pressed play on the machine.

"After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for a payment."

Stiles reached out once the robotic voice stopped talking and pressed the stop button on the machine. His eyes drifted over to Meilani who had busied herself with placing the wrapped bills into neat piles. "You ever made a wire transfer?"

"Stiles, I don't have money to give a wire transfer," Meilani responded, placing the last wrapped bill on a pile and collapsing back against the end of her bed with a sigh.

"Okay, good, so you didn't understand a word of that either?"

"I don't understand any of this! Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?" Meilani inquired, her head dropping back to bang against the top of her bed. 

Stiles frowned deeply and his hand slid into Meilani's, his fingers intertwining with hers. He scooted closer to her as his heart beat rapidly and the smell of worry and fear began to linger in the air around Stiles. "Babe, someone wants you dead. Badly."

"Shouldn't even be surprised at this point," Meilani mumbled and pulled away from Stiles warmth to place the piles of money back into the duffle bag. She couldn't let her brain fry with this right now as it was already getting late and they had the PSATs tomorrow morning. She just wanted to spend a few normal minutes with Stiles before he either went home or stayed over for the night. She couldn't do anything with the money until she went to Derek and Peter anyway since it was their money.

"What are you doing?"

"It's late. We've got the PSATs in the morning. My brain is shutting down from all this information and I just . . .  I need time to think," Meilani answered, shoving the last of the bills into the duffle bag and zipping the bag back up. 

"No, I meant the money. Five hundred thousand dollars. You know how much that is?"

Meilani eyed Stiles oddly for a moment, trying to figure out where he was going with this. It's a lot of money and she got that. It was also Derek and Peter's money. "It's five hundred thousand dollars, Stiles."

"It's half a million dollars, Lani. What are you going to do, just slide it under your bed?" Stiles remarked, gesturing underneath Meilani's bed.

"I have to talk to Derek first, Stiles. It's his money," Meilani reminded Stiles, pushing the bag underneath her bed where it had been previously.

"You mean his and Peter's. I think we should proceed with caution here," Stiles suggested.

Meilani tilted her head in confusion at Stiles, wondering what the hell he meant by that. It was Derek and Peter's money and they deserved to have it back. "You don't think we should tell Derek?"

"No, no," Stiles denied, pushing himself to his feet with a sigh and running a hand through his hair. He paced around the room for a moment in deep thought and ran his hands over his face. "No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just . . . I'm just saying that some of that money is Peter's, right? Peter. Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give half a million dollars to him?"

"Did you hit your head or something?" Meilani quipped, disappointed in Stiles that he wanted to give money to Derek but not Peter. Yes, Peter did many horrible things in the past, but that didn't give Meilani or Stiles the right to not give him his money either. "So it's okay to give Derek his money, but not Peter? Derek turned Erica, Isaac and Boyd for his own benefit and to have a pack. Neither one of them are innocent, but it's still their money."

"I didn't say that," Stiles weakly defended, suddenly finding his fingers very interesting.

"Then what are you saying?"

Before Stiles could try and talk him out of the stern reprimanding he would get from thevery angry alpha wolf before him, the sound of feet on the stairs alerted the duo. Meilani scrambled to her feet and made sure to kick the duffle bag further beneath her bed, trying to look natural next to Stiles when the door swung open.

Malia stood in the doorway, her face shiny with rain water and her hair looking as if she'd just ran through a thunderstorm. Her white sweater hung off her right shoulder a bit, showing off her beige tank top underneath. If she thought Stiles and Meilani looked suspicious, she didn't mention anything. "Derek and I found Satomi's pack, but they're dead. Well, at least all of the ones we found."

"So then where's Derek?"

The next morning, Meilani stood in the hallway with Stiles, Kira, Scott, Isaac and Malia as they waited to enter the classroom for the PSATs. The only one that didn't have to be there was Lydia who had been smart enough to take it her freshman year instead of her junior year like the rest of the pack. It was nerve wracking because it was only a practice test for the real thing that the pack would have to eventually take that can either make or break their future college choice. Meilani was usually fine when it came to tests but with the money and the fact Derek had to rush Braeden to the hospital last night because she was shot, it didn't help her to focus like she normally would.

"Where's Lydia?" Kira questioned, searching the hallway for the strawberry blonde girl as she stayed wrapped in Scott's side.

"She took it her freshman year," Stiles responded, glancing around the hallway as well as if the girl would suddenly pop up.

"Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?" Malia asked hopefully, clearly not wanting to take the test. She was still getting used to the whole school thing and getting back into the groove of it all so her taking the PSATs was a bigger deal for her than the rest of the pack. However, Stiles and Lydia had been studying with the girl for weeks to help her get ready for it and Lydia had said that Malia should be good to go on the test with how hard she'd been studying.

"Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us. You'll be okay," Meilani assured the werecoyote, squeezing her shoulder encouragingly. The Tate girl had been doing so well lately and Meilani couldn't be prouder of her new friend. If anyone could get through it, it was Malia.

"That doesn't mean I'm gonna do good!"

"Well . . . "

Malia turned to Stiles and waited expectantly for the boy to go on while Meilani shot the boy a deadpan expression. The poor girl didn't realize she'd just had her grammar corrected and Meilani had half a mind to slam her boyfriend's head back against the lockers for ruining her encouraging Malia. "Well, what?"

"It's do well, not good," Stiles corrected.

"You really know how to make a woman feel better, Stilinski," Isaac mused, chuckling softly when Meilani elbowed him to shut up. 

"Look! Mal, you're doing this because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college."

"Plus, it's only three hours. We can survive three hours, right?" Scott chimed in, trying to keep the morale of the pack up. 

Twenty minutes later, the students taking the PSATs had been shuffled into the classroom to collect their test booklets and drop off their cellphones into the manila folders. Meilani had been sat down in front of her brother with Isaac to her left, Stiles and Malia off two rows down and then Kira in the final row thanks to their last names. Meilani, Isaac and Scott all gave each other encouraging high fives as Mrs. Martin went to go find Bobby Finstock so they could have two proctors in the room. However, she hadn't been able to find him and offered to get Mr. Yukimura from upstairs during the first break. 

The test began and the room settled into a hushed silence, except for Malia, Meilani and Isaac who could hear everyone's nervous heart beats and shuddered breathing. The heavy smell of anxiety and nerves stung Meilani's nose and she wrinkled it a bit to try and lessen the sting in it. The sound of pencils scraping along the test as students bubbled in their answers to the multiple choice section echoed in Meilani's ears and she was just glad she was used to tuning all of that out to let her focus better. 

Meilani was on a good pace with the test about ten minutes in when the sound of a body hitting the floor alerted her. Everyone's attention in the room went to Sydney, a girl with brunette hair and shining brown eyes, who had fainted out of her chair. Mrs. Martin rushed over to the girl to help her up as the girl's eyes slowly blinked open again, asking if she was alright.

"I'm okay. I just got kind of dizzy," Sydney assured Mrs. Martin as the woman helped the girl back to her feet. She offered the room an apologetic smile for disturbing everyone's focus and the test.

"Sydney, how long have you had this?" Mrs. Martin asked, running her fingers along something on Sydney's wrist that Meilani and the pack couldn't see.

Sydney had glanced down to where Mrs. Martin was looking and blinked in surprise at whatever was there. "I . . . I don't know."

"Mrs. Martin, do I need to stop the test?" the proctor asked, leaning his hands on the desk at the front of the room. 

"No, um, it's fine," Mrs. Martin responded distractedly, letting go of Sydney so the girl could take her seat once again since she assured that she was fine. She made her way back to the front of the room and forced a smile onto her face that she thought was convincing. "Everybody stay in your seats. I'll, um, be back in a minute. Nobody leaves the room."

Meilani watched with a tense gaze as Mrs. Martin exited the classroom. She could hear the nervous tilt to Mrs. Martin's heartbeat ass she ran out with her phone clutched into her hand. The room had gone quiet as they all tried to work out why Mrs. Martin had acted so strangely after checking on Sydney who still sat rubbing her wrist. They were all left even more confused when they heard Mrs. Martin yell frantically at someone in the hallway to stay outside and not enter the school.

Mrs. Martin turned to see all the students from the classroom had ran out to see what was going on. She still clutched her cell phone tightly in her hand and her heart rate had only risen in the time she'd left the classroom and the smell of fear now replaced the previous nervous scent that Meilani had smelt off her best friend's mom. "Everyone back to your seats."

Not wanting a Martin scolding, the students all rushed back into the classroom with Meilani trailing behind Stiles and Isaac. She and Isaac both paused near the desk in the classroom when they heard Mrs. Martin press the phone to her ear and an operator pick up on the other end.

"I need the number for the Center for Disease Control."

Isaac's eyes flickered over to Meilani who paled significantly at the thought of the CDC coming to the school. It only made her wonder what the hell had been on Sydney's wrist to cause the panic. Whatever it was, it definitely was not a good sign. He could feel the alpha's nerves and could practically hear heart beat louder in his ears as if it were his own. "Lani, what do we do?"

For the first time, Meilani didn't know what to do in a situation.

The CDC had showed up to the school within ten minutes of Mrs. Martin's call in yellow hazmat suits and their breathing sounded like Darth Vader thanks to gas masks in the suits. They had overtaken one of the empty classrooms to set up small, clear igloo type of areas so they could check over each of the students that had been effected so far. Some of the CDC members had split up to take count of the air quality and see if anything lingered around from one of the science labs or a gas leak. 

Meilani had broken off from her pack to find Sydney and she'd been joined by Mrs. Martin who kept the scared girl company. Sydney's wrist a type of burnish mark on arm that looked like she had stuck that part of her body into a fire and it looked gnarly. She had been told that the CDC had to check over the infected students and the school before they could even think about letting anyone out. Anyone who was infected would be quarantined while everyone else would stay in the same rooms they had been before the outbreak started.

To make matters even worse, about twenty minutes after Meilani had been in the small quarantined spot with Sydney, she started to feel this churning feeling in the bit of her stomach and a cold sweat had broken out all over her body. Constant chills shot through her body and she could feel herself begin to lose control of her shifts. She had barely made it into the first locker room she saw before her eyes glowed red in the mirror above the sink that she clutched onto. Her canines had grown out and she groaned as a shot of pain shot through her, nearly making her collapse to the floor.

Footsteps had been heard behind her and Meilani glanced into the mirror to see Isaac in the reflection with Mr. Yukimura right behind him, Isaac's eyes flashing in out between his beta blue eyes and his usual human blue ones. He held up his hand in the reflection to show off his claws that had taken over his normal fingernails and Meilani could feel hers fighting to grow out on her own hands. What the hell was happening?

Meilani could hear Isaac tell Mr. Yukimura to go get the pack and bring them to the locker room and rushed over to Meilani when he noticed her stumble back from the sink. His arms hooked underneath her armpits and weakly dragged her over to the bench near the lockers where they both collapsed onto it. Small wheezes came from Meilani's lips and she weakly collapsed back against the locker behind her, blinking her eyes to try and stop her eyes from flashing red in the dimly lit locker room. She hadn't felt this sick or out of it since she was in the eighth grade and had the flu for a week. 

The door opened back up again and Mr. Yukimura came back in with the pack behind him, Scott and Stiles instantly rushing over to Meilani to check on her. She glanced up at Mr. Yukimura who flinched at the sight of her red alpha eyes and she could see the sweat begin to break out over Malia's face.

"It's still happening, Meilani," Mr. Yukimura informed her, motioning to her alpha eyes that flickered back to Meilani's brown ones. 

Malia held her hands up to show that her claws were out much like Isaac's and Meilani's. "Yeah, I can't get mine to go back down."

Mr. Yukimura eyed the three wolves before him and then glanced at Scott and Stiles who looked perfectly fine as if nothing was happening. He was quiet for a moment as his mind visibly tried to work out everything he was seeing. Meilani had never been more grateful for a teacher that was in on the supernatural in her life. "Obviously this virus that's going around the school is affecting the three of you in a way it won't hit any human being."

Stiles held Meilani in his side as brushed his hand over his girlfriend's sweaty hair as her body fought between not shifting and actually shifting. "You three need to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you from the quarantine."

"Am I delirious right now or do you actually sound worried about me, Stiles," Isaac teased, offering the boy a cheesy grin when Stiles turned to glare at the boy.

"Yeah, but where? I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon," Kira questioned, eyeing Meilani, Isaac and Malia worriedly. She looked like she wanted to reach out and comfort all three of them at once but didn't want to suffocate the three of them since they all felt like crap at the moment.

"We shouldn't stay in here. Not in the locker room," Meilani spoke up, sitting up from where Stiles had held her against him. 

"Yeah, but a classroom won't hold us either, especially not you," Malia reminded.

"What about the basement?" Scott suggested next.

"Too many ways out. We need something secure. Somewhere nobody can find us," Isaac explained, pushing himself up weakly so he was sat up straight and not collapsed back against the lockers.

Stiles chewed on his thumbnail as he tried to think of where the best place the wolves could go. Not many places were secure enough to hold off a werewolf, especially not an alpha werewolf like Meilani was. "The vault. The Hale vault."

"The Hales always have an escape route, like their house. There has to be another way in."

"This is where the school sign is, so the vault's got to be right about here," Stiles explained, pointing to the blueprint of the layout of the high school campus.

The pack stood around Coach Finstock's desk that had been closed off since he'd been infected in his office. It also gave the pack and Mr. Yukimura some privacy to talk since they knew no one would show up in the room since it was deemed a bad area. They just had to figure out where the other entrance was and sneak out to it without any of the other faculty, police ━ which Meilani both Noah and Rafe were stood outside ━ and CDC didn't see them sneaking off.

"I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement," Mr. Yukimura voiced, scanning his eyes around the blueprint for a logical point where the other entrance could be.

"It's probably somewhere in the hallway. Or this corridor," Stiles said, going to point to a part of the blueprint when he suddenly lost his balance.

Meilani caught Stiles as he nearly face planted the desk and she helped him right himself and glanced over to Scott to see him starting to break out in a sweat also. She pulled up the boys' sleeves to see that they both had the same burn looking mark as Sydney did. They were all starting to get infected.

"You're getting sick. You all are," Mr. Yukimura noted, eyeing the marks on Stiles and Scott's wrists.

"I don't feel sick," Kira spoke up, looking the best in shape out of all of them. She didn't have a single sweat on her and she didn't look the least bit pale either. Nor did she have dark marks beginning to form underneath her eyes like Meilani, Isaac and Malia. The three wolves quite literally looked like they were thirty seconds away from being six feet under.

"I think it's affecting you differently, neurologically. I found your test answers here in a pile with the others," Mr. Yukimura explained, pulling out Kira's test paper answers. All of her bubbles were dotted to the side of the answers or next to the numbers instead of directly in the bubbles. 

Once the pack realized they needed to get down to the basement and fast, Mr. Yukimura helped them sneak through the hallways until they got to the steps leading down into the basement. He promised to vouch for their whereabouts if asked and shut down the basement door behind them once they were all down the steps. The basement was huge and Meilani didn't even know where to look, but the pack decided to start with looking behind things to see if there were hidden doors anywhere.

It was definitely difficult since Meilani could feel her energy depleting more and more by the second. She knew her battery would eventually run out and drop into the red and she'd need to be in the vault when that part came around to bite her in the ass. Items had been tossed to the ground as Meilani tried to find an entrance and she pressed against any wall that looked like it could be a secret passage. Nothing came up . . . that was until Stiles' voice shouted for his friends' attention.

"Over here," Stiles motioned for the pack to run over and Isaac helped Stiles move the metal shelving unit out of the way of the wall. On the green and white wall behind the shelving unit was a triskele cut into the wall and a small iron turning mechanism placed in the middle of it. A typical Hale mark. "Looks like the entrance outside, it only opens with claws. Anyone's claws, right?"

Meilani rolled her lips into her mouth as she knew that it had to be a Hale's claws to do it, which Malia was. Something that she still didn't know about just yet so Meilani had to try and work out the best way to ask Malia. "Um . . . Malia, why don't you do it?"

"Why me?" Malia asked, shocked that Meilani would ask her to open up the vault instead of Meilani doing it herself with being the alpha and all.

"I, uh . . . I don't have control," Meilani weakly lied, holding up her hand to show that her claws had retreated back into her nails and they weren't growing back. 

"Okay, I'll do it," Malia agreed, crossing her arms as she eyed Meilani and Stiles. "But tell me what you've been hiding from me first. I know you both think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it." She held her hands to let Meilani and Stiles know that they had the floor to speak, but huffed when they both stammered over what to say. "I know I'm on the list."

"Yes . . ." Stiles trailed off quickly, allowing the girl to think that was the thing they were hiding from her.

"So how much?"

Stiles blinked for a moment, not knowing where Malia was going with that. "Uh, how much what?"

"How much am I worth?"

"Four million," Meilani informed.

Stiles stepped forward when he noticed Malia pause at the moment, thinking the girl was upset she was on the list in the first place. "Are you okay?"

Malia was quiet for a minute as she shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. I mean, Meilani's worth twenty-five, Isaac's worth ten, Kira's worth six. They'll take them out way before me."

Meilani snorted to herself as Malia brushed past Stiles and Meilani to get to the door so she can open it. She flicked out her claws and pushed them into the holes of the iron turning mechanism, turning it left and then right before the mechanism retreated into the wall. The wall then began to slide open as if it were a door and revealed a massive concrete looking vault with multiple shelving units and crates littered around the room, offering something for them to sit on.

The pack took one step into the vault and the door slid closed behind them, sealing their fate.

The pack sat in silence in the vault with all of them spread out around the area. Stiles was sat with his back pressed against a chest, his right leg bent with his foot pressed against the floor and Meilani laid in his arms as his hand stroked gently through her curls. It was a motion that always helped Meilani feel better when she wasn't feeling and his other hand rubbed soothing circles into her side, nearly putting her to sleep especially with how weak she felt. Scott was sat on a crate as Kira paced back and forth near by it and Scott looked like he wanted to reach out and pull the girl into his lap, but didn't want to overstep. The sound of Kira's wedged sneakers echoed around the room as she she tried to keep herself busy. Isaac and Malia were both propped up against the wall across nearby where Stiles and Meilani were.

"You know, this is where it all started. That's where the money was," Stiles broke the silence, motioning over to the small safe near where Scott sat. "A hundred and seventeen million in bearer bonds."

"How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?" Kira asked, picking up a mason jar with some kind of odd item inside of it. 

"Bank, I guess," Stiles replied, going back to rubbing Meilani's side when she grabbed onto it to bring it back. He smiled softly down at his girlfriend and pressed a gentle kiss to her sweaty forehead. "They just let it sit here the whole time collecting dust. You know bearer bonds are basically extinct?"

Isaac lolled his head to the side on the wall he was propped against that was cushioned by the black cardigan he'd worn that day. "Why does it matter?"

Stiles shot Isaac a look and Meilani pinched Stiles in the side to remind him to be nice. "Isaac, you know how many problems that money could solve?"

"For you?" Scott chimed in, hearing the underlying meaning to his best friend's words. It could fix the money problems not just for Stiles and Noah with the Eichen House payments, but also the McCall family with their never ending money struggles to just pay the bills alone.

"For me . . . my dad . . ." Stiles replied quietly, subconsciously pulling Meilani closer to him to find comfort in her presence. It was a touchy subject for Stiles as he had to watch his father struggle to come up with the money for both the Eichen House bills and the MRI bills from when Void raged in his body. "The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."

"Our mom does this thing where she writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until . . . "

"We'd lose the house," Meilani finished for her twin quietly, glancing up at Stiles who offered his girlfriend and best friend sympathetic looks.

After that, the pack had gone quiet once again since they had hit a depressing topic no one wanted to overstep. Everyone had their struggles and the pack were currently dealing with one of them and they didn't want to bring the mood down even more. They all had to stay as upbeat and positive as possible if they wanted to get through this quarantine time together. Malia had fallen asleep one point with Isaac's black cardigan propped beneath her head as she curled up on the floor. Scott and Kira were sat on the crate together as Kira laid her head on his shoulder.

Meilani eventually got uncomfortable where she laid with Stiles and needed to walk around so she decided to walk over to the vault door to try to listen out for anything. She could faintly hear the chatter between the police and CDC stationed outside the school and the few students, faculty and few CDC stationed inside the school. She could hear the pack's names be filtered around as people finally started to wonder where they all were and Mr. Yukimura can only hold the fort down for them as long as they could. 

"Anything?" Stiles asked, walking over to his girlfriend and keeping his voice low so he wouldn't disturb Malia who was sleeping nearby. 

"They're looking for us and I don't think Mr. Yukimura can lie for much longer. One of us is going to have to go up there," Meilani replied, removing her ear from the vault door and noticing that Stiles' eyes drifted over to Malia guiltily. "We need to tell Malia the truth eventually. She's going to see the rest of the dead pool."

"Try to remember that Peter is the one name missing on the list, babe. Which either makes him incredibly lucky with a Benefactor, she finds out about him she's going to go to him. You know she will and then he's going to twist his way into her head like he does with everyone else. Including us. We let him walk around like nothing ever happened, like he's one of the good guys . . . Meilani, he's not one of the good guys. If she finds out about him then she's gone next. That's probably what he's waiting for and if he wins, we lose."

Meilani chewed on the inside of her lip because she knew Stiles was right. Peter wasn't a good guy in the least bit, but she also knew that they were already too in over their head. She didn't know which way the surface was at this point and she was grasping at loose straws to try and save everyone around her. "We're already losing, Stiles."

As if the situation wasn't dire enough, Meilani lifted her hands to show Stiles the black liquid that began to seep up out of her nails. Some even began to dribble out of her lips and stain her lips to look like a badly done lipstick job. She wiped at her mouth with a hoodie sleeve and could feel her cold tremors take over her body once again as the virus took a turn for the worse. Black even began to stain Isaac and Malia's lips and she could tell they'd need to do something soon.

"I'll go up there and see if I can distract any of them long enough," Stiles offered after a tense silence between the couple.

"You'll come back, though, right?"

Stiles cupped Meilani's cheek and offered her the same smile that always got Meilani's heart racing, his thumb stroking her cheek gently. "I'll always come back for you, Lani."

Meilani's eyes fluttered closed when Stiles bent down to press a soft kiss to her forehead and he pulled away after a second to go tell Scott where he was going, but not before offering Meilani his jacket in case she got cold. She pushed away from the vault door and dropped down to the ground next to Isaac whose eyes drooped slightly with exhaustion and the dark rings under his eyes only looked worse than they had when they first entered the vault. She held out her jacket to Isaac to put over Malia who was visibly shivering and allowed to girl to be covered with Stiles' jacket in her sleep since she needed it more than Meilani did. Now that she was sat with him, Meilani could feel just how much pain he was in like she was and squeezed his hand gently to let him it'd be okay. Hopefully.

Isaac eyed Meilani for a moment and noticed how uncomfortable she was as she tried to make herself comfortable against the wall next to him. He frowned and outstretched his arm to her and opened and closed his hand. "Come here, Lans."

Meilani scooted closer to Isaac and the beta pulled her to his side, allowing the girl to lay her head on his shoulder. He knew it wasn't much because he was sure that Stiles would bring the girl more comfort between her feelings for him and the whole soul mate thing. However, if her laying her head on his shoulder brought her even the tiniest bit of comfort, he was happy with that. Her eyes fluttered closed as another wave of pain and weakness shot through her and she slouched further.

However, when Meilani closed her eyes, she missed the way Stiles stared longingly at the way Isaac and comforted Meilani the way he should be. A sense of jealousy pulsed through him as Isaac laid his head on top of Meilani's and rubbed his hand up and down her arm comfortingly. He didn't turn away from the sight until the vault door closed back over and blocked Stiles' view from the duo.

It had been a while since Stiles left and Meilani was practically laying her whole weight on Isaac's shoulder as more black gooey liquid continue to stain around her lips and fingers. The pack had been quiet ever since Stiles left, not having the energy to say much besides Scott who was the strongest of the remaining pack since he was human and it wasn't hitting him like the wolves and Kira. The sound of shuffling alerted the pack and they all glanced over to see that Malia had finally stirred from her small nap and she pushed herself up onto her elbow, rubbing her tired her eyes with her hand. A folded up piece of paper slipped out of Stiles' jacket as it slid down Malia's arm and pooled around her waist.

Meilani's eyes widened when she realized what it was and Malia reached forward to pick it up, unfolding the sheet. She struggled to push off Isaac's shoulder and the beta had to help her sit up all the way as she shook and stumbled to try and get the list from Malia's grasp before she saw it. "Malia . . ."

Malia's head snapped up and she stared at Meilani in fear, her eyes not really focusing on her but were still trained right on her. "Meilani, I can't see. I can't see anything."

As if Malia's words were a final key to a special lock, Meilani's eye sight began to distort and rapidly go in and out of focus as it made it harder and harder for her to see. She could hear Isaac's breathing speed up as his own vision began to go wonky and out of it. Almost like a video camera trying to find a focal point to focus on and make the image clear, but not finding that point anywhere. 

Meilani scrambled to her feet as panic began to set in and she tried to blink her eyes to focus them. Nothing seemed to work and she tripped over her own feet as she tried to get her eyesight to work and not collapse as her energy level dropped drastically into the end. Her hands shot out and caught herself on a nearby shelving unit, keeping herself from crashing back to the floor. Kira, Malia and Isaac all began to feel the effects of the eye sight loss and they all began to talk over each other as they tried to figure out what to do. 

Scott's sneakers could be heard squeaking against the concrete in the vault as he freaked out, not knowing how to help his friends, sister or . . . girlfriend? He was the only human in the vault and was already beginning to feel better than he had when he stepped into the vault. His sweat was slowly going away and the burn like mark on his wrist was already healed as his energy pumped back into him in bursts. 

"Scott! Meilani! Someone!"

With Scott being the only one who could see, he barreled over to the vault door at the sound of Stiles' voice and banged on it. "Stiles! It's me, it's me! What's going on?"

"Scott, listen to me, okay? In the vault, in there with you guys. Reishi mushrooms. Look for them! It's in a jar on one of the shelves! Hurry!"

Scott didn't respond and quickly ran off from the vault door to search for where the mushrooms were as his friends all slowly lost their energy. Meilani had collapsed back to the ground and laid out with her cheek pressed the ground as she worried she'd never get to see Stiles one last time. She'd never get to say goodbye to him if she didn't make it as Scott tried to find the mushrooms in time. She wouldn't get to marry Stiles and have mini hims running around. She would never get to hear Stiles' joyous laughter or see the loving look that he always gave to her. She would never get to kiss him one last time or tell him she loved him again. That hurt more than the aching pain that coursed through her body.

Isaac had toppled over where he had been propped up and his arms laid uncomfortably beneath him even though he couldn't feel it. Kira and Malia had both dropped to the ground like dead bodies next to each other. His eyes quickly scanned the shelves and tossing random items to the sides as he tried to find the mushrooms before the supernatural around him died.

There on the top most shelf near Meilani was the mushroom jar and he skidded over to it, hoisting himself up onto the bottom second shelf to give him the height to knock the jar of mushrooms to the ground. The jar exploded on the concrete during impact and a sort of dust blew through the air as the mushrooms crushed themselves and flew into the nostrils of the wolves, snapping them back to normal.

Meilani groaned as the door to the vault opened back up and she slowly lifted her head to see Stiles stood on the other side, blood staining the front of his white shirt. A small whimper left her lips as she had seriously thought she'd never see Stiles again as her body had begun to slowly give out on her. She wasted no time in pushing herself off from the ground and running over to Stiles like she was on the track team, throwing herself into his open arms as they wrapped tightly around her. A sigh of relief escaped and he held her closer to him.

"Told you I'd always come back for you, baby," Stiles mumbled into her neck, pressing Meilani's head into his shoulder as she buried her face in it. 

Whatever cute moment they were having was interrupted by Malia who Meilani heard approaching. She slowly dropped back to the ground and turned to face the girl that had unfolded list in her hand, looking visibly upset and pissed as her eyes landed on Meilani and Stiles. Now that she had her eyesight back she was able to read the exact name that was printed on the list.

Malia Hale.

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

I have been waiting for so long to do this episode, like you guys have no idea. We got to see Scott being a bomb ass hero in this chapter and I am living for it! He deserved a little hero saving moment and I thought it would be cute if he saved all of his friends since none of them could see but him. And we got some cute Meilani and Stiles moment and that small little moment between our fave wolf mates, Meilani and Isaac.

Also, fun fact: Meilani and Isaac's song is A Drop in the Ocean. I'll let you guys have fun with that new fact and just *runs away*