&& THEY'RE HOWLING

Despite the newness of her senses, Shilo could sense the tug of Marco’s need to see her, as though he were calling to her telepathically. She left the common house, searching for him and the root of the anxiety that was crawling through her at this feeling. It was strange and uncomfortable, and she understood it the second he sprinted up to her. 

Wide eyes were fixed on her brother, covered in blood, as he spoke what seemed to be a mile a minute at her. She grabbed his hands as they reached up to touch her face, holding them to look at the blood on them as her brow furrowed deeper than it already had been. 

“Estoy bien. Estoy a salvo. ¿Qué te ha pasado?“ Shilo didn’t wait for an answer before she was pulling him close, wrapping her arms around him tenderly in case he was hurt. “Te encontraron, ¿verdad?“ She murmured, voice quiet with fear.

It’s only when she takes his hands from her face that he realizes he’s trembling -- that his hands are shaking. Instead of acknowledging that, he’s wrapping his fingers around her hands and giving it a light squeeze ; trying to soothe the worry he can see in her brow.  Before he can say anything, she’s speaking -- and then embracing him. And he wastes no time in wrapping both arms around her shoulders and holding her to him; knotting his fingers into the fabric of her clothing to make sure that she was well and truly whole. Even if the wolf couldn’t smell blood on her -- or pain -- he still worried; because they had come looking for her. 

She could hear the growls, and a surge of hope sent her tripping over roots as she entered the edge of the clearing, bumping her side - broken rib screaming with pain enough to cause the release of a whimper from her - against the tree as she passed it. Blake ripped through the bushes until she found another clearing and the heavy copper scent of blood scrunched up her nose. 

Wide eyes flitted across the area around her until she found him, Marco’s shape collapsed against a tree with a body not far from him. She started to move towards him, his name on her lips, until she felt her body lift from the ground and across the clearing with all the force that the last of the alpha’s beta’s could muster. She cried out as she hit the ground, another rib cracking - maybe more. 

He hadn’t seen Marco yet, as he advanced on Blake, and she planned on keeping it that way. She scrambled to her feet, trying not to wince with the pain of the movement before she was bearing down for the collision of the betas body against hers. 

The beta was heavier and larger than her, knocking her to the ground beneath him. Blake struggled with him, using one arm to keep him from tearing her throat out - going so far as to shove her arm in his mouth because a bite on the arm was better than the throat. Pain ripped through her as he tore at her flesh, her other arm scrambling for the knife trapped between them. 

Finally, she freed it, stabbing him admittedly more than once before he went limp. Rolling him off of her, Blake stood, eyes scanning the area for any other betas before she was fixing her gaze on Marco again - a desperate, pain-blurred look in her eyes.

The fighting was going to bring attention -- attention from the undead. He knew it, but at the moment he was much too in pain to do anything about it. In the clearing, he sees the blonde -- and he too is about to call out to her before the last beta is lunging at her. He’s holding to his side with a hand, his eyes igniting a crimson red once more and he feels the itch of his fangs dropping, meaning to help Blake as her back hit the forest floor But, as a low growl unheard by the beta over it’s feral range vibrates in his throat, Blake is fighting off the beta just as quickly. He’s sighing -- a long and rattling noise as he slouches against the tree in relief. He didn’t hear any other heartbeats ; didn’t sense anyone else around but them. He allowed himself the brief moment to regain his barrings before he’s crossing the space between them to stand in front of her. “You’re hurt --” he says, voice blunt as he raises a hand to set it on the side of her jaw. As he does, he begins to focus on the other’s pain; the pain that he can see swimming in her eyes. Supernatural or not, he had the longing to protect her from the harm that the beta had caused ; despite his own pulsing pain near his hip. He smooths that hand over her cheek bone, avoiding any injured flesh as he did so ; and it was then that he noticed how close he was to her. His breathing hitches and he’s swallowing harshly -- the nasty reality sinking in of how quick it had happened and how quick it could’ve been over for both of them. He’s hyperaware of his own breathing for a moment as the panic swelled all over again in his throat, in his chest, and he’s sating it the only way he can think how --- he surges in and kisses her. A hand on her back to tug her in, but not cage her, as eyes flicker closed and some desperate part of his mind tells him -- too late -- that this might be a terrible idea.

Blake scoffed at his words, “Coffee? Are you kidding me - yes. I would love it.” She missed coffee almost as much as she missed hot showers and pizza. Maybe more than pizza. “Are you sure?”

He’s laughing, tugging his bag off his back and lowering it from his shoulder to unzip it ; digging idly through it, “I never much liked coffee anyway -- not even before,” he explained away with a small shake of his head before closing his hand around a small pack of instant coffees, and offering it to her.

“Anyone that means something to you is as good as family,” Shilo spoke softly, she should know. Not one person that she considered blood was truly her family, but they were family because they were important. Marco, despite not being her blood brother, was her brother. He had proven himself time and again to be family.

She offered the female a small smile -- but, even so, it was genuine as she nodded to her. She wasn’t sure if the others thought of her as pack, but they were as good as family as anyone else she had ever known. Mac, the little fox, closer to her than any other child she had ever known ; a protective nature that she had only wished for a few years prior when wanting children of her own. “You’re right,” she relented, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear before meeting the other’s gaze one more. “They mean a lot to me -- a lot of them. They’ve stuck their necks out for each other, this ... mixmatched pack -- they’re good people. And they took me in. They’re all that I have.”

“Maybe you’re a little stronger than the average banshee,” Blake couldn’t think of anything else to say - she was stunned enough by what Tabi had to say about whatever was the reason she was there now. Regardless, she was tentative. Whatever had happened to Jackson may happen to Tabi, and perhaps worse to John as he was human.

There was a chuckle that resonated in her chest before she was shaking her head at the fox, “I doubt it,” she reassured her quietly. Maybe it would’ve been easier to accept that -- that she was stronger than an average banshee. But she knew it was unlikely ; without even the need of not wanting to flatter herself. It just would’ve been easier than accepting that there might be something else at work here. “I just have to do what I can with what I’ve been given. Mac -- she seems happy. That I’m back. And I’m sure Stiles .. -- Stiles will be happy to have his father back.”

Allison reached across the small space between them and brushed her hand against his arm gently, “It’ll be okay, Stiles.” She told him quietly, because some small part of herself believed it. They had gotten through so much more, and he had managed to get through what she hadn’t lived through. They were strong, even if they didn’t believe it.

Stiles offered her a half smile -- as soft as it was, and distant. But it was still there as he tucked his head down for a brief moment ; nodding to her before he was moving one hand -- the injured one -- to wrap his fingers fleetingly around her hand against his arm to give it a small squeeze in return. “ -- I know,” he breathed, filled with the fleeting hope that he clung to like a dying man.

Liam didn’t need anything other than this. It was plenty enough for him, and it was all she needed to say. He pressed his fingers against her waist, lips gentle against hers before he pulled away, moving a hand to run his thumb along her jaw.

She let out a soft breath through her nose before she was pulling away -- just enough to breathe, but still close enough to remain in his space. A gentle and distant smile pulled at the corner of her lips as his hand fell to her waist -- to her jaw. And her arms wrap around his center, “I did--” she whispered, voice hardly audible if not for his keen hearing, “I did miss you.”

His words broke through whatever wall she managed to hold up, her posture visibly deflating as he spoke. “It’s hard,” was all she gave softly in response, gaze moving from his. It was hard to go to sleep every night having watched Claudia throw herself from a building, it was hard to walk around knowing that the kids she loved so much had lost so much.

At her response, at the shake in her resolve, Chris is sighing -- dropping his head fleetingly and letting his teeth sink into his bottom lip for a moment as he’s nodding. “ -- nothing in life that’s still worth fighting for is going to come easy to us, Melissa. We have to keep chipping at it, and show it that we are stronger -- it’s going to hurt. But, in the end, it’s what hurts the most that’s worth it all.”

“I guess,” She shrugged, because she had never really thought of it like that. She’d never been able to take it one day at a time. Just one foot in front of the other. “I wish I had some wise advice to give you, but I really don’t.”

Chap gives a light shrug of his shoulder, a distantly amused noise in his throat as he shook his head, “It’s alright -- I would likely ignore the advice even if you had some; cause I’m shit at it.”

“I don’t know where the happiness is though. I-I look at you and I’m happy, but you’re in pain or scared so it hurts. Cora is too, and I don’t know how to help.” She had watched her sister’s belly grow bigger and her attitude get worse and she’d been helpless to protect her, to make her smile or feel any bit better - not that she hadn’t tried despite the terror she felt at the possibility of losing her sister in child birth.

“Sometimes there is always pain in the hurt,” Talia murmurs, moving to let herself twine her fingers into Laura’s and squeeze her hand, her free hand scooping some of the loose strands in her face to tuck behind her ear. “But the pain makes the happiness all the more worth it. You have to find the fire inside of everyone you care for; that’s where the happiness is going to come from.” She looks down for a brief moment at the mention of Cora before nodding, “Cora is stubborn -- she gets that from your father. But, she needs her family; now more than ever. Whether she will admit it in her hard head or not.“

Allison didn’t move for a moment before she squeezed Lydia’s fingers in her own, gently. Sometimes she didn’t believe that this was real - that her mind had somehow elaborately made up everyone and she was really just living alone in this hell-hole that they’d found. Something always drew her back, though, because she would not imagine so many of her friends in so much pain. There was nothing Allison found that was adequate enough a response to Lydia’s words, despite the way she grasped at straws to come up with anything that might come close to the gratitude she wanted to express. Still, coming up short, Allison settled for leaning into the other, releasing her hands from Lydia’s grip and wrapping her arms around the girl. “Okay,” Was all she managed, because she so badly wanted help fixing things. For real this time.

She let out a quiet and admittedly shaky sigh ; wrapping both arms around her best friend’s shoulders and letting her eyes closed. It was so hard for her to believe, that Allison was truly here. And truly alive -- that the world, as broken as it was, still harbored the likes of Allison Argent. Just that thought alone made her eyes burn and her hands tremble. So, she hid it ; curling her fingers into the material of Allison’s shirt to stop the shake, hiding her face against her shoulder. And just held her -- letting her know that she refused to go anywhere -- not matter what Allison was.

No longer was Allison so good at gathering herself as she’d been earlier in her life, not since the Dread Doctors had brought her back. So instead of gathering her thoughts in a basket and sorting through them composedly, Allison stared at Lydia in disbelief, brain shutting down through the stress for the briefest of moments.

Lydia had been there. Hadn’t she?

Yet, Allison wasn’t so convinced any longer. All she had needed when she’d found the others was for Lydia to be there. For Lydia to hold her and tell her that everything was alright; that she was forgiven for the things she had done because she had only been doing what she’d needed to in order to survive - to get back to them. And Lydia had done exactly that, in the dark hours of the night when the others were asleep and it was only the two of them in the world, it felt like. She had worked Allison through the grief and Allison had told her everything - more than she had ever wanted to tell anyone. But now, looking at Lydia, at the tears on her cheeks, Allison knew she would not have told Lydia everything. Her friend was too good for that - too good to know all the horrible things she had done.

And then, no one had ever mentioned Lydia to her either - had they? She had been a blocked topic of conversation, and Allison had never asked.

She’d been too afraid to know.

“Oh my god,” Allison felt something break and she wasn’t sure whether it was her mental state - if that could break any more - or her heart. She caught a breath through a sudden sob, struggling to keep the next one from ripping from her lips as she stared at Lydia.

What’s wrong with me? The words never left her parted lips, replaced by a soft sob instead, too afraid to find an answer to that question. There were more important things - like that fact that Lydia hadn’t known she was alive.

Lydia swallowed thickly -- harshly -- so much so that it burned all the way down her throat; her breath quivering. Allison looked so much in pain, in so much trauma, and she wanted nothing more than to hug her; nothing more than to hold her best friend and try and soothe the pain away. Or, at least shoulder it. But, Allison was confused -- and she could see the pieces of it all coming together, and the confusion soon turned into terror.

“I’m not surprised.. these kids have always tried to give everyone a chance.” Melissa smiled, proud to at least know that her son hadn’t lost his kindness despite these hard times. He had a good sense of judgement, and Melissa liked Blake. She trusted that if she cared for this man, then he was alright. “How do you know Blake?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“With the world the way that it is, it is respectable that they still try and see some good in people,” Marco comments with a slight nod of his head in agreement. He understood being careful and cautious of someone new -- someone like him -- but at the least Scott and his pack were willing to give himself and his sister a chance. It meant more than they could probably know. “We were ... close, when we were younger. In high school, she was one of my only friends.”

They told her that walking was good, that it’d ease the pain and maybe it’d speed along the process, too. She called complete and utter bullshit, but she’d humor them, if it’d only bring her some goddamn peace. She was large now, very clearly due at any time, which meant that everybody and their mother (literally) wanted to crowd around her (just in case, they’d say.) But Cora couldn’t take it. She just wanted some peace.

So she went on walks, usually at night and usually outside. She knew someone would be watching, but at least this way she could BREATHE. It was… something, at least.

It was cold enough that she could see her breath, but she could still get by with wearing a light jacket. Her hair, which probably hadn’t been brushed in weeks, was up in a bun, high enough that it’d stay out of her way, save the few strands that had already fallen out. Already she had contemplated on cutting it a few times, saving her time and effort, but…

Her eyes trailed to the gate keeping them safe and in the split second that she saw the figure, she assumed the worst. Her first fear was hunters- how had they already found them? They had barely found each other. Without her wolf, she had no way of telling that the figure was familiar, and yet– There was a faint light. A silhouette she was strangely familiar with seemed to stand against the bars with a purpose. Not a zom, then? No…

She took another step towards, her voice sore when she finally allowed herself to speak. “…Derek?” It wasn’t possible.

The scent hit him really before anything else did – and it caused his heart to stutter in his throat and illuminated blue eyes to widen. Her scent carried above everyone else’s, rising above them and coming to the forefront of his mind before she was coming into view.

Derek was not one for words – but, currently, he didn’t know if he could voice them if he tried, a breath choked off in his throat as he took in the appearance of his baby sister. He wasn’t hesitating by the time she said his name, moving to open the gate that separated them and shove himself through  -- so he could see her better, so he could get closer – the wolf in him whining to comfort his younger sister, even if he could scent the human on her. HUMAN?

Nothing about the way she was currently made any sense. She was so different from when he last saw her – but all of that? All of that was background noise to the fact that she truly stood before him. That his sister was truly alive and well.

He separates space between them, only halting when she sees the considerable bump between them; Cora was pregnant? Cora was human. And pregnant. This raised much more questions than he even had answers to, swallowing thickly and amending himself to merely – first – take in and appreciate that his sister was alive. No matter the fact that the hunters were looking for her – she thrived. Just as he knew her to be able to.

So, he’s setting all of his questions on the back burner for now. He still couldn’t find words – didn’t know them. So, arms wrap around her shoulders and he’s pulling her to him. “You’re okay---“ was all he managed to breathe.