#stilesfic

c h a p t e r t h r e e

ice pick

Even though they only took part in it once a week, it was Amber's personal opinion that Physical Education was single-handedly the best of their weekly elective classes. Not only was it slotted into the first class period of the day, meaning they didn't have to sit through a sleep-inducing English lecture at eight in the morning, but it also meant that she was given the opportunity to watch Stiles get enticingly sweaty, up close and personal, for forty-five blissful minutes.

This Friday was, unfortunately, one of the less sweat inducing activities. Coach Finstock was timing each of them as they climbed the rock wall in pairs of two, jotting down their times on his clipboard as they all slowly took their turns.

Scott and Allison were currently hooked up to the wall, clearly bantering back and forth with flirty smiles as they climbed the tall structure at the far side of the gymnasium.

Stiles had his arms wrapped around Amber's stomach as he watched from his spot behind her, chin propped on her shoulder as he slouched over her body. He glanced at the side of her face and his next exhale puffed out loudly over her ear, causing her to flinch and tilt her head away from the noise.

"You're annoying." She laughed, blindly reaching up to push his face away gently with her hand.

He only tightened his arms around her waist and laughed, turning to dig his face into the crook of her neck in retaliation. She brought a hand up to rub over the short soft hair on top of his head as she watched Scott lose his grip on the rock wall and fall back toward the ground slowly with the protection of his harness.

Allison was looking down at Scott with a satisfied grin and Amber laughed along with most of the other students as Scott landed softly on his back on the cushioned floor mat.

Coach squatted down beside him, also laughing at Scott's misfortune, "McCall. I don't know why, but your pain gives me a special kinda joy." He chuckled again before standing up and looking at the students grouped in front of him. "Alright! Next two." Coach's eyes raked over the group as he chose his victims carefully, "Stilinski! Daehler!"

Amber was released as Stiles stepped up to the wall while Allison repelled back down. He took Allison's place in the harness as Matt Daehler hooked himself into Scott's. The boys readied themselves to climb and Coach prepared his timer, clicking at the buttons to reset the device.

"Woo! Go Matt!" Amber cheered encouragingly.

Stiles turned to scowl at her playfully in response to her taunts and she grinned wide. She was still smiling when Matt turned to face her as well and she gave him a friendly thumbs up just as Coach blew on his whistle loudly in indication for them to go.

Scott returned to stand beside her and he bumped her shoulder with his as Matt and Stiles started their ascent.

"That wasn't very nice." Scott laughed before cheering for their friend himself, "C'mon Stiles!"

The two boys both climbed quickly, hands and feet moving along the holds in a fast pace as they raced upward. Stiles managed to reach the top just a few seconds before Matt did and they both repelled back down as soon as they tapped in at the top of the wall.

"Alright, last up! Amber! Erica!" Coach Finstock yelled out next.

Amber jumped, not realizing they were already at the final two climbers, and she stepped up to take Stiles' harness from him with a grin.

"I'm not sure if you saw that but I totally made it to the top in like fifteen seconds." He boasted quietly, unnecessarily helping Amber tighten the straps on the harness around her waist.

"Oh, did you?" She asked airily, looking up from the harness as she took another step toward the wall, "I guess I must've missed that."

"Yeah, okay." Stiles said as he backed away, "Try not to fall on your cute little ass, alright?"

She snorted as she spun to face the wall and readied herself, peeking over at the girl beside her. Erica was frowning at the wall with worried eyes and Amber reached out to nudge her arm softly.

"Hey, you got this." Amber encouraged quietly.

Erica smiled tightly and nodded at her before looking up at the wall again just as Coach blew the whistle.

Amber took a breath and began to climb, finding a good handhold before she pulled herself up and stepped higher. She cycled through the motions in quick repetition until she reached the top of the wall and slapped her hand down against the ledge to mark her finish before quickly repelling back down to the ground.

When her feet touched down on the mats, she peered up to see where Erica was but found the blonde at a standstill only halfway up the wall.

"You can do it Erica." Amber called up gently.

The blonde was beginning to suck in loud wheezing breaths, still not making any moves to climb any further up the wall. Amber frowned worriedly and took a small step toward where the other girl's harness was set up on the wall.

"Erica!" Amber called up again, "Are you okay?"

Erica's breathing picked up into something harsher and Amber could hear her gasping breaths as she began to cry quietly.

Coach came up to stand behind Amber and yelled up toward the other girl as well, "Erica!" He shouted, "You dizzy? Is it vertigo?"

"Vertigo is a function of the vestibular system of the inner ear," Lydia's voice supplied suddenly from behind them, "She's just freaking out."

"Erica!" Coach shouted up at her again.

"I'm fine." Erica finally called back down weakly.

Amber stepped back up to the wall and began to climb up the center to get as close as she could to the place where Erica had stopped as conversation continued below them.

"Coach, maybe it's not safe," Allison said, "Y'know she's epileptic."

"Why doesn't anybody tell me these things?" Coach asked rhetorically as Amber finally reached the other girl halfway up the wall.

"Hey. You okay?" Amber asked her quietly.

"Yeah," Erica said unconvincingly, "I just- I can't do it."

"That's okay," Amber said quickly, "Let's just go back down-"

"I can't do that either." Erica shook her head frantically.

"Sure you can," Amber countered gently, "Seriously the harness won't let you fall, alright?"

"I'm scared." Erica whispered, pinching her eyes shut tight in embarrassment.

"Gimme your hand," Amber reached out toward the other girl and Erica's hands tightened on the holds of the wall, "Erica, I promise you won't fall down. Just take my hand and we'll go back down slowly. Together."

Erica's hand released and regripped the hold a few times shakily before she finally reached out the couple of inches that Amber's arm couldn't cover. The girl's grip tightened around Amber's hand anxiously at having lost one of her supports to the wall.

"Good. Now just, lean back a little bit and push off. Let the harness hold your weight and ropes will take us back down nice and slow. I promise." Amber assured her softly.

Erica nodded and pinched her eyes shut again as she pushed her feet off of the wall and they sank back down toward the floor in just a couple of short seconds. The moment their feet touched down, Erica dropped Amber's hand and began to pull off her harness.

"Shake it off." Coach told Erica as she dropped the harness to the ground at her feet, "You're fine."

"Hey, Erica-" Amber called out as she watched the other girl push through their classmates to head to the locker room.

Amber pulled at her own harness and her fingers fumbled with the straps as she tried to loosen them. She looked up and her eyes caught on Stiles standing a few feet away.

"Stiles! Would you help-" She called out in frustration, pulling at one of the buckles angrily. His hands were suddenly there with hers, undoing the harness easily, "-me."

"Better?" He asked with a soft smile.

"Yes. Thank you." She sighed in relief, taking his outstretched hand and stepping away from the wall.

"Yeah, don't mention it." He said before pausing, "I mean, I wouldn't stop you if you wanted really to thank me.. With, I dunno, a kiss or-"

She fisted her hand in the front of his tacky graphic tee and pulled his lips down against hers in a quick kiss before releasing him.

"Is that thanks enough?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"Hm," Stiles hummed noncommittally, "I don't-"

She shoved his chest and shook her head, "Well it's all you're getting, so tough luck." She told him with a small laugh, stepping away to head toward the girl's locker room with Lydia and Allison.

Stiles threw his arm around Scott's shoulders as Amber and Allison walked to the other side of the gymnasium with Lydia to get changed before classes.

"Hate to see 'em leave but love to watch 'em go, am I right, Scott?" Stiles asked, shaking his friend's shoulder in his grip good-naturedly.

"Yeah," Scott shook his head with a reluctant laugh, "Sure thing, dude."

"Hey, what's with you?" Stiles questioned as they made their own way to the locker rooms, "You should be happy. I mean, just think, in ten short hours, we'll be on a double date with, like, the girls of our dreams-"

"Yeah, about that.." Scott started as they pushed open the door and stepped into the all encompassing stench of the boy's locker room, his voice cutting out at the sound of a sharp whistle.

"Listen up!" Coach Finstock's voice suddenly boomed as the room filled with students, "Anybody sees Isaac Lahey, you immediately tell the principal, get a teacher, or you call me." He looked at the cluster of boys in front of him and frowned when his eyes caught on a boy at the back of the group, "Except for you, Greenberg. Don't call me for anything. I'm not kidding. You shouldn't even have my number."

"Isaac.." Scott said as they moved toward their lockers.

"It's Derek's problem now." Stiles told him with a shrug.

They turned the corner at the back of the room into their row of lockers and Scott sighed, "Like I was saying.. I just, I dunno if tonight's such a good idea, man."

Stiles stared at his friend incredulously, eye nearly twitching in disbelief as he moved to pull his shirt over his head, "What do you mean 'tonight's not a good idea'?"

Scott pulled his locker open with a frown, "I don't know.. That thing me and Allison saw on Wednesday night, Isaac missing, Allison's grandfather, all this stuff happening with Derek.. I just- It doesn't feel right."

Stiles pulled on a clean shirt and looked at his best friend in disbelief, slamming Scott's locker closed to look at his face directly.

"No." Stiles told him vehemently, "You're not backing out. You wanna know why?" He asked, not waiting for an answer before he barreled on, "Because you and Allison are obviously having quite a good time together, and you know who else wants to have a good time?" He questioned, continuing without taking a breath, "Stiles! Stiles wants to have a good time! Many, many times. Several times.. In a row.. In several different positions- I-" His jaw clenched at Scott's unfocused gaze, "Are you even paying attention?"

Scott lifted his arm between them and they both looked down at the noticeable tremble in his shaking hands.

"What is that?" Stiles questioned in exasperation, gesturing to his friend's outstretched hand. Scott suddenly jumped into action and took off back toward the gym, "Wh- Scott! Wait up!"

Stiles ran after him, joining a small cluster of girls who were worriedly tumbling out of the locker room down the hall and rushing in the same direction. Amber was at the front of the group and Stiles nudged her shoulder as he caught up to run beside her.

"What's going on?" He asked as they rounded the corner.

"I think Erica went by herself to finish climbing the wall-" Her frantic words cut off when she froze with wide eyes.

They had stepped into the gym just as the blonde girl fell back through the air from her spot halfway up the climbing wall, with no harness to slow her descent. Amber's fingers gripped Stiles' arm tight in panic but Scott managed to run underneath Erica just in time to catch her in his arms.

The group of girls and Stiles all rushed forward again, he and Amber kneeling down in a quick motion. Erica's body was twitching and writhing as she seized and Scott released her down onto the floor gently, looking up at his friends with wide unsure eyes.

"Put her on her side!" Allison told Scott quickly.

Scott did as he was told and Amber reached out to gently brush some of Erica's wild hair back from her face.

"How did you know?" Amber asked Scott quietly, "I- I noticed she wasn't in the locker room anymore but you-"

"I just felt it." Scott explained, confused by the situation himself, his hand clenched in Erica's tight grip against her chest.

Amber sat back on her heels and exhaled a shaky sigh, her arm pressing into Stiles as she settled back.

It was only then that Stiles took in her appearance. She had pulled her hair from the loose ponytail she'd been wearing during class, her light ashy hair falling softly over her shoulders. Clearly having been in the process of getting changed when she noticed Erica's absence, she was now wearing only her tiny sports bra over her gym shorts. He found himself swallowing thickly as his eyes were pulled to the roundness of her breasts in the tight fabric.

"Can somebody go get Coach?" She called out to the students who were still standing, huddled behind the scene, "She's gonna need to go to the hospital."

Stiles' eyes snapped back up to her face just as she turned to look at him and he blinked at her silently for a few seconds, unsure if she'd caught him staring. He relaxed after a moment passed and her lips only proceeded to pull up to give him a small smile.

He dropped his arm around her shoulders and curled it around her neck, pulling her against him to press his lips to her temple softly. Something in his stomach flipped when she leaned into his embrace and settled a hand on his thigh over his track pants.

Eight o'clock couldn't come fast enough.

Amber made her way down the hallway between morning classes, her shoulder bumping against Lydia's as they discussed their plans for Saturday night. Amber's mouth was just opening to say something when she was suddenly pushed half a step to the side as Jackson shoved his way between the two girls.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He demanded angrily, wrapping a hand around Lydia's arm in a tight grip as he pulled her around the corner and crowded her back against the wall.

"What?" Lydia questioned in a gasp.

Amber caught up with them in only a few steps and pried Jackson's hand away with her fingers, jaw clenching angrily as she shoved his arm away from Lydia.

"Show it to me." Jackson demanded vaguely, reaching out again, this time toward the hem of Lydia's dress, "Show it to me. Come on-"

"Jackson, back the hell off." Amber snapped, shoving him back again.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lydia asked the boy, eyes wide.

"Nothing happened to you," Jackson stated, looking the redhead up and down slowly, "It's like- It's like you- You're immune."

Amber's eyes widened a fraction as she finally realized what the boy was talking about.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Lydia told him in a whisper.

He stepped forward to push Lydia back against the wall again and Amber jabbed him with her elbow to shove him away from her friend with a deadly glare.

"It's you," He told Lydia, doing an excellent job of ignoring Amber's presence entirely, "Whatever it is.. Blood, saliva.. Whatever soul killing substance is running through your veins. You did this to me." He hissed angrily.

Amber grabbed his arm in a tight grip and yanked him several steps away, "Jackson I swear to god if you touch her again-"

"You ruined it for me." He snapped at the redhead over Amber's shoulder as he was pushed backwards, "You ruin everything!"

Amber gave him one final, hard shove and he took a few steps in reverse, his chest heaving with angry breaths. He finally spun around and began to walk away but Amber refused to take her eyes off of him as she watched to make sure he wouldn't come back.

He turned around after a second at the sound of Lydia sobbing softly from behind them and Amber's glare only intensified. His jaw clenched with a regretful expression, but he turned away and continued to leave with a shake of his head.

Amber spun back around and was at Lydia's side again in a second, her fingers taking Lydia's hand in a soft grip. She pulled her friend down the hallway and into the girls bathroom just as the redhead began to cry in earnest.

"Hey, you're okay." Amber said softly, tucking a strand of strawberry blonde hair behind Lydia's ear.

"I need- I need a minute." Lydia choked out, dashing into one of the stalls and slamming the metal door shut behind her before sniffling loudly in the quiet room.

"I- I'll wait outside." Amber decided softly, frowning at the closed stall door one last time before she turned and stepped out into the hallway to lean against the wall just outside of the restroom.

She stood with her back pressed against the wall for several minutes before she heard Lydia speaking softly from inside the bathroom. Turning back toward the door, Amber was about to peek inside when the door swung open and Lydia stepped out into the hallway with a determined look on her face.

"Hey, Lyds-" Amber started, pausing when Lydia's gaze caught on the empty staircase behind the brunette.

"Where is he going?" Lydia asked before taking off, pushing past her friend to begin climbing the stairs.

"What?" Amber called out to her friend's retreating back in confusion, "Where's who going? Lydia-"

She mimicked Lydia's quick steps and followed behind her as they went upstairs and rounded the hallway back toward the north end of the school, calling out to her friend with no response as she trailed behind.

Lydia finally paused as they came to a smaller staircase in the north hall, her gaze focussed on the large display case full of sports awards and photographs from over the years. Amber watched Lydia's jaw clench before she bounced on her toes and approached the trophy case to get a closer look.

"What's going on?" Amber asked quietly, unsurprised when she still didn't receive a response.

She looked between her friend and the display case in confusion, watching Lydia's eyes focus on a trophy inside with a terrified expression. Amber's eyes followed the redhead's gaze and they caught on an old basketball trophy, the student's name engraved on the plaque stumping her to no end.

Peter Hale.

Amber spotted the back of Stiles' head just as she stepped into the cafeteria at lunchtime and she grinned excitedly, bounding up behind him to wrap her arms around his chest from behind awkwardly over his backpack, pressing her nose into his cheek.

He flinched in surprise and she laughed, "Hello."

"You scared the crap outta me." He scolded, turning his head at an awkward angle to look back at her.

She released him from her arms and took hold of his hand, beginning to pull him over toward the table where Scott was already sitting with his lunch tray. Stiles resisted when she tugged on him and Amber looked back at him in confusion.

"I, uh- I just gotta talk to someone about, a uh, a thing-" He winced at his own vague explanation and took a step to the side, "I'll be right there."

"Oh," She realized, her eyes drifting over to the table a few feet away where a dark skinned boy was sitting by himself and poking at his subpar school lunch, "You're gonna get the keys from Boyd? I'll come with you-"

"Wh- N-No," Stiles stammered before groaning with wide eyes, "It was supposed to be a surprise. Did Scott tell you?" He asked in disbelief.

She frowned guiltily, "Was it? I kinda pulled it out of him. I'm sorry."

Stiles shook his head and reluctantly pulled her toward the table where Vernon Boyd was sitting and having lunch. Amber split off from Stiles and sat down beside Boyd with a smile.

"Hi, Boyd." She greeted.

Stiles settled into the seat across from them, sitting sideways in the chair awkwardly as he tried to look nonchalant, "Boyd." He greeted with a nod. "You got the keys?" He questioned, peeking over at the other boy out of the corner of his eye.

Boyd thrust his hand across the table, keychain dangling from between his fingers. Stiles huffed out an excited breath and reached out to grab the proffered item, but Boyd's hand tightened around the keys with raised eyebrows. Stiles pulled at the keys again with a frown, making a small noise as he tried unsuccessfully to tug them out of the other boy's grip.

"This isn't a favor. This is a transaction." Boyd reminded firmly.

"Right, yeah!" Stiles said easily, letting go of the keychain, "Absolutely.."

Amber watched Stiles dig around in the pocket of his zip up sweatshirt and pull out a crinkled twenty dollar bill, slapping it down on the tabletop with a hopeful look.

"I said fifty." Boyd said plainly, eyes flicking up from the bill to Stiles with an unimpressed frown.

"Really?" Stiles asked with a barely perceptible wince, "I, uh- I remember twenty, I don't know. I have a really good verbal memory, and I remember twenty. I remember that distinctive 'twa' sound." He rambled, eyes finally flicking over to Amber, "Twa - nty."

She snorted and brought a hand up to her mouth to cover the laugh.

Boyd didn't look nearly as amused, "I said fifty. With the 'fu' sound. Hear the difference?"

Stiles made a face, "Ah-"

"If you can't-" Boyd continued quickly, "I can demonstrate some other words with the 'fu' sound."

"Uh, no, no, no-" Stiles ceded, lifting his hips from his seat to dig around in the pocket of his jeans, "I think I'm recalling it." He added another bill to stack on top of the twenty on the table, "Maybe I just got it confused with 'fo' - rty." He prompted.

Boyd took a chip from the bag on his tray and put it into his mouth slowly, holding Stiles' gaze with an indifferent expression as he crunched down on it and chewed.

Stiles' hopeful expression faded into a frown as he sulked, "C'mon, man. Have you seen the piece of crap Jeep I drive?"

"Have you seen the piece of crap bus I take?" Boyd countered without pause.

Amber shook her head, "Stiles. You love Roscoe, don't insult him when he can't hear you." She scolded, pulling out a twenty from the pocket of her jeans and adding it to the pile of bills as she turned to face Boyd in her seat, "Boyd. Thank you for loaning us your work keys. You're the best and we really appreciate it." She collected the sixty dollars and pressed the bills into his large hand with a smile.

Boyd smiled for the first time since the interaction began and held out the keys to her easily, dropping them into her hand as he pocketed the money.

"Wh- Can I get the extra ten dollars back?" Stiles asked the other boy as Amber stood from the table.

"No." Boyd told him easily, eating another chip with a satisfied grin.

Amber rounded the table and pulled Stiles up with her hand in his, "Thank you!" She called out to Boyd one final time as she dragged Stiles around to Scott's table.

She pulled him down into the chair beside her as they sat down across from Scott and she released Stiles' hand to pat him on the thigh consolingly while Scott looked between them.

"Did you get 'em?" He asked.

"Got 'em." Stiles confirmed, "And thank you. For completely ruining the surprise by telling Amber the entire plan." He finished with snark.

Scott frowned with a small shrug, "Sorry, man."

Amber hummed, "It's cute that you thought you both could keep a secret from me for a whole day," She leaned onto her elbows on the table and pressed her lips to Stiles' cheek in a quick peck, "Besides, I'm glad I know now, that way I can dress accordingly. Can you imagine if I'd showed up in a skirt or something?" She laughed, reaching forward to grab a french fry off of Scott's plate and plopping it into her mouth.

"Yeah. That would've been terrible.." Stiles muttered, glaring aggressively across the table at Scott. He sighed after a moment and turned his attention on Amber again, "So, I'll pick you up after Scott gets out of work and we'll meet Allison at the rink. Cool?"

"Cool." She agreed, reaching across the table to grab another french fry.

There was a quiet stirring across the lunchroom and the three turned follow the gazes of their classmates where everyone seemed to be watching the doorway as Erica Reyes stepped into the cafeteria, looking decidedly unlike herself.

Where Erica normally wore jeans and a sweatshirt, always baggy and comfortable so that she could hide herself away behind her clothes and untamed blonde hair. Now, she walked through the room confidently in a small leather skirt and a tight, low-cut tank top, towering several inches taller than her normal height with the high heels she had on her feet.

The blonde strutted into the room with a small sultry smile on her red painted lips, pausing at a table at the front of the room and leaning over to snag the untouched apple from an unsuspecting Freshman's tray. She bit into the fruit sensually, wiping the juice from her lips with another flirty grin before standing back upright.

"What." Lydia said suddenly from beside Scott and Stiles, "In the holy hell. Is that."

"It- It's Erica." Amber mumbled through the french fry still dangling from her mouth, eyes wide as she remained focussed on the beautiful blonde across the lunchroom.

Erica chewed the bite of fruit in her mouth with pursed lips before fiddling with the apple in her hands and turning to leave, slowly strutting back out of the cafeteria with a determined sway of her hips.

Scott and Stiles pushed out of their seats as she turned the corner out of sight and Amber scrambled to follow after them. They rushed down the hallway and pushed through the front doors of the school building just as Erica made it to the curb and pulled open the passenger door of a black Camaro.

The blonde looked up at them with a grin as she slid into the car. She and Derek both peered out the window to shoot them matching smiles before the car took off out of the parking lot, tires squealing in their wake.

"May- Maybe it's a coincidence," Amber tried weakly, "Just because she's suddenly insanely hot and knows Derek doesn't necessarily mean-" Her words cut off as she shrunk back under Scott's glare, "Yeah. Yeah, I heard how ridiculous it sounded even while it was coming out of my mouth."

She watched with a sigh as the Camaro pulled out onto the road with another squeal of tires and sped off.

As the lights flicked on to slowly illuminate the ice rink around them, Amber bounced up onto her toes excitedly and bit down on her lip, gripping onto Stiles' hand tight. He turned his head and took in her eager expression with a satisfied smile, tightening his hand around hers momentarily before he dragged her over to look for skates in their sizes.

He released her hand behind the counter as he pulled two pairs from the shelf. He guided her over to the bench just outside of the ice and gestured for her to sit before handing over her ice skates.

When he sat down beside her, Amber knocked her forehead against his softly, her nose brushing against his teasingly for a second before she turned her head and began pulling off her sneakers.

"Wh-" He protested quietly under his breath.

She laughed quietly and bumped their shoulders together as she began pulling on and lacing up her skates. She was quickly to get them secured and once she was finished she looked over to find Stiles still pulling his own onto his socked feet.

She blew out a warm puff of breath into the cool air around them and shivered lightly beneath her long sleeved shirt.

"It's colder in here than I thought it would be." She admitted quietly, watching the way Stiles' long fingers moved as he finished tying his laces.

No sooner had she spoken when he reached down to his backpack, digging around through the contents for a moment before reemerging with a bright, neon orange athletic shirt.

"Here." He offered with a painfully sweet smile, holding the shirt out in offering.

"Stiles, that's really sweet, but.." Her eyes flicked down to the hideous shirt again, "I am not wearing that."

"Wh- But-" He frowned, his eyes flicking from the shirt she was already wearing to the one in his hand, "Blue and orange. It's the colors of the Mets."

Her heart sank at the sound of his dejected voice and she sighed, "That's all you have?"

He pursed his lips and peered into his backpack again, shuffling a few textbooks around, "Oh, oh, wait-" He pulled another wrinkled bundle of fabric from the bottom of the bag and Amber ripped it from his hands in a flash.

She shrugged the dirty flannel on over her own shirt and Stiles immediately reached out and attempted to smooth out some of the creases before he seemed to give up on the impossible task. Looking up at him with a smile, she found his gaze already on her and she couldn't help but flush under his attention with a quiet huff.

Stiles lifted his hand from where he had been pinching the fabric of the flannel in an aborted motion a couple of times before settling his palm over her cheek and leaning in slowly. She sat still as he drew closer and only when his lips ghosted against hers did she finally push forward into his space, joining their mouths together more firmly with a contented sigh.

"Skating!" Scott's voice called out suddenly, jolting the two apart, "This date is for skating! You guys can makeout at home later."

Amber scrunched her nose at her friend in irritation as he passed by before she stood up and reached a hand back toward Stiles blindly, "We will!" She called out petulantly at Scott's retreating back, "A lot!"

Scott and Allison's laughter was loud as they moved to one of the openings to the rink, preparing to go out onto the ice.

"A lot, huh?" Stiles questioned, mouth startlingly close to Amber's ear.

She flinched at the feeling of his warm breath and looked back at him. Her eyes traced slowly over the freckles over his cheeks before determinedly focussing on the warm brown pools of his eyes.

"That was the plan," She revealed with a grin, pulling him toward the ice with wobbly steps as she balanced on the blades of her skates, "Why, do you have any objections?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Nope. No objections. Not a one." He said quickly as he trailed behind her.

She turned to face him and shuffled back, until she was standing with the blades of her skates on the ice while Stiles stood a step beyond the edge of the rink.

"Good." She said quietly, leaning forward until their lips were nearly touching. Her mouth hovered just out of his reach and when he tilted his head forward to catch her lips, she let her skates carry her back a few inches to glide along the ice, "C'mon, Stiles!" She laughed gleefully, "This date is for skating, after all-"

He protested loudly as the distance between them increased and he moved to follow her immediately, stepping onto the ice and kicking off with one foot to rush in her direction. Her eyes widened when she saw him speeding toward her and she squealed quietly just as his arms wrapped around her to pull her into his chest while they continued backwards.

"You're a menace." He scolded as they slowed to a stop.

She giggled and remained in the warmth of his arms for a minute before slipping out of his grip and skating a few feet away with a grin.

"Wait, wait, Amber-" He reached toward her as she slid away.

"Scott!" Allison's voice suddenly yelled in panic.

Amber turned at the sound of the other girl's alarm and only managed to catch a blur of Scott's green shirt before he was colliding with her painfully. They seemed to spin for a long second before falling and the two managed to land with Amber sprawled across Scott's stomach, both of them hitting the ice with a yell of surprise.

"Sorry," Scott apologized weakly, "I don't think I'm very good at this."

Amber pushed up onto her elbows on the ice and looked back at him over her shoulder, "I caught on to that fact, believe it or not."

"Scott!" Allison's voice came again, closer this time.

"I'm okay." Scott promised breathlessly, still laying down flat on his back.

There were hands suddenly at Amber's waist as she tried to push up off of her friend and she glanced back as Stiles hooked his fingers into the belt loops on her jeans to pull her to her feet.

"You looked like you hit your head that time." Allison worried as she helped Scott up.

"What's that, Coach?" Scott asked in feigned confusion.

Amber laughed, allowing herself to be pulled away on her skates by Stiles' hand in hers. He dragged her to the other side of the rink and as they slowed, he released her hand. He turned her to face him head on and carefully guided her to skate backwards until her back hit the wall with a soft thump.

"Hi." She breathed, heart fluttering at the warmth of his chest against hers as he pressed her back into the wall.

"You okay?" He questioned, hand coming up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear as his other tightened incrementally around her hip.

"I'm fine," She couldn't help but whisper in their close proximity, "My hands are really cold now though- From touching the ice."

Stiles leaned back a only few inches but she found herself frowning at the increased space between their bodies as he reached down to take her hands into his. He enveloped her smaller hands in his palms and blew a warm breath into his cupped hands. He pulled in another deep breath before exhaling warm air over their hands once again, eyes flicking back and forth between hers slowly as he breathed heat into her chilled fingers.

"Better?" He asked, still holding her hands between their chests.

She nodded silently, not trusting her voice as her eyes focussed on the soft plushness of his lips. She leaned her weight more heavily against the wall behind her, her head thumping back against the plexiglass with a quiet thud as she looked up at him.

She swallowed, "How, um. How long do you reckon we skate?" She questioned, aiming for casual, "Like.. An hour? Longer?"

He studied her face slowly for a moment before responding, "Yeah, I- Probably like an hour or so. Why?"

"Just," She paused anxiously, "Thinking about the plan for, y'know, after."

"The pla-" He blinked suddenly and looked at her with scrutiny, "The plan we were just talking about? The uh.. The one you just mentioned to Scott?"

She nodded slowly, her heart already picking up in her chest excitedly in anticipation. She peeked around his shoulder and watched Scott nearly fall on his face again as Allison rushed to keep him upright.

Amber leaned her head back against the wall again and looked up at the boy in front of her. She licked her lips in contemplation and Stiles' eyes seemed to track the movement.

"I think Scott and Allison are a little preoccupied with keeping Scott's bones unbroken," She told him slowly, "I, um. I saw a photobooth on our way in if you wanted to maybe go and take a couple pictures."

"Yeah, we can do that." He agreed easily, confused at her apparent nerves.

"I wouldn't mind a couple photo strips of us, y'know, kissing." She continued.

"We can definitely do that." He amended, already grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him in the direction of where they'd stepped out onto the ice in the first place.

Stiles stumbled the moment he stepped off of the ice and Amber laughed as he continued to drag her toward the picture booth. When they got to the stall, he pulled the curtain to the side and urged her to climb inside first. She slid across the tiny bench seat and looked at him excitedly as he sat down beside her.

"Okay," She grinned, leaning forward and squinting at the buttons surrounding the large camera lens at the front of the space, "So, how do we-"

Two fingers pressed into her jaw, turning her head so that Stiles could cover her mouth with his as his other hand reached around to slam down over the largest button blindly.

He opened his mouth on only the second soft press of their lips and grazed his tongue over her lips softly as the first flash went off behind their closed eyes. Her brain finally caught up and she brought a hand to grip at his neck, his hand falling away from her face to drag her closer by her waist.

The second flash went off.

He tightened his grip around her lower back, hand flattening to spread out over the flannel she was wearing, his fingers pressing into the curve of her spine. She groaned softly against his tongue, her leg instinctively coming up to drape over his knee in the cramped space as she tried to get closer.

There was another click of a flash and it was then that she remembered there were pictures being taken at all. She pulled back just enough that she could gaze at Stiles, her vision slightly blurred from their close proximity. His eyes were still closed, long eyelashes downcast over his cheekbones. He brushed his nose against hers softly just as the final flash lit up the booth.

She leaned back another few inches and he finally cracked his eyes open to look at her in confusion.

"The first set of pictures is over." She told him, licking her lips and feeling a flutter in her stomach when she tasted the remnants of his mouth on her own.

He turned his head toward the camera as if he'd also forgotten it was there, "I guess we should do another one then."

He was reaching toward the button again but she pulled his hand back, "Wait, wait."

"What's wrong?"

"I just, I wanna take a few cute ones first. Before we get too.. Distracted." She explained.

He smiled and nodded, pressing his hand down on the button before wrapping an arm over her shoulder and pulling her into his chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to her temple and she bit down on her lower lip against a smile as the flash went off.

She reached for his hand where it was draped around her shoulder to tangle his fingers around the backs of hers, using her new grip to curl his arm tighter around her neck until she could reach to bite down softly on his wrist. The camera flashed just as Stiles looked down at her in mock outrage.

He retaliated quickly, untangling their hands so that he could poke his fingers into her waist beneath her flannel. Her whole body jolted as he started to tickle her sides and her butt came up off of the bench as she squirmed to get away, head thrown back against his shoulder as she laughed loudly.

As soon as the flash went off, he stopped tickling her and chuckled as she breathed heavily in recovery. She tilted her head against his shoulder and peered up at him in adoration. Stiles moved to look down at her to see what she was planning for the next photo to but she leaned up to press a kiss to his jaw and stopped the movement of his head. His smile was soft and pleased smile and his cheek dimpled adorably as the flash lit up the booth again.

He finally tipped his head to look at her and their noses brushed softly. It felt eerily reminiscent of their first — apparently second — kiss the night they'd gotten drunk on Jack Daniels in the woods. Their lips brushed softly but this time instead of panicking, she turned and slotted their lips together easily. She reached up to fist her hand in the front of his sweatshirt and parted her lips against his just enough that she could taste his next exhale as the fifth flash went off.

"One more?" He asked against her mouth, his words slipping into her open mouth intoxicatingly.

"Uh huh." She told him quietly, pulling his lips back down against hers.

She didn't watch, but she heard the quiet slaps of his hand fumbling around for the button before it clicked in indication that he'd managed to find it. His arm wrapped around her waist quickly, his other hand pressing into the wall of the booth behind her as he crowded her back and leaned into her space. When his tongue brushed her lip questioningly, she barely had to think before she was tilting her head and opening her mouth in acceptance.

The first flash went off and the click of it seemed to spur Stiles on, his arm tightening around her back for only a second before he reached down to tug her thigh back over his again, the way it had been in the first set of pictures. She let her knee curve around his lap, her calf draped between his legs as their heads tilted in opposite directions, tongues meeting again and again hungrily.

At the second flash, she wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled herself that much closer, nearly in his lap as she straddled just one of his thighs while Stiles slid to the edge of the seat to angle his body toward her in the cramped space. She pulled back just enough that she pulled in his next exhale through her lips. She looked down at his mouth with hooded eyes, fingertips reaching between them to brush over his lips in a light touch just as the camera flashed again.

He retook her mouth with his as soon as the picture snapped and she parted her lips for his tongue immediately, groaning quietly into his mouth. His hand at her waist dipped to grab a handful of her ass through her jeans and she moaned more openly, head falling back from the kiss as her arm tightened around his neck.

The camera flashed over her blissful expression and her mouth was back on his in a frantic rush. Their tongues met between kisses again and she tightened her leg over his thigh as she pulled him closer. Her knee brushed against the growing bulge beneath his jeans as she pulled herself against him and this time it was Stiles whose head dropped back from the kiss. His jaw went slack when her leg pressed firmly against him and it was at that glorious moment that the final flash lit up the booth.

"Sorry." She apologized in a whisper as soon as she realized what she'd done. She loosened her leg from around him and sat beside him again.

He took a deep breath, his hand finally dropping down from the wall behind her head. His fingers combed through her long hair in silent forgiveness and he thunked the side of his head against the back of the booth as he looked over at her.

"Do you wanna go back out and skate?" He asked after a minute looking at her softly and regaining his breath.

"Yeah." She agreed, "Are you.. Good? To go back out?" She asked cautiously, eyes flicking down to his lap in question.

He huffed out a laugh, "I'm about as good as I'm gonna get with you sitting next to me, if I'm being honest. If anything, it'll be easier when we're back out on the ice and it's cold and you're mouth isn't two inches away."

"Who said my mouth won't be two inches away on the ice?" She asked teasingly, leaning closer to brush her lips over his.

"Alright, let's go-" Stiles said, the warmth of his body very suddenly no longer against her.

He stood from the photobooth, extending a hand to help her out that she accepted begrudgingly. Once they stepped out of the stall, Amber's eyes caught on the tiny cubby in the side and the three photo strips that laid inside.

"Oh!" She exclaimed excitedly, reaching for the pictures and pulling them up in front of her face as she examined them closely.

Stiles pressed his chest to her back and peered over her shoulder as she began to flip through the strips.

The first was relatively innocent pictures of them kissing, only able to see the hint of tongues in one or two of them if you looked close enough.

The second made her stomach flutter. They were sickeningly adorable. Snapshots of them pressed close together happily, flirting, laughing — the final picture catching their mouths hovering just a breath away from a kiss.

The third strip was what gave her pause. The first two photos were the two of them kissing hungrily as they pulled one another closer. The third, a small break from the heaviness as it captured Amber's fingertips brushing softly over the softness of Stiles' lips. But the final two pictures were practically softcore porn. Her eyes barely skimmed over photo number four, the way her head had been thrown back in arousal. Instead, her attention was immediately drawn to the final picture. Stiles' head lolled against the wall, lips parted in a silent moan, cheeks visibly flushed, eyes closed — All with his arm still propped up behind Amber's head while she looked at him in awe from only a breath away.

As they studied the third and final set of pictures, Stiles made a small sound into her ear from behind her.

"Dibs!" She said quickly, pressing the third strip to her chest protectively.

"No, no, no," He disagreed instantly, "No way, you can't just call dibs on the hottest one."

"Well, it's too late, because I already did." She grinned in satisfaction.

"And what if I wanted that one?" He asked incredulously.

"If you wanted the hottest one, I guess you should've called dibs or something." She told him easily.

He was on her in a second, arms wrapping around her from behind as he quickly pulled the photostrip in question from her hands and held it above his head where she couldn't reach it.

"Hey, no!" She whined as she spun around to face him, wrapping an arm around his neck and reaching up toward his extended hand in vain, "You can't use your height against me! I called dibs!"

"I'm sorry but I need these pictures for very important personal reasons." Stiles said, trying not to laugh as she attempted to pull herself higher up to reach his hand.

"No way. You don't get to keep them just because you want them as jerk-off material. Maybe I want to jerk off to them, too-" She argued, "Did you ever think of that?"

"That's not what I- Well, okay, yeah- But-" He tried to deny before realizing it was a moot point.

Very suddenly, she stopped trying to get the pictures back and wrapped both of her arms around his neck instead. She remained chest to chest with him, her breasts pressing against him through the thin fabric of his tshirt as she narrowed her eyes.

He made a quiet noise of either arousal or confusion and she moved to drag her nose along the ridge of his jaw, pressing her lips lightly to his skin as she moved further up toward his ear.

"Stiles, please?" She asked softly, lips brushing against the shell of his ear before she dropped to press a couple of soft kisses to the side of his neck.

"Wh- That's not fair. You can't do that." He protested weakly, elbow dropping just slightly where he was holding the photostrip above them.

Her lips dragged back along his jaw, pressing a kiss to his chin and the corner of his mouth before hovering above his lips.

"Can't do what?" She questioned slowly, blinking at him innocently as she licked her lips, her tongue managing to brush lightly over Stiles' own lips as she did so.

He made another pained noise, arm lowering distractedly again, "Can't use sex against me when we haven't done sex-like things yet."

"You're right," She agreed easily, "What if instead, you just let me have the pictures?"

"That doesn't really feel like you're agreeing with me," He laughed against her mouth, "But what if I hold onto them so I can scan them onto my laptop, and then I let you have them?"

She leaned back with a frown, "Scan them? Why didn't you just say that before?" She loosened her arms around his neck and looked at him with less blur obstructing his features.

"If I'd said that before, you wouldn't be clinging on to me quite so desperately." He grinned, letting his arm fall and stuffing the pictures into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Now who's the menace?" She glared at him playfully.

"Hey!" Scott's voice sounded out suddenly from behind her, "Are you guys done in the photobooth? Allison and I want to take some pictures."

Amber turned her head toward where Scott and Allison were making their way over stockingfoot, skates already pulled off.

"All yours, buddy." Stiles assured him, hand dropping onto Amber's hip.

"Sweet!" Scott said excitedly, pulling the curtain open and letting Allison slide in first, "Oh, gross!"

"What?" Amber, Allison, and Stiles all questioned.

"Guys, seriously? It reeks in here." Scott said with a wince.

"I don't smell anything." Allison said in confusion.

"I can't let your wolfy-nose control my whole life, Scott." Amber laughed, "Sorry."

"Ugh," Scott grimaced, "I knew I'd regret you two getting together at some point, I just didn't realize it would be so soon."

"Sorry, man." Stiles shrugged, "You're probably gonna have to get used to it."

Scott frowned and pulled the curtain closed, cutting himself and Allison off from his best friends.

"I seriously don't smell anything," Allison repeated, "Is it that bad?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Scott said quietly.

Amber laughed and released Stiles completely before moving back over toward the ice rink, "You still wanna skate for a few minutes?" She asked, hesitating at the edge.

Stiles grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the ice where they skated a slow lap around the rink with their fingers intertwined. She slowed after a while and skated around him in a circle, stopping at his back. She reached her hands to his waist from behind and locked her fingers into the belt loops at his hips.

"Pull me," She prompted, pressing her face into the soft hood of his sweatshirt.

He chuckled but obeyed her request, skating forward slowly and dragging her along as she stood behind him, pressed to his back. They looped around for a few minutes before she loosened her grip and let herself fall back as Stiles continued forward.

When he noticed the absence of her warmth behind him, he turned on his skates and made his way back over, coming to a stop in front of her. He reached out to fix the collar of her borrowed flannel, pulling it up closer to the cool skin of her neck, and her stomach fluttered at the soft thoughtful gesture.

She fiddled with the long sleeves where they hung down over her palms for a moment before reaching out to stick her hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt and skating backwards at a slow speed, pulling him along with her.

He looked at her curiously but didn't question as she continued backward, slowing to a crawl but still moving blindly until her back thumped softly against the plexiglass wall at the edge of the rink.

"What's up?" He asked softly, letting his skates cage her in with his feet on either side of hers.

"Was just thinking." She told him vaguely, a small smile pulling at her lips.

"Oh no," He joked, raising his eyebrows, "That doesn't sound good. What were you thinking about?"

She shrugged casually, "You."

He smiled, "Oh, well that's okay then. What about me?"

"Mm," She hummed noncommittally, "Mostly your mouth."

Stiles tried not to show the slight surprise on his face, "My mouth, huh?" He asked smugly.

"Mhm," She nodded, "A real smart mouth. Very annoying. Always talking absolute shit-"

"Hey!" He said in offense.

"-Instead of kissing me." She finished with a sly smile.

He faltered for a moment. His mouth dropped open as if he had a retort ready before he seemed to think better of it and instead cupped her cheek to bring their lips together.

"Hey, uh, we're gonna head out." Scott's voice called out from the edge of the rink, standing hand in hand with Allison with an infuriatingly smug look on his face.

Amber thumped her head back against the wall for a brief second before grabbing Stiles' hand and skating back over toward their friends.

"We, uh. We're probably gonna head out too." Amber revealed, stepping off of the ice and wobbling slightly on her skates.

Scott nodded, pinching his lips together in a tight, amused line, "Uh huh. I bet you are."

"Yup." She nodded with a laugh, "We are. I just said that." She shoved past her best friend with a hand on his chest as she continued to pull Stiles behind her, "Don't be so smug. It's not like we don't all know exactly what you and Allison are leaving to go do in the privacy of her car."

Allison blushed and Scott's smile shifted into something more soft, "Yeah, okay." He settled, pulling on Allison's hand gently, "See you guys later."

"Later." Stiles and Amber called back.

Amber pulled off her skates and tugged her sneakers back on quickly before looking up at Stiles who appeared to have already done the same.

"So, uh.. Are we- We going to my place?" Stiles asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"My brother's home for the night so.." She said slowly.

"Yeah, definitely my place."

"Yeah." She nodded.

"What the hell are we waiting for then?" He asked, grabbing both sets of skates in one arm and snatching her hand with the other, pulling her back toward the front of the building.

She laughed at his eagerness and just managed to grab his backpack from the floor, fighting to keep up with his long strides as they locked up the rink and just about ran to the vehicle.

When they got to the Stilinski house, Stiles' father's cruiser was regrettably already parked in the driveway and Stiles audibly groaned.

"He's worked late every night for the last two weeks but on the night of our first date, he's home by nine? Seriously?" He lamented, slamming the driver's side door of the Jeep shut.

Amber laughed, closing her own door and pulling her duffle bag onto her shoulder before she rounded the Jeep to meet him at the front hood.

"Oh, it'll be fine." She told him, leaning up onto her toes to press a quick kiss to his lips before turning to head inside. When they stepped through the front door, Amber slipped off her sneakers into the small pile of shoes underneath the coat rack. "Hi, Mr. Stilinski." She greeted when she spotted the man watching television on the couch in the living room.

"Hey," He greeted back, "Have you kids seen this movie? It's got the guy from Star-something and Denzel Washington."

"I can't say I have." Stiles told him, peering at the screen as they stepped further into the house.

The Sheriff picked up the remote beside him and squinted at the buttons before he paused the action on the screen, "There's this train and- Well I don't want to give it away, but it's good. I can start it over if you two want to-"

"Oh, uh. Sorry, pops." Stiles said awkwardly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, "We.. Were already gonna watch something else."

"Oh," His dad said quickly, throwing the blanket beside him over the back of the couch, "Do you guys want to watch it down here on the tv? I can finish this tomorr-"

"Actually," Amber interrupted softly this time, "I have the movie downloaded on my computer, so." She patted her hand against her laptopless duffle bag, "We'll have to watch it on there anyway. You can finish your movie on the tv."

Stiles dropped his hand heavily onto her shoulder in relief and nodded in enthusiastic agreement, "Yup! So, we'll be watching a movie up there, and you can watch your train movie down here." He repeated again unnecessarily, "Cool. Right, so. Let's go."

His hand wrapped around Amber's wrist in a firm grip and he pulled her around the corner and up the stairs before she could say another word. They stumbled through the door to his bedroom and Amber dropped her duffle bag down onto the ground beside the bookshelf.

She gnawed on her lower lip, suddenly anxious, and her fingers picked at the soft edges of the flannel sleeves hanging down over her hands as Stiles threw the door shut with just a touch too much enthusiasm considering how loud the resulting slam was.

"Oops." He said simply, eyes focussed intently on the girl in front of him as he swallowed nervously.

They both seemed to take a deep, grounding breath at the same time and when their exhales lined up in a loud huff of air in the quiet room, they laughed quietly.

"Why is this suddenly, like, nerve-wrackingly awkward?" She questioned.

"Do- would you rather put on an actual movie or something?" He asked immediately, "I can set up my laptop and-"

She stepped forward in a quick movement, "No, no, I still want to- Not watch a movie." She assured him, licking her lips with a nervous laugh, "I'm just not sure how to.. Start."

He smiled in relief and stepped closer, his hand sliding along the side of her neck softly. His brown eyes flicked back and forth between hers attentively as he leaned closer, giving her plenty of time to pull back if she'd wanted to. When their mouths met, it was like her nerves finally fell away and she threw herself into the kiss fervently.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and she drew herself up against him as they kissed. He continued to hold her neck gently, thumb skirting up to brush under her jaw through the blur of their mouths separating and meeting again tenderly.

Neither one of them even noticed that they'd been moving in slow steps until the backs of Stiles' legs bumped against the edge of the bed. He pulled back slightly from the kiss to look behind him before looking back up at her questioningly.

"Should we-?"

"Yeah." She nodded immediately, pushing gently at his chest until he complied.

He climbed back and sat with his legs out in front of him in the center of the bed and she paused to take him in for a moment before Stiles laughed and held his hand out in offering. She accepted and quickly crawled across the blankets to straddle his knees awkwardly, unsure how close she was meant to get or how quickly she was meant to do it.

Stiles didn't seem to notice her nerves and instead leaned forward in a smooth movement and brought their lips back together with his right hand firmly cupping the left side of her face. She moved to kneel further up around his legs until she settled over the tops of his thighs, gripping onto his shoulders as she tilted her head to meet his lips in another kiss.

She opened her mouth against his and his own lips parted quickly to slip his tongue through the opening to slide against hers. She groaned quietly into his mouth at the taste of him and pushed at his shoulders to lay him back against the mattress.

As he settled onto his back, he shuffled slightly against the bed to get into a comfortable position and she was jostled until she was left straddling his waist. She pulled back from the kiss for just a moment, already feeling warmth pricking beneath her skin. He looked up at her curiously while she slipped out of the flannel she had on over her long sleeved shirt, tossing it over the side of the bed. He followed suit and leaned up to pull his zip-up off, rolling it into a ball and throwing it behind her before quickly laying back down.

He brought a hand up to her face again and pulled her down to recapture her lips. His left hand went to her waist and as their tongues brushed hotly again, his forearm tightened around her lower back and pulled her down against him, the seam of her jeans pressing up against her clit to send a sharp pang ecstasy down her spine. She gasped lightly against his mouth and rocked her hips back down against his without any further encouragement.

They both released quiet, hungry noises into one another's mouths at the friction between them and she continued the slow roll of her hips through open-mouthed kisses. On a particularly rough brush of the seam of her jeans against her underwear, she tightened her fingers around the backs of his shoulders and sighed against his mouth. She ground her hips down again and again as she tried to replicate the motion.

An indiscernible amount of time passed, their mouths and tongues meeting, her hips rolling down against him. She felt herself growing increasingly hot from both arousal and exertion but didn't stop, couldn't stop, her groin grinding down almost unconsciously as they continued to trade passionate kisses.

Stiles dropped his left arm from her back to gripped supportively at her hip instead, fingertips digging in as he followed the movements of her body against him. His right thumb brushed over her cheek the next time her lips parted and he tilted his chin up to meet her mouth that much more firmly, hunger evident in his kiss.

The next time she ground down in a slow roll of her hips, he groaned into her mouth and the needy noise sent a sharp spark of arousal straight between her thighs. She kissed him again and rolled her hips down against his just a touch harder in an attempt to get the friction she was desperately craving beneath her own jeans. As she ground down, he moaned again, high in the back of his throat, and his body tensed beneath her, his hand left tightening on her hip as his mouth fell slack under hers.

She pulled back from the kiss, her lips hovering a breath away from his as her gaze raked over his face. His eyes were pinched shut and he huffed out a sharp breath from his open mouth while he tugged desperately at her waist again, pulling her down against him as his hips lifted from the mattress to press up into her.

He made another soft noise, his whole body jerking once more, and she could do little more than simply look down at him in awe. She was nearly sure if she looked down between them, she'd find a wet patch at the front of his jeans and she was thrilled. Amazed. She'd never been more proud of an accomplishment in her entire life.

She slid a hand from his shoulder to rest along his sharp jaw, her thumb rubbing softly over his flushed cheek. Stiles was so beautiful. He was handsome, sure. But he was also so unbelievably beautiful.

Her eyes mapped his face slowly. They traced over the light splotches of pink currently coloring his cheeks, the long length of his dark eye lashes, the plush cupid's bow of his upper lip, the perfect slope of his nose.

She silently allowed him to recover, watching him take in shaky breaths for a long minute before he spoke.

"Oh god." He finally groaned, dropping his right hand from her cheek and pushing his head as far back into the mattress beneath him as he could, like he could somehow sink into it and disappear, "No, no, no, no, I can't believe I just did that. Oh god-"

His sudden reaction surprised her, "Stiles. Hey, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly, hand still cupping his face gently.

"Wha- I just-" A whine crawled up his throat in embarrassment, eyes still pinched shut, "Fuck! I actually have you in my bed and I just- I came. In my pants."

"Why is that a bad thing?" She whispered cautiously, sliding her hand to the back of his neck and gently scraping her blunt fingernails into the buzzed hair at the base of his skull.

"Why is it-" Stiles stuttered, "Are you joking? This is so embarrassing- I- I'm actually gonna die. I'm gonna die of- Of embarrassment. I can't-"

Her anxious heartbeat settled in her chest, "Stiles," She interrupted, "Will you look at me? Please?"

He scrunched his face up tightly, like he didn't really want to obey her request, but he slowly did it anyway. His eyes fluttered open and she looked between the warm whiskey pools slowly.

"Stiles?" She whispered into the narrow sliver of space between their faces.

"Yeah?" He asked dejectedly.

She leaned down to press a soft kiss to his lips before pulling back to hover over him again, "That." She started seriously, "Was. Insanely. Hot." She pressed her lips to his in quick kisses for emphasis between each word.

"Me? Jizzing in my pants?" He clarified in disbelief.

She nodded slowly, "Stiles. Literally nothing has ever turned me on more than what just happened." She admitted quietly.

He continued to look up at her in disbelief for a moment before he was reaching up to cup the back of her head and pulling her mouth down against his, their lips slotting back together seamlessly. She couldn't help the small unconscious grind of her hips against his and he pulled back from her with a deep breath.

"As much as I don't want to leave the position we're currently in. Like, ever-" He started, dropping to rest both of his hands back over her hips again, "I need just, like, thirty seconds tops-"

"What for?" She questioned.

"I really need to change my pants." He admitted with a wince.

She rolled off of him quickly, "Oh god, yeah. Of course you do. Sorry."

He sat up and moved to the edge of the bed, "Just- Close your eyes? Give me half a sec-"

She reached up to cover her eyes immediately, readjusting from sitting back on her knees to sit criss-cross on the mattress. She listened to the sounds of him shuffling around the room, likely removing his pants and digging around in the dresser to find something else to wear.

It was only a few more seconds before she was blindly tackled onto her back on the bed, landing with a squeak of surprise underneath Stiles' body. She removed her hands from her eyes and looked up in the newly darkened room to see him grinning down at her, his cheeks dimpling with his smile.

She laughed, "I wouldn't have minded a little bit of warning."

He grinned wider, leaning down to press a quick kiss to her lips, "Sor-"

"Stiles!" They both flinched in surprise as Sheriff Stilinski's voice called out from the other side of the closed bedroom door, "Amber! I'm heading to bed!"

"'Kay, dad-" Stiles called out wide eyed.

"Good Night-" Amber called out weakly.

The sound of his dad's footsteps retreating down the hall faded slowly before the Sheriff's bedroom door clicked shut and they both let out a breath.

Amber's gaze dropped to Stiles' attire and she shifted on the bed nervously. The same black tshirt he'd been wearing all day stretched across his shoulders, he'd removed his jeans and changed his boxers, but he hadn't bothered with any sort of pants to go over them.

His weight dropped against her a bit more and his fingers brushed a strand of hair back out of her face in the dark, "On a scale of one to ten, how much did that interruption just turn you off?" He asked with a dejected sigh.

"Um," She focused on the heavy warmth of his weight settled on top of her and she took a breath before responding, "Not much, to be honest. Maybe only two."

"Two?" He repeated, sounding relieved, "Great! Cool, okay-"

His eyes flicked slowly between hers before he leaned down to press their mouths together again. He rested a hand over her hip, the fabric of her shirt bunching up as his fingers dragged against the bare skin of her abdomen. Her stomach fluttered and she reached up to the back of his neck to pull him closer, spreading her legs and allowing him to settle in between them on his knees.

His left hand slipped a little bit further beneath her shirt to simply rest along her ribcage and the gentle caress of his fingers over her skin had excitement twisting in her gut as they kissed. The movement of his hand only paused for a few seconds before he cautiously inched it up a bit more, the tips of his fingers brushing the underwire of her bra.

"This okay?" He questioned against her lips.

She lifted her free hand up from the bed and brought her fingers to gently encircle his elbow before guiding him up another few inches in silent consent. His hand cupped her breast over the thin cotton of her bra, the feeling entirely new and thrilling for the both of them, and it had them both huffing out a quiet breath into the space between their mouths.

He tightened the fingers of his left hand experimentally, squeezing her breast in a soft grip, and her back arched on reflex as she pressed up into his hand. His mouth captured hers again and he readjusted his hand to brush his thumb over the soft skin at the top of her bra.

When he parted from the kiss to take a breath after a few minutes, he let his right hand trail in the opposite direction until his knuckles dragged over the waistband of her jeans. Her stomach tightened in nervous anticipation and she opened her eyes to find Stiles already looking down at her in the dark.

"Is it okay If I-?" He questioned softly, his fingertips skating distractingly against the sensitive skin of her bare stomach.

She took a nervous breath and nodded, "Yeah."

He pulled back a fraction to look down at her pants in the dark and his left hand retreated from her chest as his fingers moved pinch at the top of the denim. After a few seconds watching him fumble, Amber reached down, her fingers brushing over his as she undid the button herself.

Once her jeans were open, they both paused for a moment before Stiles was jumping back into action, tugging at the material and easing it down a few inches. She lifted her hips from the mattress and helped him slide her pants down until the jeans were tossed in a heap on the floor beside the bed.

Once they were gone, his attention seemed to get stuck on her underwear-clad lower half and she pushed up onto her elbows anxiously. She saw the moment that his eyes caught on the place where Kate had dragged a sharp blade into the flesh of her lower stomach. He reached his right hand out to rest on her left hip once again and his thumb traced lightly over the fresh pink scar across the side of her abdomen, his touch gentle and brimming with care.

She watched him stroke his thumb back and forth over her skin and she took a slow breath as she fought to work up some nerve. She exhaled in a slow puff through her lips and finally sat up just enough that she could tug her rucked up shirt over her head entirely. The action seemed to draw his attention upward and he stared at her in the dimly lit room for a long moment, eyes now stuck on her bra-clad chest.

"They match." He observed quietly, licking his lips as his eyes trailed over her nearly naked body, gaze flicking back and forth as if he couldn't decide which article of her underwear he wanted to look at more.

"I didn't want to be presumptuous and assume that something would happen after the date, but also.. I- I was really hoping something would happen after the date." She admitted, squirming and looking down at the matching dark green pieces nervously.

"It's- You look.." He blew out a breath and nodded to himself, the compliment left unfinished as his eyes continued to trace the curves of her breasts.

"The silent staring is kind of making me nervous." She admitted quietly, readjusting to lean back onto her elbows.

"Sorry." He said quickly, leaning over her to give her a quick apologetic kiss.

Before he could pull away again, she dropped onto her back and reached up to hold his face to hers, kissing him harder. He met her efforts halfway and settled between her legs again as their mouths moved against one another in an easy, already nearly perfected rhythm.

It was only another couple of minutes of trading deep kisses before his hand made the slow trail back down her body. The gentle caress as he dragged it lower had her cunt clenching with nervous excitement. His hand continued on past her belly and skimmed against the thin fabric of her underwear this time. When his fingertips hooked lightly beneath the waistband, her hips reflexively lifted up off of the mattress toward him, her mouth falling away from the kiss distractedly.

His lips brushed featherlight over hers due to their close proximity, not quite firm enough to be an actual kiss, as his hand dove just a little bit deeper into her underwear. She let out a quiet noise as his fingers moved lower and traced over her softly, applying only the lightest bit of pressure as he curiously touched her. She felt him let out a soft breath over her mouth in what she assumed to be nervousness just before his two of his fingers pressed a touch more firmly and slipped down between her open thighs.

When the action caused his fingers to spread her wet folds, she released another soft whine against his mouth. The noise seemed to spur him on and the next second, one of his long fingers was entering her slowly. She moaned just a little bit louder as his finger moved in and out in a slow, exploratory motion.

"Shh," He hushed softly against her lips, "You're gonna have to be quieter than that."

She nodded against the mattress, "Sorry." She said breathlessly against his lips, nose brushing against his as she tipped her chin to peck him on the mouth.

He began to thrust his finger in and out just a little bit deeper as his eyes flicked between hers, "This okay?"

"Mhm," She agreed quietly, lifting her hips again to better the angle of his hand, "Maybe, could you- Two?"

He didn't respond verbally but another finger quickly slipped in alongside the first. She gasped quietly at the thickness of his knuckles dragging against her walls and slid her hands around to the back of his neck. He thrust his fingers in and out in a slow motion and she brought his lips back down against hers desperately.

He continued fucking into her, the thickness and depth of his fingers both so much more — so much better — than her own.

Eventually, she pulled her mouth from his to take a deep breath. It felt amazing, incredible, but she couldn't help the pang in her gut that insisted she needed something more.

"C'you just-" She took a slow breath, "C'you curl your fingers, like, up and-"

Stiles followed her instruction before she could even finish the request, her words cutting off as he immediately managed to find the spot she'd been indicating. She moaned quietly at the feeling of the pads of his fingers pressing against the soft bundle of nerves inside of her and her hand slipped from his neck to his shoulder to grip onto him tightly.

"God." She whispered when he curled his fingers tighter, pressing against the spot inside of her just a bit more confidently, "Just- Just keep.. rubbing, like-" He began to rub the pads of his fingers against the spot in a slow come-hither motion and she arched her back as she took a gasping breath, "Yeah. Like that. You're- 's really good. You're excellent at.. Following directions. A Plus."

Stiles huffed a quiet laugh at her rambling and moved to kiss her again as he skillfully continued the motion of his fingers inside of her. The change in angle as he leaned forward to capture her mouth had his hand cupping her cunt tight beneath her underwear. As he continued to finger her, the addition of the pressure of his palm now dragging against her clit had her thighs beginning to shake as she edged toward an orgasm already.

"Oh, my god-" She murmured quietly against his lips, "I'm- Please don't change anything I'm-"

He did as he was instructed again, attentively and deliberately continuing to do exactly what he was doing. The friction of his palm rubbing against her clit while he relentlessly massaged the same bundle of nerves from inside of her had her face growing hot as a slow fog crept into her head.

She unintentionally let out another desperate noise and Stiles reached up to press the palm of his free hand lightly over her mouth as he shushed her again. The pressure of his hand covering her mouth made her release another small muffled moan against his palm.

"You okay if I keep my hand here?" He asked apprehensively, his eyes flicking between hers before dropping to the hand pressed over her mouth, his other hand continuing to finger-fuck her diligently.

She pursed her lips against the inside of his hand, nearly positive that she'd never been so turned on, not a day in her entire life.

She took in a shaky breath through her nose before nodding silently. She was so close she felt as if her vision was beginning to blur at the edges, her thighs beginning to tremble with her steadily building climax.

Stiles flexed the hand inside of her — for just a moment — to lessen the sore cramping from the repetitive motion of his fingers, resuming only a second later. And instead of ruining the progress toward her climax, the pressure of his palm pressing back down over her clit when he started up again sent her hurtling over the edge.

Her hand slipped down his back and she raked her hands over the fabric of his shirt desperately as her head fell back in pleasure. Her eyes clenched shut and her mouth went slack with a soft, drawn out moan beneath the palm of his left hand. Her hips twitched with each slow wave of the orgasm, continuing on and on when he didn't slow the caress of his fingers the way that she would have if she'd been pleasuring herself.

The hand over her mouth loosened cautiously before sliding to cup her cheek and she gasped a deep breath, her head clearing slightly at the tail end of the extraordinarily long orgasm.

"Okay," She whispered quietly, her body jerking again at the motion his fingers were still making inside of her. She couldn't hold back another quiet whine, "Okay that's-"

She reached down to gently tug at his arm until he got the message and withdrew his fingers. He slowly slipped them out of her underwear entirely and hesitated for a moment before resting his slick hand over her hip and squeezing softly.

Her breathing was heavy, her ears filled with a distant quiet ringing from the sheer strength of her orgasm, and Stiles was looking at her in the dark, his eyes raking over her flushed face in a slow motion.

"God." She whispered, looking up at him in disbelief, "That was-"

He blinked, as if he wasn't one hundred percent sure that she was going to say something positive, and she reached up to pull his mouth down against hers in a bruising kiss. She deepened it after only a few seconds, brushing her tongue across his languidly a couple of times before falling back to rest her head against the mattress again.

"I guess it was okay?" He asked with a nervous grin as he looked down at her again, "Because I've never- I mean, I guess that was kind of obvious, right?"

She slid a hand to cup his neck softly, "I- It's never-" She started in a whisper, the ringing in her ears finally fading out until she could barely hear it, "And then you- It just kept going and- Stiles, I- I'm being so serious right now-"

He interrupted her incoherent rambling by leaning down to kiss her again, brushing a lock of her hair back and tucking it behind her ear softly. He quickly deepened the kiss and her arms wound tight around the back of his neck yet again.

Their tongues brushed languidly for a while before she began to feel the tingling heat of arousal building up inside of her again. Without really thinking, she brought her leg up to wrap around the back of his thighs to pull him against her and he tumbled down clumsily. Each of them made a surprised noise of pleasure into the other's mouth when the hard line of his clothed cock pressed against her.

His mouth opened back up against hers hungrily with their next kiss and she used the leverage granted by her leg wrapped around him to lift her hips from the mattress. Another quiet sound escaped both of them as she began to eagerly grind herself up against his erection. At the obvious encouragement, Stiles readjusted more comfortably and rolled his hips down against her.

She quickly moved to wrap both of her legs around him, her thighs spreading further with the action, and on the next roll of his hips, the firm line of his cock rubbed against her clit over her underwear. It was quite possibly the best thing that she'd ever felt and she found herself meeting each of his movements halfway.

He continued to rut against her, forearms braced on either side of her head, the weight of his body pressing her into the mattress. Her body flushed with heat with the slow build of her second orgasm and she tightened her arms around his shoulders as she separated their mouths.

"That feels. So good." She said quietly, gasping on his next soft grind against her clit.

"I don't wanna come in my pants again but, also-" He rolled his hips down again and again, "'M definitely gonna come in my pants again." He admitted with a soft groan.

"Don't worry-" She gently maneuvered herself until she could press her mouth to the side of his throat in a biting kiss, "Me too."

He groaned again — the pitch of it higher and more desperate and all the more intoxicating — while she continued to kiss at his neck wetly, "Is that, like. Y're gonna come soon, or-" His knees slipped against the bed and his hips rocked that much harder against her, "'Cause 'm gonna come like- Like, really soon-"

Her whole body was overheated, prickling and buzzing of her building climax growing stronger with every firm drag of his cock against her clothed clit, but she knew she wasn't nearly there yet — not like he was. She brushed her lips along his neck in a few more gentle kisses as he ground down in a shaky rhythm.

"Sti, 's okay." She assured him after a moment, words muffled against his throat.

He turned his head and groaned a soft, distressed noise into her hair, "But I don't- I want you to-"

"Hey," She said softly, dropping her head back down against the mattress beneath him. Her lips brushed against his as she continued, "It's okay."

She took his head in her hands softly, her fingertips digging into the short hair behind his ears while she ran her thumbs along his cheekbones. She pressed her lips to his again in a soft peck, feeling it when his hips faltered slightly in their rhythmic movements.

He groaned again quietly, "I- I wanna make you-" He started.

"You can make me come after," She promised softly, "Seriously, 's okay. Come." She kissed him again but frowned when she pulled back slightly to see his face scrunched up like he was desperately trying to do the opposite. "Mieczysław," She murmured against his lips, with the intent of catching him off guard.

She smiled in satisfaction when his eyes flew open to looked down at her in surprise.

"Just let go." She encouraged gently.

"Shit." He dropped his forehead against hers on the next irregular roll of his hips, "So hot. Y're so hot." He pressed a hard kiss to her lips, "Will you- C'n you say it again?" He asked against her mouth, words muffled.

"Come?" She asked softly, her eyes flicking between his in question, "I- Let go?"

"No, no." He shook his head, his face somehow managing to flush a darker tinge of pink, "Shit. C'n you- Just.. Say my n-"

"Mieczysław?" She asked quietly. Stiles groaned again and his hips stuttered against her intoxicatingly, "C'mon, Mieczysław, 's okay." She whispered softly against his lips, her confidence growing when she saw the borderline painful look of bliss on his face. The next time he rutted against her, the head of his cock rubbed against her clit dead on and she gasped in surprise at the jolt of pleasure that shot through her, the name already on the tip of her tongue, "Mieczysław." She moaned quietly this time.

"Holy, god." He groaned in response.

"Feels so good," She breathed softly into the small space between their mouths. On the next roll of his hips, he managed to hit the same spot again by what had to have been pure luck, his tip catching on her clit once again, "Meesch-" A sharp gasp cut her off, "Mieczysław." She tried again, the name rolling from her tongue in a quiet whine.

His hips stuttered against her, mouth falling against hers in a slackened press of lips as his body tensed and jerked above her. She tightened her legs around his backside and rolled her hips on the mattress, grinding up against his cock to make up for his lack of movement. She felt it twitch through the thin fabric between them as he came in his boxers, a hot wet patch forming in the fabric pressed against her cunt. She continued to rut against him as he rode out his orgasm, the waves of it obvious each time his hips stuttered as she kissed him softly.

He dropped his head to her collarbone, panting hot, labored breaths over her skin as he recovered. Unwinding her legs from him slowly, her legs bent and bracketed his hips. She slid her hands down to his neck, fingertips running softly up and down his shoulders and back as his breathing slowed.

After a minute, she felt Stiles rub his forehead against her shoulder before he tilted his head to press gentle kisses to the curve of her neck. He leaned up onto his elbow and dragged his mouth in a slow trail along the sensitive skin, his right hand drifting to rest along her ribcage, thumb rubbing gently at her breast through the cotton of her bra. His tongue came out to brush a spot on the side of her throat on an open mouthed kiss and her hands tightened unconsciously over his tshirt where she'd been rubbing at his shoulders.

"Think I might have a thing for my neck being kissed." She admitted breathlessly, tipping her head to the side to allow him better access.

"Yeah?" He mumbled in question against her skin, scraping his teeth lightly but not biting down.

"Yeah," She affirmed, "Which is really unfortunate because I think hickeys are-" She paused to gasp when he bit down on a small patch of skin and sucked, hard. "Tacky. I-I think hickeys are really tacky." She finished.

"Oh." He laughed into her neck, kissing the skin he'd been abusing softly in apology, "Sorry 'bout that then. Won't do any more."

"The kissing though, the kissing's really good-" She commented, closing her eyes and tipping her head again when he moved to the other side of her neck. He ran his nose softly up her throat as he peppered hot kisses to the newly exposed skin. "Definitely approve of the kissing." She breathed.

The hand at her ribcage drifted lower, until his thumb was teasing at the waistband of her underwear once again, hooking beneath the elastic and tugging gently.

"How do you- D'you want me to finger you again or-" He murmured between kisses to her neck.

She groaned quietly, "Hearing you say it like that 's hot," She cut in, "Like, really, insanely hot." She repeated. His warm tongue came out to lick at a spot under her jaw and her hands fisted the back of his shirt tightly, "So hot." She breathed out.

"You didn't actually answer the question." He told her, pulling back to look down at her with a grin.

"Right." She realized, licking her lips in thought, "Um, okay. It seriously won't take long. If you just-"

He shook his head, "I don't- I don't care how long it takes-" He interjected seriously.

"Hush," She scolded softly, leaning up to press a kiss to his lips, "'M tryin' to tell you how to make me come again."

"Carry on." He said quickly.

She dropped her arms from his back and reached her left hand to guide his right one beneath her underwear again. He let out a small breath over her lips and swallowed, eyes flicking between hers as she directed the placement of his fingers over her clit.

"So just- Y'know, right here?" She directed softly, taking a shaky breath as his fingertips came into contact with the small bundle of nerves. She fumbled for how to explain verbally something she'd only ever done to herself, "You don't need to really apply much pressure, just-"

She guided his index and middle finger to press down lightly and moved their hands in a slow motion, his fingers slipping with smooth movements in the slick of her arousal. She waited a few seconds, until she was sure he'd caught on, before removing her hand with a shaky sigh as his fingertips rubbed softly against her clit.

The orgasm she'd been building up a few minutes prior began to re-emerge even quicker than she'd anticipated. As he settled into an easy rhythm, her head fell back and her eyes drifted shut, letting out a long, shaky breath of air.

She could already feel the heat of her climax building in her gut, the familiar tightness in her spine twisting further, and she pinched her eyes shut tighter as the soft fuzz in her brain continued to cloud between heavy breaths.

"You're quieter like this." Stiles commented softly, lowering his head to kiss at her neck again. He moved carefully as he tried not to disrupt the placement of his fingers as he circled the sensitive nub beneath her underwear gently.

"It's easier-" She told him breathlessly, "'S easier when there's just one thing to focus on. When there's something inside it's-"

He mouthed at her neck and her thigh muscles flexed with how wide she had her legs spread beneath him. She gasped quietly and fought to remember what she'd been talking about.

"Overwhelming." She finally finished after a long minute, brain hazy.

The tongue tracing a pattern along her throat trailed up higher as his fingers slipped and swirled around her clit lightly and something inside of her snapped. She choked on a gasp as her orgasm rushed over her in a sudden wave. Her back arched up from the bed, pressing Stiles' face into her neck more firmly with the movement.

The second climax faded more quickly than the first and as soon as her brain cleared, she guided his lips up to hers with her fingers pressed into his jaw. His fingers were still moving in slow, smooth strokes through the wetness between her folds and her hips jerked spastically at the continued stimulation.

"Jesus, Sti, that-" She whispered, body twitching again as she reached down to dislodge his hand gently, "That's- 'm good."

He dropped his hand beside her head and blinked down at her, eyes flicking between hers slowly in the dimlylit room, "Oh, I didn't realize you.. Sorry."

She pressed her lips to his softly, "Don't apologize."

She watched his eyes drop down to the left side of her neck before he grinned at her, "So, no hickeys in the future?"

"Oh god. I have one now though, don't I?" She groaned.

He nodded, leaning down to press his mouth to a spot that she couldn't see, but she felt the way it stung sharply at the light pressure, "Won' happen again." He promised against her skin, kissing it once more before moving back to kiss her on the lips again, "But I will be kissing your neck any and every opportunity I get."

"Somehow, I think I can live with that." She laughed quietly. She bit down softly on her lower lip in deliberation as she looked up at him, "So.." She started slowly, "Mieczysław-"

He groaned in embarrassment and dropped his head against her chest.

"Hey, no, don't do that." She pleaded, reaching up to run her fingers over the softness of his short hair, "I just wanted to be sure, I mean.. That- That's something you like?"

His head rolled to the side but remained laying against her sternum as he spoke, "To be completely honest I didn't really realize it was something I liked 'til you said it. I mean, I probably should've realized it. My dick, like, literally twitched in my pants when you said it in the principal's office yesterday-"

She snorted a laugh, "I'm sorry, what?"

He pushed back up onto his elbows and narrowed his eyes down at her, "Okay, that is not that weird."

"I never said it was weird. I just- I'm surprised. I didn't realize me just saying it could have such a strong effect on you." She grinned in amusement.

"I mean, my dick also twitches like almost every morning when I see you for the first time." He said easily.

Her eyes flicked over his face slowly, "What? Are you being serious?" She asked cautiously.

"Of course I'm serious," He defended, "Dicks kinda do that. I'm pretty sure I've gotten a semi from a good batch of curly fries."

"Dicks are that easy?"

"They're that easy," He agreed with a chuckle, "I'm literally resting in a damp patch of come right now in my shorts and.." He pushed up and looked down at the small space between their bodies, "Yep. Definitely not outta commission."

"Well," She licked her lips, "It's good to know you have a good refractory period. Y'know. For future reference."

He groaned, "Don't say that or I'm really gonna get hard again."

She grinned, "Sorry."

He shook his head and leaned down to press a kiss of forgiveness to her lips with a smile of his own, "Change into pajamas and then bed?" He asked against her lips.

"Pajamas and then bed." She agreed easily, heart fluttering contentedly in her chest as his mouth captured hers in one final, lingering kiss.

The next night, Lydia picked through the small basket containing Amber's nail polish collection disapprovingly while a trashy television show played unwatched in the background.

"If the impressive hickey on your neck is any indication, I'd say your date went pretty well last night." Lydia stated slowly, attempting to sound bored but very clearly interested.

"My god," Amber started simply, pausing the motions of where she'd been painting her fingernails to throw her head back against the couch, "Lydia."

"Is that a, what do I do, the guy I'm in love with is awful in bed 'my god' or a Stilinski is secretly a sex god 'my god'?" Lydia questioned.

"I don't even know," Amber sighed, continuing quickly when Lydia shot her a sharp look, "I mean, it was seriously so.. He's so hot. And so, like, attentive? And hot. And he takes direction really well and his fingers. Lyds. He's so-"

"If the next word out of your mouth is 'hot', I'm leaving." The other girl threatened.

Amber held up her hands in surrender and sat back up to resume painting her nails, "It was very, very good. That's all I'm saying."

Lydia huffed suddenly, "Where is that pretty pink color you were wearing a couple weeks ago?" She asked, still furiously digging through the tiny bottles of nail polish.

Amber paused where she was finishing painting nude color over her own nails and frowned in thought, "Um, maybe it's in the cupboard in the downstairs bathroom?" She pondered aloud.

Lydia sighed woefully and stood from the couch, heading down the hallway toward the bathroom.

Amber finished touching up her nails and recapped the nail polish before dropping it into the basket with the rest of her collection. She blew a puff of air over the wet paint in an attempt to get them to dry faster when there was a familiar, ear-piercing scream from down the hallway.

She stumbled as she stood from the couch, legs tanging frustratingly in the throw blanket for a moment before she managed to kick herself free and run down the hall. When she pushed into the bathroom, Lydia was still screaming in horror, arms wrapped around her head protectively as she stood next to the open bathroom window.

"What?! Lydia!" Amber yelled, pulling her friend away from the window to look her up and down for any sort of injury, "Lydia, what-"

Her screams finally faded and Lydia pointed to the window with tears in her eyes, "He was there, again." The redhead whispered fearfully, "I saw him again. Amber, I swear to god he was right there."

"Who?" She asked quickly, looking back over her shoulder and out the window anxiously for a second, "Who was it?"

"Peter Hale." Lydia whispered, avoiding her gaze and instead focussing on a freckle on Amber's shoulder.

"Pete- Peter Hale?" She repeated slowly in confusion, "Peter Hale was outside?"

Lydia nodded, "But I don't know if it was really him." She admitted in a hushed voice, "He-he was twitching and thrashing around like he was seizing or something and- And when I saw him before his skin was burned and repulsive, but.. But this time he looked perfectly normal. And- I swear it must've been him at school yesterday-"

"You saw him at school?" Amber interrupted frantically.

"He led us to the trophy case," Lydia said, finally looking up at the brunette in confusion, "You were right behind me when we were following him."

Amber shook her head, "Lydia, I was only following you. There- there wasn't anybody else in the hallway."

Lydia's lower lip trembled, "I am not crazy."

Amber firmly gripped Lydia's shoulders beneath her hands, "I don't think you're crazy, okay?"

"But you think I'm seeing things- Things that aren't there." Lydia stated.

"I- I think that trauma does crazy things to us." Amber said slowly, "Especially when we bottle it up, and push it down, and avoid talking about it at all costs." She finished pointedly.

Lydia nodded, jaw clenched, "I-"

"Peter Hale is dead," Amber promised, "He's dead, alright? He can never hurt you again."

Lydia nodded once more and when her lip quivered again, Amber pulled her into a tight hug. The brunette wasn't expecting the embrace to be returned, but Lydia's arms came up quickly to wrap around her and she buried her face in her friend's neck as she began to cry.

"He can't hurt you." Amber promised again quietly, words muffled in Lydia's long hair, "He's dead. He can't hurt you, and I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

A week passed without further incident from Lydia, Derek's new pack, or the mysterious tailed creature that Scott and Allison had seen on the night of the full moon. Amber had tried to call Derek nearly a dozen times, but the number she had saved for him could no longer be accessed, greeting her with an obnoxious error message every time she tried to call.

At school the following Monday, she headed down the hallway on a mission. Scott had mentioned that he planned to confront Erica about Derek's future plans for his pack, but Amber hoped that she might be more successful getting information out of the other girl on her own.

She came to a stop just behind the blonde where she was standing at her locker fixing her lipgloss. Amber narrowed her eyes at the back of the werewolf's head as she tried to psych herself up to confront her.

Erica seemed to sense her presence after only a second and she turned around to look at Amber with a coy grin.

"Who's next?" Amber asked her, "I just know Derek's gonna change at least three, right? So who is it gonna be?"

Erica hummed a quiet laugh and closed her locker door before crossing the hallway, focussing on Amber with an eerily hungry look in her eyes. She backed the brunette into the wall on the other side of the hallway as she spoke in a soft, enticing voice.

"Why does there have to be someone else when we could have you?" Erica asked, batting her eyes innocently, "I know Derek wants you to join us. You could, you know." She said softly, bringing her arms up to the wall on either side of Amber's head and effectively caging her in.

"C'mon, Erica. Seriously, who does he have in mind?" She reiterated, trying intently to not focus on the close proximity of the werewolf to herself.

"Hm," Erica hummed, "Did you know, I never knew what I looked like during a seizure until someone took a video of me once and put it online?"

"I'm sorry. They shouldn't've done that." Amber said earnestly, unsure where exactly the blonde was going with the story.

"It happened during class," Erica continued, "I started seizing at my desk and everyone was saying how they should put something in my mouth until you noticed the little card on my keyring that says not to because it could break my teeth."

"I- I forgot about that." Amber admitted softly, thinking back and trying to remember the event that had taken place in the eighth grade.

"D'you remember what happened next?" Erica questioned, voice sounding surprisingly emotional. Amber shook her head and Erica's eyes narrowed as she leaned closer, "I piss myself. And they all start laughing," She recounted, "Y'know, the only good thing about seizures was that I never remembered them.. Until some brilliant Jerk-off!" Erica yelled the last word and Amber flinched at the scream so close to her own face, "-Had to go put cameras in everybody's phone."

"I'm really sorry that happened, Erica." Amber said, voice shaking embarrassingly with nerves, "It's terrible. But-"

"But, look at me now," Erica interrupted, dropping her gaze down her own body to gesture to her ample cleavage between them.

Amber couldn't help the way her own eyes followed Erica's movement and she tore her gaze back up to the other girl's face quickly, blinking as she tried to regain her composure. Erica laughed at the brunette in satisfaction and Amber flushed in embarrassment. Her eyes drifted down the hallway and she spotted Stiles at his own locker, holding the metal door in one hand as he looked down the hall at the two girls in confusion.

Erica followed her gaze this time and waved at Stiles with a sly wiggle of her fingers, "Hm, you only have eyes for him?" She pouted, leaning closer.

"Yes." Amber said firmly, reaching up to push the other girl back a step with hands on her shoulders, "And if you're not going to tell me what's going on with Derek, then I guess we're done here."

"Oh, don't be like that," Erica grinned, "I think there's a little conversation involving you, me, and Stiles that might be worth having-"

"No, thanks." Amber smiled tightly, "See you, Erica."

She shouldered past the werewolf and rushed down the hallway, heart still pounding in her chest. She hurried to where Stiles was still at his locker, putting his things away before lunch. He caught sight of her when she was only a few steps away and he raised his eyebrows in question.

"What was that about?" He asked, nodding toward where she'd been standing with Erica a few moments before.

"I was asking her who Derek was planning to turn next." She explained in a huff, annoyed at how badly the conversation had gone.

"Huh," Stiles said, closing his locker and dropping an arm around her shoulders as they headed toward the cafeteria, "It almost looked like she was gonna to kiss you." He laughed at the suggestion.

"Yeah.." She shook her head distractedly, "Things got kind of weird."

Stiles' steps faltered for only a moment as they walked and he looked at her in bewilderment, "Was she gonna to kiss you?"

"I'm honestly not sure," Amber admitted, "Like I said. things got weird. I think she was trying to throw me off so I'd forget my initial question."

Stiles was frowning and looked like he wanted to say something more, but his eyes seemed to catch on something as they stepped into the lunchroom.

"What?" She asked, reaching up to press her hand into his spine beneath his sweatshirt.

"Oh, no." He muttered, quickly dragging her across the cafeteria to where Scott was sitting.

Amber stumbled, tightening her hand around the fabric of his undershirt as she was dragged along. They stopped to stand behind Scott and Stiles pointed frantically in front of Scott's face toward a spot a few tables away.

"D'you see that?" Stiles asked them, eyes wide.

"What?" Scott questioned in confusion, following the line of Stiles' finger across the room, "It's an empty table."

"Oh, no." Amber realized, eyes glued to the table she and Stiles had been sitting at just the week before to make the trade for the keys to the ice rink.

"But whose table?" Stiles prompted Scott.

Scott's eyes widened as he, too, finally registered the information in front of him, "Boyd!"

After classes were over, Amber rushed down the hallway between her two best friends, pulling the straps of her backpack tighter over her shoulders as she and Stiles followed Scott out the front doors of the building.

"I'm heading to the ice rink to see if he's there," Scott told them, "If he's not at home, one of you call me. Got it?" He paused in his steps to give them a serious look.

"Wh- I-" Amber frowned, biting at her lip indecisively, "Maybe we should let him? Boyd, I mean. I- It's not like Derek's forcing them to do anything. He’s giving them a choice, right?" Just like he gave me, she thought silently.

Stiles tilted his head and shrugged, "She's kinda got a point, man."

Scott shook his head vehemently and moved between them to urge his friends forward again, "We can't."

"You gotta admit, Erica looks.. Really good." Amber pointed out.

Stiles nodded, "I'm- The word 'sensational' comes to mind." He added quickly.

His eyes flicked to Amber immediately upon processing what he'd said and she rolled her eyes fondly as she reached around to pat his shoulder to reassure him that she wasn't offended.

Scott stammered in disbelief, "Yeah? I- H- How good do you guys think she's gonna look with a wolfsbane bullet in her head?"

"Alright." Stiles conceded, "All we're saying is, maybe this one isn't totally your responsibility."

"They all are," Scott said slowly, "And you guys know this thing's gonna get out of control. That makes me responsible."

"Alright," Stiles repeated, "We're with you. And.. I gotta say. This newfound ‘heroism’ thing is making me very attracted to you."

Amber snorted and Scott laughed in quiet reluctance.

"Shut up." Scott huffed, an embarrassed smile on his face.

"I couldn't agree more." Amber grinned, leaning against Scott until he was caged firmly between her and Stiles.

"'m serious," Stiles continued to press, "You wanna just, try making out for a sec?" He asked Scott.

Amber pushed up onto her toes and playfully brought her lips closer to Scott's face, puckering and leaning in until he broke and laughed, shoving them both away gently before continuing down the path to the parking lot and leaving them behind.

Stiles grinned at her and shrugged as if saying, What are you gonna do?

"Oh, well. I guess I'm stuck kissing you." He said in faux disappointment.

"Oh, no," She smiled fondly, "That's terrible."

He leaned down to press his lips to hers for only a second before he continued to pull her down the stairs toward the parked Jeep. The two climbed in quickly and as they started down the road, she turned in her seat to watch him drive.

"You do know where Boyd lives, right?" She questioned suddenly.

"Yeah, of course I do." Stiles said easily, eyes flicking across the car to look at her for a moment as he made a turn, "I had to give his keys back to him before he could go to work last Saturday."

"Oh, right." She nodded, leaning back in the passenger seat in relief.

The Boyd household was close to the school, only a few blocks away, and it didn’t take long at all to get there. Stiles parked on the curb and they both tumbled out of the vehicle and rushed up the path to the house.

"Boyd!" Amber shouted, "You home?"

She knocked on the door in a succession of quick raps of her fist while Stiles peeked in through the windows off to the side of the front stoop.

"Hey, Boyd?" He called out, "It's Stiles- Oh! Wow!" He exclaimed suddenly.

Amber spun around to see what had frightened him and found Erica standing directly behind them on the small doorstep, laughing at them amusedly and shaking her head.

"What are you doing here, guys?" Erica asked softly, smiling at them patronizingly, as if she'd caught them sneaking cookies before dinner.

"Uh, n-" Stiles started nervously, "We were just looking for, um.."

"Boyd?" Erica asked gently, eyes flicking between the two of them.

"Yup!" Amber confirmed quickly as Stiles agreed beside her, "But, he's not home, so I guess-"

"You know what you're both doing right now that's kinda funny?" Erica interrupted, looking back and forth between them again, "You're only looking at my eyes."

At the reminder, Amber nearly let her gaze drop down to the abundant amount of cleavage the other girl had on display, but she managed to stop herself at the last second with an awkward laugh.

"That's funny?" Stiles asked Erica.

"Well, yeah," The blonde grinned, looking between them with narrowed eyes, "Because it's that kind of look where you're both trying not to look anywhere but my eyes-"

"Wh- Why would we want to look anywhere but your eyes?" Amber questioned with a laugh.

Erica raised her eyebrows, "Mm, because I'm attractive.. And I have certain assets-"

"Seems incredibly rude to look anywhere but your eyes when we're having a conversation." Amber interrupted quickly, catching Stiles frantically nodding his head beside her out of the corner of her eye.

"But you want to, don't you?" Erica asked with an enchanting smile, stepping closer to them until her chest lightly brushed against them both as her gaze flicked between them, "Both of you. You want a nice, long. hard. look."

"Not really, no." Stiles denied quickly.

"Oh." Erica frowned, taking a small step back, "So, it's just my eyes?"

He nodded, "Yes. You have beautiful eyes."

Erica grinned, "I have beautiful everything."

"-And a newfound self-confidence." He observed.

"That's really great, Erica." Amber added quickly, grabbing Stiles' arm and pulling him a step to the side, "But, we should get going-"

Erica pushed both of them back lightning fast with a hand at the center of each of their chests, "You're not going anywhere."

"Why not?" Stiles questioned nervously.

Erica stepped back to grab a large, mysterious hunk of metal from her jacket pocket and held it up with an innocent grin, "You're having car trouble." She shrugged

The blonde swung her arm out to bash Stiles across the temple with the unknown car part and Amber gasped, eyes wide. He fell to the ground, a small cut on the side of his forehead bleeding slowly and Amber looked back to the werewolf furiously.

"Are you insane?" She yelled angrily, heart hammering in her chest.

Erica pursed her lips with a small shrug, "Huh. Y'know, I'm not sure."

s e a s o n o n e

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲; after an already traumatic evening involving the unfortunate discovery of a gruesome scene, amber is convinced to hike through the woods with her two best friends in search of the other half of a dead body. but it's not as if she could ever say no.. not when stiles looked at her like that.

~ 155,000 words

Slowburn, Friends To Lovers, Mutual Pining

Violence, Language, Underage Drinking, Some Sexual Content ✩

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three ✩

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

chapter seven

chapter eight

chapter nine

chapter ten

chapter eleven

chapter twelve

chapter thirteen

s e a s o n t w o (ongoing)

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲; as if the last month and a half hadn't been stressful enough — now there were a few more werewolves, a kanima, and a seriously disturbed old man added into the mix. but amber, stiles, and scott could totally handle this. it would be fine. everything was great.

Violence, Language, Underage Drinking, Explicit Sexual Content ✩

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three ✩

chapter four

chapter five ✩

chapter six

chapter seven ✩

chapter eight (complete - editing in progress - available on ao3)

chapter nine (complete - editing soon - available on ao3)

chapter ten (in progress)

chapter eleven (tba)

chapter twelve (tba)

𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭

stiles & amber's ideal date

𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬

is lydia bi?

where can i read chapters 8 & 9?

c h a p t e r   t h r e e

second chance at first line

Amber was lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling in confusion. The deep, rounded indent that resulted from a particularly aggressive evening of Scott and Stiles lobbing a lacrosse ball across her bedroom at one another, was mysteriously gone, the ceiling showing nothing but pristine, decidedly un-dented white paint.

"Hey," Stiles said softly, drawing her attention to where he was laying beside her, propped up on one elbow as he looked down at her, "Can I try something?"

She didn't give a verbal response but she nodded, unable to do much more than that when she was looking into the whiskey depths of his eyes.

Suddenly, he was leaning into her space. He inched closer, moving with a truly infuriating slowness, until his mouth hovered only a few inches from her own and she could feel the tip of his slightly upturned nose as it brushed lightly against hers. His eyes flicked back and forth between her own, the warm weight from his body as he leaned against her making her feel desperate, hungry for more of him, for whatever he was willing to give her.

She knew she'd take it without hesitation.

"Stiles?" She questioned quietly, after a second passed and his face was still hovering a breath away from her own.

But then his lips were on hers.

She reached up to where his shoulders and neck met, immediately wrapping her arms around him to tug him closer. His lips were so soft as they moved against her own and it was everything she thought kissing him would be, and more. Gentle and longing and achingly sweet. She felt as if she couldn't possibly get enough.

The kisses continued, remaining tender and soft for several minutes until, seemingly all of a sudden, he had trailed one of his large hands up her body to cup her breast and he squeezed softly, his fingertips digging into the thick mound of flesh. She gasped into his mouth at the salaciousness of the feeling, arching up from the mattress when he kneaded his hand around her. Stiles used her parted lips as an opportunity to lick into her open mouth, deepening the kiss.

She whined softly when their tongues collided, throwing one of her legs up to wrap around him and pulling, tugging him down against her. He landed between her legs and she made another needy noise into his mouth as his weight settled between her open thighs, warmth blooming in her very core.

Their kisses slowed, easing back into something less wet and desperate but still endlessly hungry. He kissed his way across her jaw, trailing slowly down to her throat. He licked and sucked, seemingly determined to cover every inch of her neck and collarbones with biting kisses from his mouth, all while he continued squeezing and pinching at her breasts to coax soft whimpers from her lips.

She sighed under the feeling of his lips on her skin, tightening her grip around the back of his neck as he worked.

When he began to kiss his way lower, she found it increasingly difficult to focus on anything that wasn't the feeling of his mouth on her body. She kept her hands at the back of his neck, holding onto him tightly as he continued the tender ministrations across her skin. Stiles traveled down further, peppering kisses across everything he passed along the way; her shirt, her chest, her ribs, her stomach-

When he reached her skirt, he slowly trailed his hands down her body as well, dragging them down until his large palms rested over her bare thighs, sliding them up and inching her skirt up her body in a painfully slow motion until her underwear were revealed and he could place a kiss on her there, as well.

She moaned unashamedly, hand moving up the back of his neck to scrape through the short, smooth hair at the back of his head as she tried to urge him closer.

He leaned back a fraction and she could see the smirk playing on his lips from where her head was propped up against the pillows.

"Wanna try this, too." Stiles told her quietly.

Her underwear were tugged down past her knees until he’d given himself enough space to lean forward and then his mouth was on her with nothing separating them. Deep, open-mouthed kisses were pressed against her clit, his tongue flicking out slow against the bud with each one, and she couldn't help but moan again. He continued to lick softly at the small bundle of nerves, never relenting. It was warm and soft and perfect. She could feel herself losing control at the constant stimulation, orgasm building steadily inside of her, winding tight in her cunt.

She looked down to watch the way Stiles' head moved between her thighs as he licked at her, the image alone nearly enough to send her over the edge. His eyes were closed and she desperately wished that they were open so she could look into them while he pleasured her – but just as soon as the thought had occurred, Stiles opened his eyes and looked straight into her own while continuing to roll his tongue around her clit, slow and soft but still somehow firm.

The closer she edged toward her orgasm, the more frequent her moans became, until she was simply whimpering and whining under the constant rhythm of his tongue.

He was working his mouth against her wetly, his soft hair beneath her fingertips, and then he dragged one of his hands from her thigh to push two fingers inside without preamble. He thrust them inside only to immediately hook his fingertips up toward the sensitive spot behind her her pelvis and suddenly she was coming. Hard.

She gasped herself awake, core clenching around nothing. Her breathing was heavy in the dim early morning light that filtered in through her bedroom window, the image of Stiles' face between her thighs burning in her brain.

She stared up at the ceiling while she struggled to catch her breath, her eyes catching on the small, lacrosse ball-sized crater in the drywall.

"Oh my god." She whispered into the empty room.

Amber stood at her locker between classes, eyes cast down the hallway where she could see Stiles' buzzed head in front of his own locker. She blindly switched out her books while she watched the boy of her affections fumble with a notebook that fell from the messy heap she knew lay inside. Said notebook bounced from hand to hand several times before Stiles managed to get a grip on it and shove it back into the chaos.

She watched him slam his locker shut just as she was doing the same and she jumped at the sight of the beautiful strawberry blonde already standing in the space where the tiny metal door had been.

"Jesus, Lydia." Amber breathed, clutching her books to her chest to calm her racing heart, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Two seconds? Why are you so jumpy?"

"I'm not, I just. I had this dream and now-" Amber glanced down to realize she'd grabbed the wrong notebook while she'd been distracted. She sighed and re-opened her locker, "Never mind. What's up?" Amber asked.

"I saw you at the party on Friday. I'm surprised you decided to make an appearance." Lydia said with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, yeah. I, uh, stayed for a bit but I kind of ducked out early."

"I also saw you dancing with a guy," Lydia said in a seemingly innocent tone, pretending to check her fingernail polish, but Amber knew better. There was nothing innocent about the glint shining behind the redhead's eyes. "He seemed decent enough from the back. Tall, at least. Maybe cute if he grows out that awful buzz cut."

From Lydia, the critique was practically gushing.

Amber closed her locker and turned to face her friend, "Lydia, I was dancing with Stiles."

Lydia blinked, her manicured hand still hovering in front of her face, "What does that mean?"

"Stiles? My friend Stiles? I was dancing with him." Amber clarified, feeling exasperated with the conversation.

"Who?" Lydia scrunched up her nose and Amber rolled her eyes.

"Thing One." She sighed, repeating the nickname she remembered the redhead had given Stiles and Scott the week before.

"Oh!" Lydia said in surprise before scowling at the brunette and dropping her hand down to her own hip, "Ugh. You're hooking up with Thing One?"

Lydia had begun to walk away, urging Amber to follow as they headed in the direction of their next class.

"What? No, we're not hooking up. We were just dancing."

Lydia hummed in a way that sounded like she didn't really believe her, "You don't have to lie to me if you're into him. I have eyes, you know." The redhead flipped her hair over her shoulder as they entered the French classroom, "And just because I think you could do way better doesn't mean I wouldn't be a good wing woman if you wanted to double with me and Jackson sometime."

Amber slid into the desk behind Lydia's with a small smile, "Thank you, Lyds. Really." She settled, deciding it didn't feel right to outright lie about her feelings for Stiles, but not willing to verbally admit them yet either.

Stiles checked his phone for messages. Again. Going as far as to restart it in hopes of seeing a new text finally come through. When the phone re-booted, though, there were still no new messages, and he flicked back to his inbox to reread the last text he'd received from Amber at ten-thirty that morning.

going to the library during lunch! don't wait up

He hadn't so much as caught a glimpse of her in the halls all day. She'd gotten a ride to school from her brother and Stiles hadn't even had a chance to talk to her in any of the classes they shared because she'd managed to slip into each and every one just as the final bell was ringing. He was left wondering whether something had happened. Whether she would be staying for their lacrosse practice or if she'd already left the school.

He made his way, already dressed, to the back of the locker room, passing teammates who were in the process of changing into their own padding and getting ready for the start of practice. He was nearly to his locker when he passed Scott standing shirtless in front of his own cubby with a dazed, sad look on his face.

Stopping short at the edge of the lockers he leaned toward his friend, speaking softly, "Did you apologize to Allison?"

"Yeah." Scott said, still gazing off into the distance.

"Is she giving you a second chance, or-"

"Yeah."

Stiles smiled with excitement, "Yeah? All right! So everything's good!" He moved to head in the direction of his own locker when he heard his best friend speak again.

"No."

"No?" He asked, confused.

"Remember.. The hunters-? Her dad's one of them." Scott explained.

"Her dad?"

"-Shot me." Scott finished.

Stiles' voice rose slightly when he spoke, "Allison's father?"

"With a crossbow." Scott clarified, his wide eyes still looking into the distance like he was experiencing the traumatic event all over again.

There was a moment of silence as Stiles processed the information. "Allison's father-"

"Yes! Her father!" Scott interrupted in a shout before taking a few shallow breaths, "Oh my god." Scott continued to breath heavily, chest heaving with each gasp.

"No, Scott." Stiles rushed forward to his friend and slapped him softly on the cheek with the lacrosse glove that covered his hand, "Snap back. Y'okay?" He pulled back to give Scott space again, "Hey, alright- He didn't recognize you, right?"

"No? No, no, no. I don't think so."

"Does she know about him?" Stiles asked quickly, trying to pull out all of the information he could.

Scott made a surprised noise, like the thought hadn't crossed his mind, "I don't know. What if she does?" He finally lifted his frightened gaze to look at his friend standing in front of him, "This is gonna kill me, man." Scott whined.

Coach Finstock's whistle blew loudly from the front of the locker room and Stiles interrupted him, "Okay, just focus on lacrosse. Okay?" Stiles grabbed Scott's padding and gear and shoved it into his friend's arms, "Here, Scott, take this. Take this and focus on lacrosse for now, okay? That's all you gotta do, yeah?"

"Lacrosse.." Scott whispered in a daze.

Stiles slapped his friend's arms to get the blood and adrenaline flowing, "Here. We. Go!" Stiles said before he rushed to get to practice, tripping over a changing bench as he went.

Amber felt immensely guilty for the way she'd avoided both of her best friends all day. She'd spent her lunch period with a granola bar, hiding out in the back of the library. After her dream on Saturday night, it was like her feelings for Stiles had increased tenfold. She couldn't look at him now without desperately wanting to wrap herself around him and kiss him until her lips hurt.

But, she knew she couldn't avoid her friends forever. So when the final bell for the day rang out, she packed up her homework into her backpack, pulled on her jacket, and determinedly headed out toward the bleachers at the lacrosse field.

Now that the week of tryouts was over, there were less students crowded onto the bleachers and she moved to take up residence in a large, empty area near the bottom of the metal seats. Practice hadn't started yet so she pulled out the novel they were annotating in English, along with her notebook, and began jotting things down as she read. She was halfway through filling up her notebook page when players started spilling out onto the field.

Amber waved when she caught sight of Scott and Stiles heading over to drop their bags and water bottles at the bench. Stiles looked surprised to see her for only half a a second before he raised his hand back, nudging Scott until he also returned her wave.

She watched as the boys both grabbed their helmets, pulling them on as they headed out onto the field to do drills. Amber tried to watch the drills as an objective spectator but found that she frequently had to fight the urge to check out Stiles' backside in the silky material of his athletic shorts.

The team started a new drill, one offensive player rushing the goal against two defense and shooting on goal. When it was Scott's turn as offense, he held the ball in the net at the end of his stick, jogging forward slowly and colliding with Jackson who was acting as defense. Jackson blocked Scott with his shoulder and they collided hard, sending Scott to the ground.

Amber winced.

"Hey, McCall!" Coach laughed, walking down the field to where Scott was getting back to his feet. He said something to the boy who was bent over his knees before they both stood upright and Scott headed back to the front of the line. "McCall's gonna do it again! McCall's gonna do it again!"

Amber dropped her books into a heap on the metal bench beside her, pulling her lower lip into her mouth nervously as she focussed her attention on her friend on the field. This time, when Scott moved toward the goal, he ran. When he reached his opponent, he checked Jackson hard and sent him to the ground. Jackson moaned in pain with a hand gripping at his shoulder but Amber's attention was quickly torn away when she saw Scott clutch at his helmet like he had during that first practice.

On her feet in an instant, she watched as Scott fell to his knees in pain.

"Scott?" She called out, already halfway onto the field when Stiles reached their friend's side to check on him. The other players were all huddling around Jackson, and the coach urged them all to give him space just as Amber was kneeling down beside Scott and Stiles. "Scott, are you okay?"

"I can't control it, guys. It's happening-" Scott said, sounding strained.

"Woah, what? Right here?" Stiles asked urgently, "Now?" His eyes met Amber's and they both looked at one another in worry, "Come on. Get up. Come on-" Stiles said, beginning to pull Scott to his feet.

Amber rushed to Scott's side and slid underneath his shoulder, pulling his arm to wrap tight around her. Stiles supported their friend's other side and they dragged him in the direction of the school. When they reached the abandoned boys locker room, the two released Scott in front of one of the changing benches.

"Get away from me!" Scott screamed as soon as he was free, his eyes glowing a bright gold through the bars of his helmet.

Amber scrambled back and bumped into Stiles, who brought his hand up to grasp at her bicep. Stiles pulled her backwards with him as they attempted to put distance between Scott and themselves. Amber's eyes refused to leave Scott as they shuffled back, not until she and Stiles moved to hide behind a row of lockers.

The moment they were out of sight, Scott leapt to the top of the lockers to get higher-ground above them and Amber let out a small scream at the loud crash of him landing atop the metal. When Scott turned to look at them, his eyes were still glowing bright and he had large, sharp fangs protruding from his mouth. He released a growl at his two friends and they both flinched.

Amber tugged at Stiles' arm this time, dragging him away from the row of lockers that Scott was perched on. They ran back in the direction of the locker room door and Scott chased close behind them, following as they weaved through the rows to escape. The two reached the doorway and Amber found herself tripping over her own feet at the threshold, landing on her hands and knees on the ground. She quickly flipped her body over to face her friends as she scrambled backwards, wide eyes going to where Stiles was standing beside her, the wall-mounted fire extinguisher under his arm for support.

Stiles caught her fear-filled eyes just before his own flicked down to the red metal under his arm and he seemed to get an idea. He fumbled to pull the extinguisher from the wall and Amber used that time to get back to her feet as Scott continued to head their way. Stiles' fingers clumsily worked to pull out the pin and he quickly turned to spray the gas in Scott's unsuspecting face. Amber glued herself to Stiles' back as the two backed out of the room, Stiles continuing to spray the white cloud into the doorway.

When they got into the hallway, Amber's shaking hand was fisted tightly onto the back of Stiles' shoulder pads and the two struggled to catch their breath. Stiles still had the fire extinguisher hugged in the cradle of his arms.

"Guys?" They heard Scott whisper after a minute.

Amber could feel her heart beating out of her chest as Stiles cautiously moved back into the doorway of the locker room, dragging her along with the grip she still had on his padding.

"What happened?" Scott asked, panting. He was sitting on one of the wooden benches, a light sheen of sweat covering his face.

Stiles looked back at Amber for a moment before dropping the fire extinguisher to the floor in a loud clang of metal against the tiles. He ripped off his lacrosse gloves and took a hold of Amber's hand in one of his, pulling her into the room while still shielding her body from Scott slightly with his own. "You tried to kill us." He assessed, angry. They moved to stand closer to where Scott was sitting and Stiles squatted down, pulling Amber along with him, "It's like we told you, before. It's the anger. It's your pulse rising-"

"It's a trigger." Amber finished, squeezing Stiles' fingers in her sweaty grip. She reached up her free hand to rest it on the bare skin of Scott's knee.

"But that's lacrosse," Scott said, "It's a pretty violent game, if you hadn't noticed."

"Well," Stiles said, "It's gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field."

"You can't play Saturday." Amber stated simply.

"You're gonna have to get out of the game." Stiles finished.

"But- I'm first line." Scott blinked, wide-eyed.

Stiles let out a breath, "Not anymore."

There was only one class period left until the end of the school day on Friday. She was on her way to her locker during the fifteen-minute afternoon break when Amber spotted Stiles' father entering the school through a side entrance looking like a man on a mission.

"Sheriff Stilinski!" She waved, catching his attention, "Hi."

The older man came to a stop in front of her and leveled her with the same disapproving look he always gave her when she insisted on calling him by his full title.

"You're in uniform, so-" She defended herself with a smile.

"I guess I am," The Sheriff conceded, lifting one of his large hands to give her bicep a pat, "It's good to see you, kiddo, but you should get to class."

"What are you doing at the school, anyway," She hedged, "Did Stiles get into trouble?"

"Not today." The Sheriff joked. "I'm not here as a parent. Just need to have a few words with your Principal as the Sheriff."

Just as he finished speaking, a deputy Amber vaguely recognized walked through the side entrance and came to join him.

"What about? Is it about the investigation? For the body in the woods?" She rambled off.

The Sheriff shook his head in exasperation, "Sometimes I think you and my son might be too alike for your own good. Now, get to class, will you?"

The man gave her a gentle push in the direction she'd initially been heading when she had spotted him. He and the deputy were both focused on something over her shoulder and when she turned fully, she found the Principal approaching, only a few feet away from them.

"Okay, okay-" She laughed when Sheriff Stilinski gave her one final push to leave before the adults converged. She gave him a wave over her shoulder as she finally made her way down the small set of stairs leading to the next hallway.

As she rounded the corner, she was shoved back against the wall and she yelped quietly in surprise before looking up to see the person who'd grabbed her.

"Stiles! What the hell?"

Scott was standing just across the hallway from them at his locker, but his focus was down the hall where Lydia and Allison were in conversation with a guy from the lacrosse team.

Stiles had his forearm pressed into the wall beside Amber’s head, peering around the corner to look at his father, the boy blissfully unaware of the way her heartbeat had picked up in her chest the moment he'd caged her in, or the way the intoxicating smell of him was wafting into her nose with every breath, or the way the heat of his body pressed against her own had her tensing and going pliant all at once.

Stiles returned his attention to where he had her crowded back against the wall, "Why's he here? What did he say?"

She licked her lips and took a breath before responding, "He wouldn't tell me anythi-"

"Scott!" Stiles stage-whispered to get their friend's attention, "Hey, c'mere-"

Scott looked back to his friends and moved forward to join the huddle, standing at Stiles' shoulder, "What?"

"Come here and tell me what they're saying." Stiles demanded, pointing down the hallway to the place where his father, the deputy, and the Principal were all engaged in a quiet conversation.

Scott squinted his eyes in concentration as he focused his enhanced hearing down the hallway. The silence lasted only a moment before Stiles interrupted it.

"Can you hear 'em?"

"Shh!" Scott hushed him, returning his attention to the adults, "There's a curfew because of the body."

"Unbelievable!" Stiles complained, "My dad's out there looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hangin' out, doin' whatever he wants."

"I still don't think he killed anybody-" Amber started, looking up at where Stiles' face still hovered temptingly close to her own.

"-And besides, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek." Scott interrupted her before Stiles got the chance.

Stiles got a hard, determined look behind his eyes, "I can do something."

"Like what?" Amber asked quietly, glancing between her two friends like she could read their minds and gain some understanding into their thoughts about Derek.

"Find the other half of the body." Stiles stated before his body was suddenly no longer pressed against hers, already rushing away from his friends and heading down the hallway.

"Are you kidding?" Scott called after him, "Is he kidding?" He repeated, turning back to where Amber was still leaning against the wall.

"Is he ever?" She sighed, patting Scott on the shoulder and walking a few yards down the hall to join where Lydia and a guy from the lacrosse team were talking with Allison, "Hey, guys. Hey, Ben." She greeted them.

"Hey, Amber. We were actually just going." Lydia said with a smile, abruptly pulling the boy by the arm and disappearing down the busy hallway.

"Okay.." Amber managed as they were leaving. She turned her attention to Allison and smiled, but didn't get a chance to speak before Scott joined them.

"So, Lydia's introducing you to everyone?" He said with a barely concealed grimace.

"Yeah! She's being so unbelievably nice to me." Allison smiled at them.

"I wonder why." Scott pouted, receiving an elbow to the gut from Amber and immediately plastering a smile on his face.

"Maybe she gets how bad being the new girl can suck." Allison guessed with a small laugh as her eyes bounced between the two friends.

"Where did you get that?" Scott asked anxiously, pointing to the jacket Allison had draped over her arms in front of her.

Amber tilted her head and studied the dark material of the coat, trying to remember if she'd seen Allison wear it before today, but she wasn't entirely sure.

"My jacket?" Allison asked, "It was in my locker. I assumed Amber put it in there from the party on Friday," She turned to Amber for confirmation and continued slowly, "Lydia has my combination, so-"

"Did you?" Scott interrupted, shooting Amber a sharp look.

"Um, yeah-" she said after a second, "Yeah, I, um. I grabbed it from Derek's car before when he dropped me off, but I totally forgot about it until today." She laughed quietly in an attempt to mask the lie, unable to tell if Scott knew she was bluffing, but almost positive that Allison hadn't caught it.

"Right, Derek!" Allison said at the reminder, "He's your friend?" She asked Scott.

"He's not my friend." Scott scowled and Amber shot him a wide-eyed, questioning look. "How much did you talk to him when he drove you home?" He asked, attention remaining solely on Allison.

"Mmm, not much at all.." Allison said slowly, confusion in her eyes as she looked between Scott and Amber.

"Scott-" Amber started.

"What did you say?" He interrupted.

Allison shot Amber an awkward smile, turning her body to leave, "I- I gotta get to class, I gotta-"

"Allison-" Scott pleaded.

"No.. I really gotta go." Allison said before she jogged away and disappeared down the hall.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Amber demanded once they were alone, "Why would you tell her that Derek's not your friend?"

"Because he's not." Scott glared.

"Well, obviously I know that!" She shoved at his shoulder, "What do you think Allison is thinking now? About getting a ride home with him? Or the fact that I told her it was okay?"

"I- I don't know. I didn't-"

"No shit!" She hissed, "Just- Use your head, Scott." She said in finality before she left him standing alone and turned to chase after Allison. When she finally spotted her, Allison was headed into the girl's restroom. Amber trailed in after her and found her standing at the sinks, fixing her hair with a far-off look in her eyes. "Allison, hey. I just wanted to explain-"

"You don't need to explain, Amber." She said softly, eyes going to the other girl over her shoulder.,"I get it, now."

"You get it?" Amber stopped short, eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, I mean-" Allison laughed quietly, "It's pretty obvious."

"What," Amber paused, "What's obvious?"

"You, hooking up with Derek." Allison said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, turning around to face her friend.

Amber's eyes went wide, "Me? Hooking-"

"How old is he, exactly?" Allison interrupted.

"Um, like, twenty-one? I'm pretty sure? He was behind my brother in school, so-"

"Okay," Allison sighed, nodding to herself, "I still think he's too old for you but.. It's not as big of a gap as I was imagining, at least. And I mean, he's good-looking, but- I'm confused. I actually thought that you and Stiles-"

"It's complicated." Amber struggled to find a lie that didn't sound like a lie, "Me, Derek, Stiles. It- It's complicated."

"I'm sorry." Allison said suddenly, "If Scott didn't already know- It seems like he didn't. I'm sorry if he figures it out because of me."

"Hey, don't be sorry, Alli." Amber said softly, "I- Derek and I aren't- He's too old for me anyway, right? It wouldn't have lasted, so it's probably better if I end things now, before it can get messy."

"Yeah," Allison said, looking incredibly relieved, "That's probably best." She paused, "So, did you and Derek ever-" She wiggled her eyebrows in suggestion.

"No!" Amber said a little too quickly, "No, um. I wouldn't do that. At least, not with him."

Allison seemed to relax even further before a mischievous smile took over her face, "What about with Stiles?"

Amber felt herself blush, unable to do anything to stop it. "We should probably get to class. Break is almost over." She refused to answer the question, but if the look on Allison's face was anything to go by, her lack of answer had been an answer in itself.

Scott dropped his bicycle to the ground and stormed up to the stoop of the old Hale house angrily, hoping for a confrontation.

"Derek! Derek!" He screamed, throwing his school bag to the ground and sparing a quick glance to the fresh pile of dirt at the side of the house before taking a deep breath. Scott watched angrily as Derek made his way around what was once a large, covered porch, "Stay away from them! Stay away from Amber-" Scott called out before continuing louder, "And stay away from Allison. She doesn't know anything!"

"Yeah?" Derek asked cooly, "And what if Allison does?" He casually leapt the couple of feet from the porch before landing on the ground below, "You think Amber and your little buddy Stiles can just Google 'werewolves' and now you've got all the answers, is that it?" He scoffed, "You don't get it yet, Scott, but I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen; You're out on the field, the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone-" Derek moved to grab Scott's lacrosse stick from where he'd abandoned his backpack in a heap on the ground. Derek extended his claws and ripped through the netting as he continued, "Your mom, all your friends.. When they see you, everything falls apart."

Derek tossed the lacrosse stick up into the air and Scott rushed to catch it. When Scott had the ruined stick in his hands and looked up again, Derek was gone.

Scott huffed angrily and took a deep breath to calm himself, once again eyeing the pile of newly sowed soil to the side of the house where it appeared something had been freshly buried. He took one more deep breath, trying to use his new, stronger senses as he sniffed.

He smelled blood.

"I would kill for a milkshake right now." Amber murmured quietly to herself, pulling her feet up underneath her to sit cross-crossed. She got herself comfortable in the passenger seat of the Jeep where they were still parked in the school parking lot.

Stiles tossed his backpack over the seats and into the mess in the back. He climbed up into the vehicle, twisting the key in the ignition determinedly a couple of times before the engine gave in, finally turning over and starting.

Amber became distracted in the way she tended to do when Stiles was driving. She watched the soothing and repetitive motions as the boy shifted between gears, his left knee raising slightly each time his foot let up on the clutch, his large hand wrapped around the ball at the end of the gear shift. She hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings until she realized they'd come to a stop, Stiles shifting the Jeep into park.

"Wha-"

But he was already climbing out of the vehicle, leaning in through the open window as he interrupted her, "D'you want fries or anything or just a milkshake?" He asked.

"Um.." She said dumbly, finally looking out the windshield to see they were parked in front of the diner downtown. Stiles raised his eyebrows expectantly, awaiting her answer. "Just a shake?"

Her answer came out sounding more like a question than anything else, but Stiles nodded with a smile before he darted away and slipped into the restaurant. Amber listened to the little bell jingle over the entrance before the door closed behind him.

She remained, baffled, sitting in the car, watching through the front window as Stiles moseyed up to the register and began talking to the nice waitress behind the counter.

Five minutes later the boy re-emerged, a large styrofoam cup in one hand and the other clutching a tall paper cup. He held a small brown takeout bag between his teeth and when he got to the vehicle, he leaned his head through the open window and allowed the bag to drop into the seat. When he climbed back into the car, he held the styrofoam cup out toward her.

"You got me a milkshake." She stated, taking the cup from his outstretched hand in a daze.

"Is that not what you wanted?" He asked the question slowly, as if waiting for the punchline to a joke he'd been left out of.

"No, it- It's exactly what I wanted," She said quietly, pausing to sip from her straw.

When the sweetness of the vanilla hit her tongue she realized Stiles hadn't even asked her what flavor she wanted, but he'd managed to get her favorite anyway. Her quiet plea for the treat at the school hadn't been an actual request — She hadn't even realized Stiles had heard her. But nonetheless, he'd immediately driven them in the direction of the diner with the best milkshakes in town. Amber's eyes trailed to the greasy takeout bag on the seat between them, and the fluttering in her chest picked up that much more, because she knew — She knew that the curly fries at this particular diner didn't compare to the ones from the place near the Sheriff Station, and yet here they sat.

Overwhelmed with feeling, she took another sip from her drink in an attempt to stall just a little bit longer, "Thank you," She settled on, the words feeling heavy on her tongue.

With a large smile plastered on her face that she hoped hid the warmth on her cheeks, Amber reached toward the paper bag. She fumbled around Stiles' fingers where they were already digging around inside and she stole one of the large, springy fries from inside. Stiles grinned at her before eating a handful of fries of his own.

They began going back and forth, debating the merits within their ever-growing stack of werewolf research. They talked over which articles and forums were garbage versus the ones they thought might contain some truth.

"What did Scott have to do this afternoon, anyway?" Stiles asked eventually, chewing at the straw from his drink.

Amber had gotten slightly distracted as she watched him reposition the straw with his tongue before he bit down on it again. Her brain was fuzzy with thoughts of his mouth but even through the static, she registered that Stiles had said something, "Huh?"

"Scott ran outta the school as soon as the bell rang. He and his bike were gone by the time I met you in the parking lot. Thought he might've said something to you-"

"Oh, no." She blinked, "Last I saw him, he was giving Allison the third degree about Derek. It was a disaster."

Stiles nodded, still gnawing at the plastic between his teeth, "Derek warned him off playing in the game tomorrow."

"So did we, remember?" She took another sip from the bottom of her milkshake, "Scott wasn't exactly receptive."

"Yeah, well. Derek was a little more persuasive, and a lot more threatening." There was a bitterness in his tone at the thought of Derek Hale cornering their friend.

"Okay, so did Scott talk to Finstock about sitting out of the game?"

"Yeah," Stiles said, to which Amber perked up, before he continued, "He wasn't real receptive either. With Jackson's shoulder all fucked up, I think Coach is scrambling."

Amber slumped in her seat, digging her fingernail into the styrofoam of her cup and carving little crescent-shaped indents into the material, "So, what? We just go to the game and hope for the best?"

Stiles shrugged, chewing more aggressively at his straw, "We could go back to my house and dig through the research a little more. Maybe we'll find something that'll help him control it."

"Sounds good to me." Amber felt relief at the thought of doing something useful.

Stiles collected their garbage and ran it to the trash can outside the diner. As soon as he was back in the vehicle, he leaned over the backseat to dig through his backpack, dry swallowing his ADHD medication in preparation.

Just as the two were pulling back onto the road, Stiles' phone buzzed in his pocket. The boy squirmed in his seat and pulled it out, glancing at the screen as he handed it over, "It's Scott."

Amber looked at the ominous message, trying to decipher its meaning.

Found something, u & Amber come over ASAP

"What? What's it say?" Stiles finally asked.

"It just says he 'found something' and wants us to come over asap." She was still frowning at the phone in her hands, "As long as he didn't find another dead body, I'm golden."

"Right, let's go, then." Stiles laughed, taking the next turn to head in the direction of Scott's house.

Stiles grabbed ahold of Amber's wrist and was dragging her up the stairs behind him as they raced toward Scott's bedroom. She struggled to keep her feet underneath her as she fought to match his stride on her shorter legs. When they finally reached the bedroom door, Stiles threw it open roughly and they found Scott sitting on his bed, messing with the laces on his lacrosse stick. Stiles pulled the girl along with him until they stood in front of their friend expectantly.

"What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it?" Stiles asked in a rush, he and Amber both breathing heavily, "And yes, I've had a lot of Adderall, so-"

"It doesn't matter, where were you?" Amber interrupted him, focussing her attention on Scott.

"I found something at Derek Hale's." He answered.

"Are you kidding? What?" Stiles asked excitedly.

Scott shrugged, "There's something buried there. I could smell blood."

"No-" Amber whined, drawing out the word and looking at Stiles in despair.

"That's awesome!" Stiles said before catching Amber's eye. He released his grip on her wrist to pat her reassuringly on the head, fingers tangling slightly in her hair, "I mean, that's terrible," Stiles returned his attention to Scott, "Whose blood?"

"I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder. And then you both help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing. Because there's no way I'm not playing that game."

Amber couldn't help but roll her eyes, watching as Scott stood and tossed his lacrosse stick to land in the middle of his bed.

Scott was certain that he would recognize the scent of the blood he'd smelled at the Hale house if he were to smell it again, so the three of them piled into the Jeep and raced to the hospital where the bottom half of the body was being stored.

They split up once they were inside so that Scott could make his way to the morgue, while Stiles and Amber waited for him in the main admissions and E.R. At the sight of Lydia sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting area, Stiles watched as Amber immediately abandoned him to go sit beside her redheaded friend.

While Lydia had never been outright mean to Stiles, she tended to just ignore his existence entirely. He wasn't sure that it made him feel much better than if she actually did bully him verbally in the way Jackson tended to do.

Amber and Lydia had always been close, even as far back as kindergarten, but when the two had been split into separate classes in the third grade, they'd drifted slowly apart until they only shared a casual friendship. Coincidentally, that had been the same year Amber was assigned a desk directly between Stiles and Scott, and the three had been best friends ever since.

Stiles was eternally grateful for the sequence of events that had woven her so deeply into his life.

It appeared that Lydia was on a call, but the moment she finished her conversation, Stiles watched her turn to Amber with a smile and the two began talking. He slumped into a seat around the corner and turned so he could scowl as he watched the soft smiles Amber gave to the girl who had never even given him the time of day.

"Hey, Amber," Stiles muttered to himself, "Sure wish you would stop letting Lydia infect you with her insidious mind warp that makes you forget that I exist." He watched Amber throw her head back in laughter at something Lydia said and he scrunched his nose in distaste, picking up a large pamphlet on the table next to him and pretending to read it as he continued to grumble under his breath, "Y'know, because I think we have this kind of connection. Unspoken, of course. And maybe, if you weren't constantly being brainwashed by a beautiful, strawberry blonde she-devil, I might even stand a chance."

He turned forward in his seat to continue sulking, angrily gripping the paper in his hands, eyes unfocused as he glared unseeingly at the page in front of him.

"I know you like research, but if you had any questions, y'know you could've just asked." Amber's voice came from above him with a laugh a few minutes later.

He flinched aggressively. He hadn't even noticed her get up, but when he looked around the room, Lydia was gone.

Amber moved to sit down in the chair beside him, her chest pressing against his arm as she peered at the pamphlet he was holding. It wasn't until he flipped to the cover that he realized what it was actually for — It was a large booklet detailing the menstrual cycle.

"Ha." He choked out, fighting and losing to the urge to look down at the place where her breasts were pushed together against his arm.

The pamphlet was suddenly ripped from his grasp and he jumped again, his attention pulled from the place where he had, regretfully, been ogling his friend. "Holy god!" Stiles breathed, heart beating loudly in his chest.

Scott stood above them and tossed the booklet back onto the table, "The scent was the same."

"You're sure?" Amber asked, leaning away from Stiles slightly and sitting back into her own chair.

"Yes." Scott assured them.

Amber stood and pulled Stiles up with her so the three could continue the conversation closely, heads ducked together.

"So he did bury the other half on his property?" Stiles questioned, lifting a hand to squeeze Amber's shoulder. Although he was looking at Scott, he could practically feel her frowning at the turn of events.

"Now we have proof he killed the girl." Scott nodded.

"I say we use it." Stiles said, already headed down the hallway to leave the hospital.

"What?" He heard Amber squeak from behind him. She grabbed his shoulder as she rushed to catch up with him.

"How?" Scott asked.

"Tell me something first," Stiles sighed, turning to face Scott and reaching out to rest a hand across Amber's shoulder blades, "Are you doing this because you want to stop Derek, or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't?"

"There are bite marks on the legs, guys. Bite marks."

"Then we're gonna need a shovel." Stiles said.

When Amber sighed underneath his hand, Stiles felt it. He rubbed her back as the three turned and headed back toward the parking lot.

They were going to take Derek Hale down, and then he'd never get anywhere near Amber again.

"Can I just ask, how do we know Derek buried the body?" Amber whispered, squinting in the dark toward the burned ruins of the Hale house as they waited for Derek to emerge, And not someone framing him for-"

"Because, he's the only other werewolf we know who's running around and-" Stiles started quietly, turning to glare at her in the dark cab of the Jeep.

"Shh!" Scott scolded them.

Just as quickly as Scott had hushed them, Derek emerged from the house and strutted over to the Camaro that was parked out front. Stiles waited a moment after the car was out of sight and down the driveway before he pulled his own vehicle up closer to the house and parked.

The three stepped out into the cold night air and Amber shivered. She hadn't even worn a jacket to school, due to the lack of lacrosse practice the day before the big game, she'd known this morning that she wouldn't need to sit outside for an hour that afternoon, but now, protected from the chill by only a thin long sleeved v-neck and jeans, she was overtaken with goosebumps. "Fuck, it's cold."

The boys were pulling shovels from the back of the vehicle while she rubbed at her arms. Scott tossed her the only flashlight, and Stiles climbed back into the car and leaned over to dig around in the backseat. When he re-emerged, he held a dark flannel shirt and tossed it to her before slamming the door shut and claiming one of the two shovels for himself.

Amber thanked him and pulled his shirt on in a rush, sighing gratefully when it immediately cut down on the cold air seeping into her skin. She clicked on the flashlight as they followed Scott around the side of the house.

"Wait, something's different." Scott said as they reached the far side.

"Different, how?" Amber asked, her warm breath puffing out in a cloud.

"I don't know," Scott said, looking around them. He eyed the soot-covered siding of the house for a minute before shaking himself, "Let's just get this over with."

Amber held the flashlight steady as her friends dug a large crater in the fresh-looking soil at the treeline. She chewed at her lip anxiously the deeper they dug, eyeing the dark forest around them nervously like she was just waiting for something to jump out.

"This is taking way too long." Scott complained after roughly twenty minutes of digging.

"Just keep going." Stiles demanded, wiping sweat from his forehead with his shirtsleeve and huffing as he threw another large scoop of dirt out of the hole and into a pile off to the side.

"Keep going, but faster." Amber said, eyes flicking back to the still-dark driveway before returning to where her friends were standing knee-deep in the ground.

"What if he comes back?" Scott asked, also breathing heavily from the manual labor.

"I have a plan for that." Stiles said, shoveling another heap of dirt from the ground at his feet.

"Which is?" Scott asked.

"You run one way. Me and Amber run the other. Whichever he catches first, too bad."

Amber snorted a laugh, her hand shaking the flashlight for a moment before she steadied it to shine on her friends again.

"I hate that plan." Scott complained, shoving his shovel back into the earth with a loud thunk.

"Ooh, stop, stop, stop-" Stiles pushed Scott back before they both dropped to squat down and began to brush the dirt around with their hands.

Amber took one slow step forward to get a better look at what they'd uncovered, but it was just a burlap sack tied shut with a long length of rope.

"Hurry up-" Scott urged, watching as Stiles' fingers worked at the rope.

"I'm trying-" Stiles huffed, "Did he have to tie the thing in, like, nine hundred knots?"

"I'll do it." Scott reached over and began to undo the knots quickly.

Amber's stomach turned painfully with nerves the more they worked at the rope. When it finally fell away, the boys pulled open the bag and all three of them screamed loudly at what they saw inside.

"What the hell is that!" Stiles yelled.

It was a dead wolf. Its fur was dark and soft-looking, but its eyes were murky and glazed over with death.

"It's.. A wolf." Amber stated.

"Yeah, we can see that," Stiles said sarcastically, turning to Scott, "I thought you said you smelled blood — As in, human blood."

"I told you guys something was different!"

"Okay, so Derek buried an actual wolf in his yard," Amber said, still breathing heavily with adrenaline as she waved the flashlight around, "That's not exactly a crime, is it?"

"This doesn't make sense." Stiles said in confusion.

"We gotta get out of here." Scott announced, both boys climbing from the hole.

"Yeah, okay, help me cover this up." Stiles began to brush a small pile of dirt into the hole with his hands.

Amber sighed in relief, returning the flashlight to shine in the crater they'd dug so that the boys could see as they filled the hole back up. She watched Stiles pause, looking past where she was standing on the opposite side of the grave, his eyes catching on something behind her.

"Oh, god. What?" She asked, turning around to shine the light behind her but not finding any immediate danger.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked.

"You see that flower?" Stiles questioned, pointing to a shin-high flower a few inches behind where Amber stood.

"What about it?" She asked, shining the light on it and prodding it gently with the tip of her shoe.

"I think it's wolfsbane." Stiles said quietly, standing up and brushing his hands off on his jeans. He walked around to stand beside Amber and knelt down to look at it closer.

"What's that?" Scott asked with furrowed brows.

Stiled sighed, "Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?"

"No."

"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains? The original, classic werewolf movie?"

"No! What?"

"Not even Dracula?" Amber followed up, "C'mon you have to have seen Dracula. He literally holds up the flower at the end of the movie and-"

"You guys have watched way more of these movies than me, okay?" Scott interrupted.

"You are so unprepared for this." Stiles sighed in disappointment.

Amber watched as Stiles returned his attention to the flower at her feet and tilted his head cutely before pulling the plant up from the ground to reveal a rope tied around the base. He continued to tug gently at the rope and followed its trail as it swirled around the hole they'd dug several times before tapering off where it wrapped around the burlap sack.

Scott suddenly stood from where he was still kneeling at the base of the crater they'd dug, "Guys-"

Amber and Stiles both came to stand beside him and turned their attention back to the grave. Where the dead wolf had laid before, there was now a wide-eyed corpse of a young woman.

"Oh my god!" Amber gasped, flinching back and bumping into Stiles. He reached up to steady her, hands on her shoulders as her back pressed tighter against his chest, the wolfsbane flower tickling at her cheek where it was still clutched between his thumb and forefinger but she hardly noticed it as her mind repeated the same realization over and over.

The top half of the woman from the preserve was buried at the burnt shell of the Hale house.

The next morning, Stiles and Scott forced Amber out of bed at the crack of dawn to drag her back out to the burned house in the preserve.

Hoping to be better prepared for the weather, she had pulled on a dark hoodie underneath the same flannel she'd worn home the night before. It wasn't as cold in the light of day, but she didn't dare risk it.

Apparently, Stiles had already called into the station, reported the body, and implicated Derek over the phone to the deputy who had answered. He and Scott were all too eager to see the older boy arrested.

"Okay, I was up, like, all night and I have a theory-" Amber said quickly as they all tumbled back into of the Jeep, "And I really think we at least mention it to your dad-"

"If this 'theory' is that Derek Hale is somehow innocent in any way-" Stiles interrupted her.

"It's just-"

"No! No, oh my god. No." Stiles stammered, looking between Amber and Scott with wild eyes, "I don't know what has got you so hell-bent on Derek being innocent! I don't know if it's that he's, like, tall and sculpted, and looks like a Greek God-"

"Sounds like you're more hung up on his looks than I am." She muttered petulantly under her breath. Scott snorted a quiet laugh in amusement but Stiles barreled on as if she hadn't spoken.

"-Or if it's just a feeling you're convinced he's giving off, but whatever it is, you're wrong, okay?"

"If you let me just-"

"No."

"It- My gut is telling me-"

Stiles interrupted her again, "Amber, listen to me. You smart, beautiful, ridiculous pain in the ass-" He cut himself off, turning to face her fully in the still-parked vehicle and bringing his face close to hers, "Your instincts suck, okay? They suck. Because they're telling you Derek is a good guy when he is actually a- a dangerous murderer. Who murdered someone. And then buried the body in his own yard."

"I feel like you just complimented, but also insulted me." Amber questioned with a frown after his rant was over.

"That's because he did." Scott chimed in.

She sighed, scrunching her face up in frustration, watching Stiles shake his head before he started the Jeep and backed out of her driveway. He draped his arm over her knee to reach the gear lever and she nudged it occasionally as she mindlessly picked at the long sleeves of the flannel she wore.

"What about Derek's sister though?" Amber looked between the two boys, "Derek said she came into town before he did.. I mean, what if they're both werewolves? What if she's the one killing people and my instincts are right and Derek hasn't done anything wrong?"

"Or," Stiles deadpanned, "Maybe Derek's a liar. And he lied to you about his sister and he murdered someone before burying their body outside of his childhood home. Y'know, because he's a dangerous lying murderer."

Amber sighed in frustration but didn't respond.

When they pulled up to the Hale house, Stiles parked at the edge of the driveway near the treeline, hidden behind the police cruisers already at the scene. There were deputies laying crime scene tape around the area where the body was buried to the side of the house.

The three teens tumbled out of their vehicle and watched as Sheriff Stilinski and a deputy split off to enter the burnt shell of a house to search for Derek.

Amber huddled close to Scott where he was leaning back against the headlights of the Jeep. They watched for movement through the shadowy windows while Stiles did the same from the passenger side door, closest to the house.

When a deputy finally emerged with Derek's hands cuffed behind his back, Amber shrunk back from the glare he aimed at the trio. The officers guided Derek into the back of a police vehicle and Amber watched in distress as Stiles rushed forward to climb into the passenger seat as soon as the coast was clear.

She made a move to follow him but Scott grabbed ahold of the flannel she was wearing, pulling her back to stand beside him. She pouted with another longing glance to where Stiles was sitting inside the car, already conversing with Derek, and Scott shook his head at her.

Only a minute or two passed before Amber saw Sheriff Stilinski rounding the side of the house and heading for the cruiser. She abandoned Scott and made a beeline to where he was pulling Stiles out of the car with a tight grip on his arm.

"There. Stand." The Sheriff released his son, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just trying to help." Stiles insisted, taking a small step back to stand next to Amber.

"Okay, well, how 'bout you help me understand exactly how you guys came across this?" His dad demanded, looking between the two teens.

"We were looking for Scott's inhaler." Stiles explained, waving his hand around as he spoke. Amber shook her head at him with wide eyes but Stiles kept his focus on his father.

"Which he dropped when?" The Sheriff followed up, eyebrows raised.

"The other night." Stiles stated simply.

"-The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body."

"Yes." Stiles sighed, sounding exasperated.

Amber wanted to reach over and cover his mouth with her hands to keep him from continuing to dig himself deeper. It was like she was watching a trainwreck in slow motion.

"The night you told me you were alone and that Scott and Amber were both at home." The Sheriff said slowly.

"Yes! ..No! Oh, crap-" Stiles said with a grimace, finally realizing his mistake. Amber wrapped a hand around his forearm and gave it a squeeze.

"So you lied to me." The Sheriff's words continued to come out as statements rather than questions. The look of disappointment on his face had Amber withering under his gaze, but Stiles remained strong.

"That depends on how you define lying."

"Well," His father started, "I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"

Stiles hesitated for only a moment, "Reclining your body.. In a horizontal position?"

"Get the hell out of here." The Sheriff demanded.

"Absolutely-"

"Yes, sir."

Stiles and Amber spoke at the same time, scrambling to get back to where the Jeep was parked. Scott was still standing at the front and moved to open the passenger side door when he saw them heading back, "What the hell were you doing?"

Amber sighed as she passed through the open door, sliding into the center seat so that Scott could climb in behind her.

"I was trying to get information out of him!" Stiles explained, climbing into the driver's seat and starting the engine.

"Okay, well, did you?" Scott asked.

"Not really," Stiles began the drive down the long, winding dirt path that led to the house, making his way back out to the main trail for the preserve, "But listen, I have a book in the back. One of you grab it and see if it says anything about the rope and the wolfsbane we found last night."

Scott's arms were longer, so he reached behind Amber's back and dug around until he found the Stiles' backpack. He moved it into the front seat and settled it onto the floor between his legs, digging around inside until he found the book Stiles was referring to. Amber pulled one side of it onto her lap as Scott flipped it open and they began to skim the pages. They flipped past several sections on completely unrelated material and flicked more slowly through the ones on werewolf lore.

"Can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial-" Scott said in frustration, pushing the book fully into Amber's lap.

"Just keep looking," Stiles insisted, glancing at the girl beside him to ensure she was doing just that, "Maybe it's a ritual or something. Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf. Or maybe it's a special skill y'know? Like, something you have to learn."

"The ritual thing makes sense but I'm not seeing anything in here about it.." Amber said, finger tracing along the words on the page to keep her place in the bumpy car.

"I'll put lessening that on my to-do list." Scott scoffed at Stiles, "Right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."

Amber's head suddenly snapped up, eyes wild, "I think I might've printed something off about born-werewolves that could shift fully into a wolf-"

"Or maybe it's different for girl werewolves-" Stiles pondered.

"Okay! Stop it!" Scott shouted at his friends.

"Stop what?" Stiles asked for the both of them, looking at Scott in confusion.

"Both of you just stop saying 'werewolves'! Stop enjoying this so much!" Scott was breathing heavily and Amber slammed the book closed and shoved it between her back and the seat.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asked softly, putting a hand on Scott's arm.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked, his eyes flicking to the pair beside him before going back to the road.

"No!" Scott said, shoving Amber's hand off of his arm and clenching his jaw, "No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

Amber's face pinched and she awkwardly put her hand back in her lap, feeling like she'd been scolded.

"Y'know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott." Stiles said.

"I can't-" Scott panted, breaths appearing to come harder.

"Well you're gonna have to-"

"-No! I can't breathe!" Scott yelled, gasping for air.

"I- Are you having an asthma attack?" Amber worried, turning  toward him in her seat.

He continued to take in choppy breaths, reaching toward the backpack on the floor. He unzipped the pocket further and opened it to reveal the rope and wolfsbane from the night before.

"Oh, shit-" Amber swore, quickly pulling the backpack away from Scott and into her lap. She jostled Stiles in her haste and the Jeep swerved along the road.

"Pull over!" Scott yelled.

"Why!" Stiles shouted back, righting the steering wheel, "What's happening?"

"You kept it?!" Amber scolded loudly, re-zipping the bag to cut off the floral scent.

"What was I supposed to do with it!" Stiles defended.

"Stop the car!" Scott growled, no longer sounding like he was having an asthma attack but instead beginning to sound as if he were shifting. When Amber looked back at him, his eyes were glowing bright gold.

"Okay!" Stiles stopped sharply to park in the middle of the dirt road. The doors on either side of the Jeep were thrown open and Stiles ripped the backpack from Amber's lap and ran from the vehicle.

She watched Stiles run a short distance before simply launching the backpack as far as he could throw it.

"Okay, we're good. You can-" Stiles turned back to the Jeep and cut himself off, "Scott?"

Amber turned to see that Scott wasn't standing to the side of the vehicle like she'd thought. He was gone.

"Scott?" She called out once before looking back to Stiles with worry.

He began to climb into the car but she immediately reached out to stop him.

"What?" He questioned.

"Stiles, you need the backpack with all of your schoolwork in it. Just take out the rope and wolfsbane."

"Oh, yeah. That- uh, that would've been a good idea." He sighed, looking back toward where he'd thrown the bag before sulking over to follow her advice. When he returned to the vehicle, he threw the bag into the backseat once again and settled behind the wheel. "What the hell do we do now?"

"I- we gotta look for him, right?"

They began to drive the winding road through the preserve again, eyeing the treeline for their friend. When they got out to the main road without spotting him, Stiles pulled out his phone and called into the Sheriff Station on speakerphone.

"Stiles, you know you can't call the dispatch line when I'm on duty-" The deputy said upon answering, likely recognizing his number calling in.

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls-" Stiles said loudly into the receiver.

"Odd how?" The deputy sighed.

Stiles looked at Amber with wide eyes, unsure what to say, and she shrugged. I don't know, She mouthed silently.

"Uh. Like, an odd person or- Or a dog-like individual roaming the streets-"

"I'm hanging up on you now." The deputy responded before the line went dead.

"No! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wai-"

"She's gone, Stiles." Amber sighed, "'A dog-like individual', really?"

"Well, I don't know! What was I supposed to say? 'Any tips about a werewolf?'"

"I don't think it would've gone any worse if you had!"

Later that evening, Jason dropped his sister off at the high school for the game on his way into the fire station. "Hey," He called out when she went to climb out of the truck, "Wish Scott good luck for me. Stiles too-" He rushed to add as an afterthought.

Amber laughed, "I will! Love you."

She waited for her brother's response before slamming the door shut with a wave. Once he pulled away, she gnawed on her lower lip in thought for a moment. She knew she should head out to the field to get a spot on the bleachers, but she needed to check on Scott before the game started.

Decision made, she entered the school and crept into the boys locker room, looking around cautiously. She sighed in relief when she saw that everyone was already changed into their uniforms, moving more confidently as she wound her way through the rows looking for Scott or Stiles.

She stumbled upon Stiles at his locker first and she couldn't help her grin at seeing him in his game-day uniform. "Lookin' good." She said softly over his shoulder, laughing when the boy jumped and spun around to face her.

"Jesus," He gasped, "What are you doing in here?" Stiles looked around behind her like the thought they were about to get in trouble.

"I wanted to check on Scott." She defended.

"Yeah, alright, me too-" Stiles grabbed his duffle bag from his locker before slamming it closed, wrapping an arm around her back and guiding her toward Scott.

When they reached him, Scott was sitting on the changing bench. Their friend looked up and sighed when he spotted the two of them, "You guys gonna convince me not to play?"

Amber sighed and shook her head, knowing there was nothing Stiles or herself could say at this point to change his mind.

"I just hope you know what you're doing." Stiles said.

"If I don't play, I lose first line. And Allison." Scott grabbed his arm pads and began pulling them on.

"You honestly think she's that shallow?" Amber questioned.

"Yeah, Allison's not going anywhere-" Stiles assured him, "And it's one game.. That you really don't need to play."

"I want to play!" Scott whined, "I wanna be on the team. I wanna go out with Allison. I want a semi-freaking normal life. D'you get that?"

"Of course we do." Amber moved to sit on the bench beside Scott.

"We get it," Stiles said, dropping his duffle from his shoulder and straddling the bench to sandwich Amber between him and Scott, "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry-"

Amber nodded in agreement.

"I got it." Scott sighed.

"-Or stressed."

"I got it." Scott said again.

"Don't think about Allison being in the stands. Or that her father's trying to kill you-"

Amber turned her head sharply to glare at Stiles but he kept going, unfazed.

"-Or that Derek's trying to kill you. Or the girl he killed. Or that you might kill someone.. If a hunter doesn't kill you first-" He was cut off by Amber's hand reaching up to cover his mouth. Stiles made a questioning noise, eyes flicking to Scott who had tensed up, wide-eyed over the course of his rambling. Stiles' eyebrows rose in realization and he frowned sheepishly, pulling Amber's hand gently from his mouth. "I'm sorry. I'll stop."

Amber rose from the bench and rested a hand softly on the side of each boy's neck, unable to reach their shoulders through all of the padding. "Good luck." She smiled at both of them nervously, taking a deep breath and patting their cheeks before turning and leaving the locker room to head out to the field.

The crowd for the first game of the season was huge. The stands were packed and Amber hesitated, looking for a free spot. She caught sight of Scott's mom waving her over and quickly climbed up to sit beside the woman.

"Thank god," Amber laughed as she plopped down onto the cold metal bench, "I wasted too much time talking to the boys that when I got out here I thought I might have to stand on the sidelines the whole game."

"Big crowd, huh?" Ms. McCall smiled, "Is Scott nervous?"

"Uh, yeah. He definitely is," Amber said, "But he'll be fine. He's got this." Amber said the words more to herself, praying that speaking them into existence would somehow make them true.

The players were spilling out onto the field and Amber watched Scott head onto the pitch while Stiles settled into the player's bench. Stiles' dad spotted his son and bent to talk to him for a moment before looking up to search for an open space to sit in the same way that Amber had a few minutes before.

She raised a hand and waved to the man, scooting closer to Ms. McCall and pointing to the spot next to her. He nodded and climbed through the crowd to reach them, sighing gratefully when he sat down beside the girl.

"Hey, Sher-" She cut herself off at the man's eyebrow raise, "Mr. Stilinski." She settled with a smile.

"Hi, kiddo." He smiled, softly, leaning past her to exchange pleasantries with Scott's mom for a moment before turning back to face the pitch. "You think Stiles'll get onto the field?"

"Oh, um, Maybe." Amber smiled.

She hoped desperately that Stiles would get a chance to play this season. He'd warmed the bench during every game their a Freshman year, and she knew that his dad wanted to see him play as badly as she did. But more than that, though Stiles would never say anything, she knew how much her friend hated that his dad came to watch every single game on the off chance he might get thrown in for a few minutes.

"Is your brother down at the fire station for the night?" Sheriff Stilinski asked her.

"Yeah, he's just getting in, so. Probably won't be off until, maybe, midnight tomorrow?" She thought back to the hand-written schedule that was hanging on their refrigerator, "I think he's doing a thirty."

The Sheriff let out a breath, "And I thought I worked long hours." He watched Amber shrug before continuing, "Come home with Stiles and I, we'll order in pizza or something and hunker down for the night."

"Oh," Amber started, not used to receiving an invitation from Stiles' dad instead of her friend, himself, even after all these years. She smiled, "Yeah, I- That sounds great. Thank you."

The field filled up with both team's players and the game started. Amber kept her eyes glued to Scott as they began playing, and it didn't take long for her to notice that the ball was being thrown to every Beacon Hills player except for him. Scott raced around the field, open for a pass, but his teammates avoided him like the plague the entire game.

In the final quarter, a player from the opposing team dropped the ball and Scott made a run for it. Amber narrowed her eyes as she watched Jackson slam into him and send him to the ground.

"Hey!" Amber called out.

Ms. McCall was covering her own mouth with her hands in surprise.

Jackson quickly scooped up the ball himself and ran down the field, sending it past the other team's goalie to score a point.

The crowd cheered as the scoreboard changed to display the new score, 3 - 5, but Amber still frowned. She turned her head at the sound of Lydia screaming for her boyfriend and spotted her and Allison holding up a homemade sign.

We Luv U Jackson

Amber grimaced and she noticed Stiles peering behind him and doing the same when he spotted the girls. Stiles and Amber both returned their attention to Scott, but he'd clearly seen the sign as well. Amber dropped a hand between her knees and crossed her cold fingers, praying that Scott could hold it together.

The players reset after the goal, and they spread out to stand in their positions on the field again. Amber kept her eyes on the little number 11 on Scott's jersey, swallowing hard when she saw a player from the other team slowly back away from him like he was afraid.

"Oh, god." She whispered.

There was only a minute and a half left of the game, surely Scott could keep himself in check for that long.. She hoped.

The whistle blew and a Beacon Hills player won the initial scuffle with the other team to get possession of the ball. Scott raced down the field and when he was blocked by a wall of players, he launched himself inhumanly high into the air, jumping over their bodies to catch the ball in his net. Amber watched wide-eyed as her friend continued downfield, weaving through players expertly and sending the ball into the goal the moment he was close enough for a shot.

Amber and Ms. McCall both cheered loudly, turning to smile at one another in excitement for only a moment while the players reset again.

"McCall! Pass to McCall!" She heard Coach Finstock screaming at the team over the cheers.

There was one minute left and the scoreboard changed again, 4 - 5.

She kept her fingers crossed as she watched the other team get the ball straight away. The player turned to face Scott and froze for a moment before tossing the ball to his opponent. Amber huffed in surprise at the ball now cradled in Scott's net. He raced down the field once more and threw the ball straight into the goalie's waiting stick, but it tore through the netting and went into the goal behind him.

Coach Finstock and Stiles both raced to the sidelines, where the referee was unsure whether to call the shot a goal or not.

"The ball is in the net!" Coach yelled, grabbing the ref's whistle and blowing it himself to signal the goal.

Forty seconds remaining and the score was tied. 5 - 5

Amber's heart was beating violently in her chest with adrenaline, eyes wide as she watched the final seconds of the game. Scott got possession of the ball almost immediately and he raced toward the other team's goal before pausing, looking at the players surrounding him with slow, ominous-looking turns of his head.

"Oh, no." Amber whispered, glancing at the scoreboard to see there were only ten seconds left, "Oh god. Scott, don't lose control now-"

With two seconds left on the clock, Scott shook his head and sent the ball flying into the back of the goal.

Everyone in the crowd jumped to their feet, cheering loudly and already beginning to disperse from the bleachers. Amber climbed her way down with Stiles' dad, his hand wrapped around her bicep to catch her in case she took a wrong step.

Just as they stepped onto the grass, the Sheriff's cell phone began to ring and he stepped away from the chaos to take the call as Amber rushed over to where Stiles was standing on the sidelines to throw her arms around his neck.

"That was crazy! He actually did it!" She laughed.

Stiles reached up to wrap his arms around her back, "Thought he was gonna lose control for a minute there-"

"Oh my god, at the end! I was shaking." She finally loosened her grip and pulled back to look at her friend's smiling face. Her eyes moved from his and traced slowly over the tiny constellation of moles along his cheek. Her gaze dropped to his mouth for only a second before she released him completely and took a small step back.

Stiles looked utterly stunned and Amber took a deep breath before turning away from him to search the field for Scott. Her eyes raked over the many faces, but she didn't see their friend.

"Where did Scott go?"

"Huh?" Stiles asked, shaking his head and reaching up to rub at the back of his neck.

"I don't see Scott anywhere. D'you think he's okay?"

"I don't-" Stiles paused when he saw his dad approaching them with a frown on his face, "Dad, what's wrong?"

The man sighed as he stopped to stand in front of them, "I gotta get down to the station. We're releasing Derek Hale-"

"What!" Stiles squeaked, "No! Why?

"Medical examiner finished the autopsy on the top half of the body and determined the cause of death was the bite marks.. An animal attack."

"But-" Stiles paused, looking at Amber for the first time since his dad had come over. She shrugged and took his hand as he realized he couldn't say anything to deter his father.

"This case has been a mess. But, at least now we know who the victim was, and the cause of death-"

"What?" Amber interrupted when she processed his words.

"We do? Who was it?" Stiles questioned.

The Sheriff sighed again, tucking his phone into his pocket, "She's been ID'd as Laura Hale, Derek's older sister."

"Oh my god." Amber's hand went up to cover her mouth.

"The poor kid," The Sheriff shook his head, "Listen, I really gotta get down to the station. I'm sorry I won't be home for dinner."

"That's alright, don't worry about it, dad." Stiles assured him, squeezing Amber's hand in his own as his mind continued to race.

"You kids still order a pizza or something, all right? I don't like the thought of either of you going home to an empty house on a Saturday night." Sheriff Stilinski gave his son a pat on the shoulder before turning and taking off in the direction of the parking lot.

"Oh my god." Amber repeated quietly.

"We gotta tell Scott." Stiles announced, pulling her along by her hand and jogging toward the school.

The lights in the boys locker room were still out when they got there and Stiles continued to drag her through dark the aisles as they neared the back of the room. He stopped short and pulled her back to hide behind a locker when they neared the showers.

She went to question him but Stiles brought his free hand up to cover her mouth, shaking his head. He jerked his head in the direction of the showers and she peered around him to find Allison and Scott standing in the shower cubicle, kissing. Amber moved back behind the locker to stand beside Stiles, and it was only then that she realized they were still holding hands.

"I- I gotta get back to my dad." They heard Allison say quietly. There was a loud smack of one final kiss before Allison's footsteps began to approach where they were lurking.

"Hi, Stiles," Allison laughed, rounding the corner and spotting Amber beside him. Her eyes flicked down in the dark to where they were joined with a smile, "Hi, Amber."

"Hey." They both responded quietly.

The moment Allison was out of the locker room, Stiles released Amber's hand and the two stepped out from behind the lockers to stand in front of Scott.

"I kissed her." Scott said, a dopey grin on his face.

"We saw." Amber told him.

"She kissed me." Scott's smile continued to grow.

"Yeah, we saw that too." Stiles laughed at the look on their friend's face, "It's pretty good, huh?"

"I-I-I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back." Scott told them, "Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

Amber and Stiles looked at each other for a moment and grimaced.

"Yeah.." Stiles huffed out a pained laugh, pulling Amber a step back in the direction of the exit, "We'll talk later then."

"What?" Scott asked nervously, taking a step forward to match their step back. His eyes bounced between them as he waited for an answer.

"The medical examiner. Um, they looked at the other half of the body we found." Amber said quietly.

"And-?" Scott urged.

"Well, we'll keep it simple," Stiles explained, "Medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Derek's human, not animal. Derek not killer. Derek let out of jail."

"Are you kidding?" Scott asked his friends with wide eyes.

"No," Stiles answered him, "And here's an even bigger kick in the ass. My dad ID'd the dead girl — both halves. Her name was Laura Hale."

"Hale?" Scott repeated, voice raising.

c h a p t e r   o n e

omega

"Do we really need to do this right now?" Amber asked impatiently, "I want to go-"

Stiles gave her a sharp look.

"If you'd rather I drop you off at your house so your brother can patch you up.." Stiles began slowly, "Y'know, then you can tell him all about rescuing Derek from werewolf hunters, and how an Alpha got you with one of his claws just a few hours before he was violently murdered.. Which you were also witness to," He was still looking up at her from his place on the floor between her knees, "And while you're explaining all that, Scott and I can go to the hospital to check on Lydia without you-"

"Okay, okay." She settled quickly, "Just, hurry up. Please."

She watched his determined focus return to the task at hand as he wrapped a band-aid tightly around the deep cut on her freshly cleaned middle finger.

"How did you even get this one?" He questioned as he finished applying the covering.

"Trying to get the latch undone on one of Derek's ankle cuffs," She explained, "My hand slipped and it just kind of-"

Stiles looked up at her with a frown, "You've had your tetanus shot, right?"

She snorted in amusement at his concern, "Yes, Stiles. I'm up to date on all my shots." She told him with a shake of her head, "Now, are we done? Can we go?"

As she pulled her hand out of his grip and moved to stand, she looked down at her outfit with a small frown and pinched the fabric of Stiles' borrowed sweatpants between her fingers.

To avoid being subjected to a full interrogation in regards to her dirty, bruised, and bloody condition following the events of the evening, when Jackson had dropped them off at her house, she'd slipped inside only to grab her car keys from the hook just inside the front door and Stiles and Amber had driven her vehicle back to the blessedly empty Stilinski house.

They'd both gotten cleaned up and Stiles had given her a pair of sweats and a tshirt to wear until they could sneak back into her house to get some of her own clothes. Only now, with the intention of going out into public, she found herself feeling self-conscious in the borrowed items.

"I look kind of ridiculous." She muttered quietly as she looked down at her baggy outfit.

Stiles had already stood and begun making his way to the bedroom door, but turned back at her with an exasperated shake of his head, "Hey, you were more than welcome to put your dress back on after your shower." Stiles reminded her.

She turned her head to look over at the dirt and blood covered heap of fabric in the corner of the room and frowned.

"Would you like to go back to your house?" He asked with a sigh after a moment.

"No," She said quickly, "Sorry. I'll stop complaining."

Stiles took a step back into the room and reached up to slide his hands underneath the hem of her borrowed tshirt. He rested them lightly over her bare hips, his fingers pressing into her skin as he dragged her a step closer.

"For the record, I don't think you look ridiculous." He said softly.

"No?" She licked her lips and took an anxious breath at the familiar yet completely unfamiliar warmth of his body so close to hers.

His thumbs rubbed featherlight up and down over her abdomen, and her stomach tightened at the gentleness of the touch. Stiles shook his head in response but didn't verbalize an answer as he looked down at her body. Her own gaze flicked over his face in a slow trail and when her eyes caught the way his lips parted distractedly as he breathed, she was spurred on.

"You-" She licked her lips again and took another nervous breath, "You like it? Me.. In your clothes?"

He nodded quickly and his eyes snapped up to meet hers while he continued to bob his head up and down.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised up onto her toes to bring their lips together. His hands tightened over her hips as he returned the kiss and she allowed him to press slow, deep kisses against her mouth for a long minute before she pulled away. She leaned forward to press their cheeks together as she lifted her mouth to rest over the shell of his ear.

"Just wait 'til you see me out of them." She whispered softly, hoping that the words came out sounding more confident than she felt. She took a step back just as Stiles let out a quiet noise of distress and she grinned triumphantly, "Alright. We better get going! Still have to pick up Scott and he's probably been waiting a while already."

"No-" He whined quietly, stumbling after her in a daze and grabbing ahold of her hand as she exited the room and started down the hallway, "Why would you do that to me? That wasn't nice-"

She rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on his hand as they made their way down the stairs toward the front door.

"If I wasn't being nice, I would've pointed out that your wardrobe is severely lacking in underwear in my size-" She told him innocently, "Also, bras."

"Believe me, I noticed the absence of a bra on your body." He muttered quietly as he grabbed her car keys from the bowl by the door, "The underwear, though.. I definitely could've done without that reminder, because now, quite frankly, there's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to think about anything else. So, thanks for that. Scott can smell arousal, y'know."

That gave her pause. She turned to face him as they stepped outside and gave him a disbelieving look.

"I'm sorry-? He can do what?" She questioned.

Stiles grinned, looking pleasantly surprised at her obliviousness as they walked to the tiny yellow car. He dropped her keys into her hand and watched her settle behind the wheel, his arm propped up on the driver's side door.

"Oh? Did you not know that?" He asked in poorly disguised glee.

Her grip on her car keys tightened as she looked up at him, trying to determine whether or not he was telling the truth, "You're seriously telling me he can- That he can smell it when I-"

Her mind raced as she thought about all of the times in the last month and a half she'd been sandwiched between her two best friends with her thoughts solely focused on Stiles. All of the moments she'd been glued to Scott's side while thinking about Stiles' hands, and kissing him, and touching him, and him touching her-

She squeaked in distress, "Has he been able to do this the whole time?"

Stiles shrugged, "I think he only really picked up on it around the last full moon," His eyes flicked over her excitedly, "Why? You been aroused a lot?"

"I mean.. Yeah." She told him plainly, eyes wide.

His arm slipped from the doorframe and he stumbled in surprise at her blatant honesty. He blinked at her for a moment with a slack jaw before shaking his head and moving to close the door.

He looked down into the car with a grimace of understanding, "Right, well, can't keep him waiting."

Amber pouted, still feeling nauseatingly embarrassed as she leaned forward to turn the key in the ignition and start her car with a pitiful sigh.

It was totally fine. Scott was her best friend. It was totally not weird that he could sense it whenever she was turned on. Not weird at all.

Definitely not.

Except it really, really was.

Amber stayed back to talk to Lydia's doctor while Scott and Stiles headed in the direction of her hospital room. Her stomach was in knots during the duration of the conversation, but she felt overall relief as she listened to the doctor explain that Lydia was going to be okay.

The woman assured her that Lydia's body had stabilized over the last several hours and that now it was simply a waiting game. The redhead would wake up whenever her body felt well enough.

With a shaky sigh as her stress alleviated slightly, Amber made her way over to the closed door of Lydia's hospital room. She pushed it open and Scott and Stiles both flinched from where they were standing beside Lydia's bed, turning to face the door in alarm.

"Oh, it's just you," Stiles breathed out in relief, motioning for her to come into the room faster, "Hurry up and close the door-"

She frowned but did as she was told, both boys wincing again as the door creaked shut loudly and prompting her to frown in apology before walking over to stand in between them.

"Why did I need to close the door?" She asked quietly.

"Because we need to check the bite-" Scott explained, "See how it's healing."

He reached out, beginning to pull the blankets down, but as his fingers brushed against the fabric of Lydia's hospital gown, Amber smacked his hand away and took a protective step closer to the unconscious girl in the bed. The boys both frowned at her in confusion and she glared between them darkly.

"If anyone is about to touch the unconscious girl without her permission and violate her nearly naked body, it is not going to be one of you." She berated quietly, smacking Scott's hand away again from where it was still resting on the bedside, "Thank you." She huffed.

She took a steadying breath and reached her own hand out, trembling fingers pulling the gown to the side just enough to reveal the large bandage covering the skin on Lydia's hip. She gently peeled back the covering to reveal the bloody wound beneath and looked at Scott worriedly.

"What does this mean?" She whispered anxiously.

"Is it completely healed?" Stiles questioned, his gaze still locked on the far wall after having averted his eyes when Amber lifted the fabric of Lydia's hospital gown.

"No." Scott told him, "Not at all."

Stiles finally turned his attention back to the girl in the hospital bed and he dropped a hand over Amber's shoulder as he leaned closer to peer down at the bloody bite in the flesh of Lydia's hip.

"I- I don't get it," Amber said quietly, her thumb dropping down to trace softly over the unmarred skin beside the wound, "The doctor said she'd be fine."

"But.. The bite's not healing like it did with me." Scott stated.

"Right.." She prompted, "So, what does that mean?"

"It means.. She's not a werewolf."

She looked back up at Scott nervously and Stiles' grip on her shoulder tightened comfortingly.

"Then what the hell is she?" Stiles asked in a whisper.

"Maybe.. Maybe werewolf or death aren't the only two options after being bitten, y'know?" Amber suggested quietly, "I mean, maybe some people are like.. Immune-?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Scott shrugged, still frowning in confusion, "I-I'm gonna go meet Allison before it gets too late." He told them before moving toward the door.

"You don't need a ride?" Stiles asked.

"I'm good." Scott assured, cracking the door open just enough to slip through before closing it behind himself.

Amber gently laid the bandage back down over the bite, re-securing it with delicate fingers before covering Lydia back up again and tucking the blanket in around her. She looked up at the redhead's beautiful sleeping face and swallowed guiltily.

"This-" She let out a shaky breath in realization, "Is all my fault."

"Hey, no, what?" Stiles protested softly, he spun her around to face him and frowned at her, "This isn't your fault," He told her firmly, "Why would you say that?"

Her lip quivered and she felt her eyes prickle with heat as they welled with tears, "Because it is," She said, "I told her to go find Jackson and I let her go alone. I- I should've gone with her and-" A small sob cut her off when she took her next breath, "And Scott had already told me he thought he'd seen Peter." She disclosed, eyes filling with more tears when she saw the look of surprise on Stiles' face, "He told me he saw Peter and I didn't believe him. I told him he was being paranoid and- And then I told Lydia to go off and look for Jackson and I-"

Another choked sob cut off her words and Stiles wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her in as the first of her tears fell. He directed her to burrow her face into the curve of his neck and she went easily, reaching up to fist her hands into his shirt as she did so.

"None of this is your fault," He told her, mouth pressed into her still slightly shower-damp hair as he spoke softly into her ear, "You're wrong, okay? It's not your fault."

His arms tightened around her shoulders and the firmness of his grip settled just a little bit of the tightness in her chest.

Mrs. Martin had approved Amber as an overnight guest for her daughter and Amber spent the next forty-some hours at the hospital. Whenever Lydia's mother was away, Amber was glued to Lydia's bedside, alternating between holding her friend's hand while napping with her head pillowed on the edge of the mattress, and turning the television to the docuseries on the Discovery Channel that she knew her friend secretly loved.

Lydia finally woke on Saturday afternoon, confused and groggy, only a few hours after Amber's brother had visited to drop off a bag of things from their house to last her through the weekend.

By Sunday evening, Amber had taken up residence in an armchair on the far side of the hospital room, reading through a new crime-thriller as she kept her bed-bound friend company. Amber was still lounging in the comfort of Stiles' oversized sweats, grateful for the clean underwear bra that her brother had dropped off for her.

Lydia dozed off and on throughout the afternoon and while Mr. Martin had been hovering somewhat awkwardly at the doorway for several hours, Amber had remained in the room all day at Lydia's insistence. The brunette spent the evening reading through her crime novel and sticking tiny post-it notes inside, using different colored tabs in the pages as new clues and possible leads cropped up in the story.

She was two-thirds of the way through her book when Lydia finally stirred after several hours of fitful rest. The redhead sat up in her hospital bed slowly, immediately garnering the undivided attention of both her father and Amber.

"What?" Lydia snapped in annoyance at their sudden scrutiny.

"D'you need any help getting to the bathroom?" Amber asked gently.

"No." Lydia said quickly, "And I'm going to take a shower, if that's all right with the two of you."

Amber closed her book with a frown and watched Lydia's father take another nervous step toward his daughter as she threw her legs over the side of the bed and went to stand.

"You want help getting into the shower?" He asked.

"Maybe," Lydia started with a withering glare, "-If I was still four and taking bubble baths."

Amber snorted quietly despite herself, holding her hands up in surrender as she walked over to the door to the hallway, "I'll wait out in the hall."

"I'll be outside too," Mr. Martin assured his daughter, "Where it's slightly less sarcastic." He finished quietly as they stepped out of the room and left Lydia to her own devices.

When Amber stepped out into the hallway, she spotted Stiles sleeping sprawled across a row of the uncomfortable waiting chairs, and she found herself smiling softly at the sight of him.

"How long has he been here?" She asked quietly when she spotted Scott's mom in her scrubs at the nursing station just outside of the room.

"Since this afternoon," Ms. McCall revealed, "He said he brought you some lunch. I told him you'd already eaten but he just.. Didn't leave."

Amber's heart warmed and she watched Stiles murmur something quietly under his breath in his sleep, his mouth hanging open cutely where it was pillowed against the back of his arm. She approached with slow steps and squatted down in front of him, reaching out to cup his cheek softly.

"Stiles.." She spoke quietly in an attempt to wake him, rubbing her thumb lightly over the dark mole decorating his left cheek.

"Mm," Stiles hummed quietly, eyes still closed, "'S good."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she tilted her head in amusement as she watched at the sleeping boy in front of her. His body shifted slightly as he readjusted over the row of chairs and she swept her thumb over his cheek again softly.

"Stiles, c'mon." She spoke gently.

"Feels good," He murmured into the back of his arm as his eyebrows furrowed softly. His leg twitched, kicking out into the chair at the end of the row and he groaned quietly in the back of his throat, "Ngh, Amber.. Like that."

She blinked and her thumb paused its movements as the dots connected in her mind slowly, her stomach fluttering wildly at the realization that Stiles was having an erotic dream. About her.

Before the boy could say anything truly vulgar, she leaned in somewhat nervously, covering his parted lips with her own and sliding her fingers back behind his ear. It only took a moment before his lips began to press back against hers, his head lifting up off of his arm slightly as he leaned up and tried instinctively to chase her mouth.

She sat back, still squatting down in front of him and smiled softly as he finally blinked his eyes open to look at her in befuddlement.

"Hey, sleepyhead." She said quietly, looking between his dream-dazed brown eyes.

"Hey," He responded in a sleepy grumble, "Was having a dream 'bout you."

She grinned, "So I heard."

Her comment seemed to startle him into alertness and he shot up startlingly fast, no longer looking remotely sleepy. She leaned back when his arms flailed in his attempt to sit upright and she laughed at him quietly as she dodged his waving limbs.

"Heard what?" Stiles asked as he settled finally into the chair, trying his best to look casual, "Did- Did I say anything?"

She rose to her knees and looked up at him with a small smile, "No. Nothing really." She fibbed easily.

He seemed to relax at the simple lie and she shook her head at him fondly as he sighed in relief. His gaze dropped down momentarily to the low neckline of her tank top before he took a slow breath, reaching down to grab her hand as he stood from his seat. She frowned in confusion as he began to drag her down the hallway but she went easily, trailing a step behind him and making a small noise of confusion.

"C'mon, I'm gonna get you something from the vending machine. You haven't eaten since before I got here, and that was at one-" He explained over his shoulder.

They stopped in front of the snack dispenser around the corner and her eyes flicked over the options for a moment, her hand still trapped in his. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Stiles dug around in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a few quarters. Once the coins were cupped in his hand, he looked over at her in anticipation.

She turned her head slightly and was caught by surprise under his expectant stare, "What?" She asked slowly.

"D'you know what you want?" He lifted his hand and hovered just over the coin slot, fingers ready to drop the quarters into the small opening.

Her gaze drifted back to look behind the glass once again and she gnawed on her bottom lip indecisively, "Hmm, J." She told him finally, finger tapping against the glass to point to the item with the corresponding letter.

Stiles dropped the quarters into the slot and each one landed with a loud clink inside of the machine.

"You want the Reese's?" He verified before daring to press anything, his finger hovering over the buttons in wait.

She nodded her assent and he pressed his finger over the letter J on the keypad, the arm holding on to the candy spinning backwards slowly but stopping before the item could fall down from the shelf.

Stiles made a small noise of distress and slammed his finger against the button on the keypad again a few times in frustration. When nothing happened, he slapped the glass with an annoyed frown and released her hand with a huff, reaching out to put his arms on either side of the machine and jostling it as he threw his body weight against the glass. He groaned in exertion and continued to shake the machine angrily.

Amber laughed at him quietly as she watched on in amusement, "Stiles, it's no big deal," She reached out to rest a hand over his shoulder blade, "It did this to one of the nurses yesterday. We just need to-"

Before she could finish, the machine tipped toward them precariously. In a quick motion, Stiles reached out to grip her biceps and he crowded her back out of the way with, his chest against hers, just as the vending machine fell forward and hit the ground where they'd been standing a moment before with a loud crash.

"Stiles!" She scolded in a whisper, her eyes wide in surprise. Her pulled gaze from the fallen machine behind him to his face, his chest still pressed flush to hers, "Why did you-"

"I- Sorry! I just-" He stammered, "It- It wouldn't give you your candy."

"Well, that was very sweet of you.. But now there definitely won't be any candy." She reached up to pat his cheek consolingly.

"Sure there will," He told her, stepping back and attempting to stick his fingertips beneath the machine as he squatted down beside it, "Help me get it back up."

"Stiles, that thing is at least five-hundred pounds," She said incredulously, "There's no way-"

A piercing scream rang out through the hospital unit and drowned out her voice. Her head snapped up, looking down the hallway and stomach turning with a cold sense of dread as she realized she recognized the scream.

"Lydia!" She yelled, her legs already carrying her down the hallway.

"What the hell was that?" She heard Ms. McCall ask loudly as Amber ran past her.

She ran around the corner and pushed through Lydia's empty hospital room until she skidded to a stop in the middle of the bathroom. She looked at the small, painfully deserted room as Lydia's dad and Ms. McCall came to crowd in the doorway behind her.

Amber felt sick as Ms. McCall reached around her to turn the running water off in the empty shower. Lydia was nowhere to be seen. Her discarded hospital gown was still lying on the bench beside the shower and the window along the wall had been pushed wide open to let in a cool breeze from outside.

"Where's Lydia?" Amber asked the room at large, heart pounding violently in her chest.

The adults both seemed to be a mix of confused and alarmed, looking between one another slowly, but neither knew how to answer the question.

Lydia was gone.

Amber took a shaky breath and spun around frantically, bumping into Stiles where he had been standing directly behind her as she did so. He was quick to wrap his arms around her shoulders pull her into a hug, whispering into her ear so that no one around them would overhear his words.

"It's gonna be okay. We'll call Scott and he can track her before she gets too far, alright?" He said softly. Amber nodded against the side of his face, "Okay." He repeated again, brushing his lips across her cheekbone in an barely there kiss before releasing her.

After a few minutes of hushed conversation and phone calls to the appropriate authorities, the adults in the room slowly trailed out into the hallway to meet the police and try to figure out a plan of action.

As soon as the bathroom was empty, Stiles rushed to grab a clean garbage bag from underneath the sink and stuffed Lydia's dirty hospital gown inside.

"What-" Amber started quietly.

"Scott can use it to get her scent." He explained, rolling up the trash bag and stuffing it into the waistband of his jeans beneath the back of his sweatshirt.

Amber pulled her phone out of the pocket of the sweats she was wearing to send Scott a frantic text message as she allowed Stiles to guide her slowly out into the hallway. She could already hear Sheriff Stilinski's voice as he spoke with Ms. McCall and Mr. Martin, another uniformed deputy trailing only a step behind the group.

Stiles urged Amber to walk closer so that they could listen in on what was being said.

"Alright," Sheriff Stilinski said, turning to face the deputy, "Let's get an APB out on a sixteen year old redhead. Any other descriptors?" He asked, turning toward Lydia's dad.

Amber pushed forward into the throng of adults aggressively, "She's five-foot three, has green eyes, wears a size seven to a seven and a half shoe — depending on the type, she's fair skinned, and her hair actually isn't red, it's strawberry blonde-" She listed off quickly, lifting a finger to count as she listed off each descriptor.

"Is that so?" The Sheriff asked her, looking between her and where Stiles was standing behind her slowly, the man's eyes flicking between them with a slightly aggravated look. He reached around Amber's shoulder to grab a hold of his son with a hand at the back of the boy's neck, leading him a couple of steps away as Amber trailed close behind. "Why is it that you somehow manage to be present for everything that goes wrong in this town, huh? What the hell are you still doing here?" The Sheriff asked his son in a hushed whisper.

Stiles looked at him with wide eyes, flicking his gaze to Amber over his dad's shoulder as she came to stand beside them, "Um. I was providing moral support?" He said quietly, sounding unsure.

Amber stepped up behind Stiles and placed her hand at the small of his back, pressing against the garbage bag tucked into his waistband to ensure it wouldn't slip during the conversation.

"How about you provide your ass back home, where you should be." The Sheriff suggested quietly, attention flicking over to Amber for a brief second, "And take Amber home while you're at it."

"I- I can do that too." Stiles agreed quickly.

"Yeah." The Sheriff said slowly, releasing his son and keeping his eyes on them determinedly.

Amber readjusted Stiles' hoodie over his back and led him back down the hallway where they could grab her duffle bag from Lydia's hospital room. When she got to the bag, she unzipped it quickly, stuffing her abandoned book and sticky notes into the bottom before reaching into the back of Stiles' jeans to grab the garbage bag. He made a small noise of surprise but didn't fight her as she pulled out the gown-filled plastic bag and stuffed it into her duffel.

As she zipped the bag closed, her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out to skim over the new message from Scott.

"Scott's here," She relayed quickly as they headed down the hallway toward the elevators, "He heard her scream. Said he was already on his way here when I texted."

Stiles let out a breath and reached up to grab a hold of her shoulder as the elevator brought them back down to the main floor. Her stomach was turning with anxious worry and when the elevator doors slid open, Stiles' hand slipped from her shoulder when she didn't immediately move to step out with him.

He paused just one step across the threshold of the elevator and did a slow spin, turning to face her when he realized she was no longer beside him.

"Hey, what-"

"Stiles. I'm freaking out." She admitted quietly.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the elevator to stand in front of him. He frowned as his eyes scanned the panic on her face, reaching up to brush her hair back out of her face gently.

"Look, d'you trust Scott?" He prompted.

"I mean.. I love him. But-" She started honestly.

Stiles rolled his eyes lightly, "Do you trust him?" He repeated firmly.

"Yeah." She said finally in a small voice.

"Alright. Then trust that he'll be able to find her, 'kay?" He reassured gently.

She nodded and took a determined breath, "Okay."

Without another word, Stiles gripped her hand in his and rushed out of the building in the direction of where he'd parked his Jeep that afternoon. Scott was already sitting in the passenger seat, so Amber crawled in from the driver's side and settled beside him as Stiles climbed in after her.

She unzipped her duffel bag and pulled out Lydia's hospital gown, handing it over to Scott quickly as she tossed her bag uncaringly into the backseat.

Scott examined the fabric in his hand, flipping it over slowly between his fingers, "This is the one she was just wearing?" He verified.

"Obviously." She confirmed quietly, looking at her friend with wide eyes as she waited for him to do something with the bundle of cloth.

Scott looked up at her with a small frown, lifting a hand to squeeze her shoulder, "I'm not gonna let anything happen to her," He promised, "Not again."

She swallowed and nodded, taking a shaky breath.

"Just shove the thing in your face and let's find her." Stiles said impatiently, going to start the car, "Ho- Wow-!" He exclaimed when the headlights clicked on as the engine turned over, the glow illuminating Allison standing directly in front of the car.

"Jesus." Amber whispered in surprise, her own heart beating quick in her chest as Allison rushed over to the passenger side of the Jeep.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked out the open window, "Someone's going to see us-" He worried, knowing that he and Allison were very much no longer allowed to be seen together, given her family's profession of choice.

"I don't care." Allison told him, "She is my best friend and we need to find her before they do-"

"I'm sorry-" Amber cut in quickly, "They who?"

"I can find her before the cops can." Scott said to Allison, ignoring his best friends interruption.

"How about before my father does?" Allison questioned.

"What?!" Amber squeaked nervously.

"He knows?" Stiles asked from behind her.

"Yeah," Allison confirmed, "I just saw him and three other guys leave my house in two SUVs."

Scott turned his head to look between Stiles and Amber, "A search party-" He supplied nervously.

"It's more like a hunting party." Allison corrected.

Scott turned back to the girl outside of the vehicle and his hand fumbled on the door handle, "Get in."

Amber frowned as Allison climbed into the car past Scott and tumbled into the mess in the backseat. Amber took a slow breath, not thrilled about having Allison sitting directly behind her unsuspecting back, but fighting the nervous feeling of distrust in her gut for the sake of Lydia's safety.

She crossed her arms over her stomach and pinched the corner of Stiles' outer-layered sweatshirt tightly between her fingers to settle her anxiety as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"Alright," Stiles started as he sped down the main road in town and headed west at Scott's command, "But if she's turning, would they actually kill her?"

"I don't know," Allison said, leaning forward in her seat and putting her face over Amber's shoulder beside Scott, "They won't tell me anything."

Amber turned in her seat to squint at Allison in the dark car skeptically.

"Okay.." Allison backtracked when she caught the other girl's gaze, "All they say is, 'We'll talk after Kate's funeral. When the others get here.'"

"What others?" Amber asked quickly.

"I don't know. They won't tell me that either." Allison replied.

"Okay, your family's got some serious communication issues to work on." Stiles observed.

Amber turned in her seat to look over at where Scott had his head stuck out the window to search for Lydia's scent, "Scott! Are we going the right way?" She asked loudly.

His head tilted as he took a breath into his nose through the breeze outside of the moving vehicle, "Take the next right!" He called back.

They were already coming up on the turn as he spoke and Stiles reached out automatically to brace his arm over Amber's chest as they veered sharply onto a road that would lead them out toward the preserve.

Scott directed them to take several turns over the next ten minutes as they headed down the winding roads out into the more wooded area of town. When he finally directed them to take a left onto a familiar long gravel driveway, Amber frowned in confusion.

"How the hell would Lydia have gotten all the way out here so quickly?" She asked as Scott pulled his head back into the vehicle.

Scott shrugged, "The roads out here aren't as direct. If she ran through the woods it wouldn't have taken her long."

Stiles parked the Jeep around the final turn of the drive and they all slowly climbed out of the car before making their way to the edge of the treeline surrounding what was left of the large burned house.

After no more than a minute, Amber huffed quietly as she shivered, her exhale releasing a foggy cloud into the air. She reached up in an attempt to rub some warmth into her bare arms as they walked and Stiles seemed to catch sight of her movement, quickly beginning to strip off one of the two zip-up hoodies he had layered over his tshirt.

"Here, sorry," He apologized quickly, draping one of the sweatshirts around her shoulders as he readjusted the other over his torso, "I should've given you this before-"

"Thank you." She told him softly as she stuck her arms through the sleeves.

Once she had the sweatshirt pulled on over her tank top, she pinched his chin between her thumb and forefinger and leaned in to press a small appreciative kiss to his lips.

"Hold- Wh- When did this-" Scott looked between his best friends with wide eyes, "When did you guys-?"

Amber leaned back and frowned, "I- Friday.. At formal-"

"There's no way I didn't mention that." Stiles told Scott.

Scott shook his head, "You definitely did not mention that." He disagreed, looking between them again, "I mean, it's great! I'm happy for you guys-"

"Scott this is.. Really sweet but can we please focus on looking for Lydia?" Amber interrupted, playing with the sleeves hanging down over the palms of her hands.

Allison stepped up beside her and laughed awkwardly, "Thank god. I didn't want to interrupt but-"

"Okay, alright." Scott agreed, "C'mon."

They began to move through the trees again and Amber frowned in thought as her gaze trailed over to the Hale house beside them. Stiles followed her eyeline and seemed to catch on to her confused train of thought.

"Lydia came here?" He asked, looking over his shoulder toward Scott, "You're sure?"

"Yeah," Scott shrugged, looking around slowly, "This is where the scent leads."

"Alright," Stiles said, "But has Lydia ever been here?" He asked, both he and Scott turning to Amber in anticipation of her response.

She shook her head, "No, I never brought her here." She let her own gaze drift over to Allison skeptically and the other girl's eyes widened.

"She didn't come here with me either," Allison defended, "Maybe she came here on instinct.. Like she was looking for Derek."

"You mean looking for an Alpha." Scott clarified.

"I- Wolves need a pack, right?" Allison asked.

"Not all of them." Scott said after a moment of hesitation.

"But would she have been drawn to an Alpha?" Allison questioned, "Is it an instinct to be part of a pack?"

"Yeah, we're-" Scott paused, "We're stronger in packs."

Allison nodded, "Like strength in numbers."

Scott shook his head, looking between Allison and Amber for a moment before he spoke, "No. Like- Like literally. Stronger, faster, better in every way-"

Amber huffed in annoyance at the amount of information Scott was willingly imparting on the other girl and she turned to step away from the conversation. She spotted Stiles standing a few yards away, brushing leaves around on the ground where he was squatted down, his head tilted as he examined something.

"What is it?" She asked quietly, settling a hand on his back as she squatted down beside him.

"Woah, it's- Hold on," He said softly before raising his voice to call out to the two still behind them, "Hey! Look at this. Y'see this?" He pinched a dark piece of wire strung out along the ground between his fingers lightly.

Amber reached out to softly run her fingers over it as well as she examined the thick strand of garotte wire that ran just a few inches above the forest floor. She heard footsteps come up behind them as someone followed to see what they were looking at and she turned her head to find Allison squatting down beside her.

"I think it's a tripwire." Stiles explained to the girls quietly, pulling up on the wire with his index finger.

There was a quiet noise in the leaves behind them and Amber turned to find Scott hanging upside down by his ankle.

"Stiles." She whispered, nudging his shoulder with her hand.

"Hm?" He hummed distractedly, still looking down at the wire in his hands.

"Stiles." Scott said from behind them, his louder than Amber's had been.

"Yeah, buddy?" Stiles asked, finally turning around to look behind them, "-Oh."

"Next time you see a tripwire," Scott started, his momentum carrying him back and forth through the air like a pendulum, "Don't trip it."

Amber immediately went to see if she could help Scott, reaching out to stay him and stop him from swinging back and forth quite so much.

"Noted." Stiles told Scott from behind her.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Scott said frantically, reaching his hands out from where they had been dangling over his head to grab Amber's waist and shove her a step away.

"Wha-" She started before he cut her off.

"Someone's coming." Scott whispered aggressively, looking between his three friends, "Hide!" They all looked around the dark treeline curiously for a moment and Scott huffed, "Go!"

Amber was tugged backwards by Stiles' hand wrapped around her shoulder as he urgently pulled her and Allison back down the slope a few hundred feet. They ducked down close to the ground, peering around the cover of a tree as a group of four figures approached Scott slowly.

One of them squatted down to eye-level with the dangling boy and Amber frowned, entirely unsurprised when she heard Allison's dad's voice.

"Scott." He greeted simply.

"Mr. Argent." Scott greeted back weakly.

"How are you doing?" Chris Argent asked slowly.

Scott shrugged awkwardly from his upside down position, still swinging back and forth through the air slightly.

"Good, y'know. Just hangin' out." Scott joked, looking up at his trapped ankle, "This one of yours?" He questioned, "It's uh, good. Nice design. Very constricting-"

"What are you doing out here, Scott?" Allison's dad asked, unamused.

"Looking for my friend." Scott told him seriously.

"Ah, that's right," Mr. Argent sighed, "Lydia's in your group now, isn't she? A part of your clique? Is that the word you'd use? Or is there another way you'd put it?" He prompted slowly, "Part of your pack?"

"Actually, clique sounds about right to me." Scott answered.

Mr. Argent hummed, "I hope so. Because I know she's a friend of Allison's, and one special circumstance, such as yourself.. One I can handle." He said, "Not two."

There was a silent pause and Amber reached out to nudge her pinky against Stiles' nervously. She let out a small breath when he silently hooked his own finger around hers and locked them together.

"Scott, do you know what a hemicorporectomy is?" Chris Argent asked.

"I have a feeling I don't want to." Scott answered honestly.

"A medical term for amputating somebody at the waist-" The man explained, "Cutting them in half."

Amber's stomach tightened and she let out a shaky breath at the reminder of Laura Hale. Stiles' finger tightened around hers as if he could somehow feel her sudden anxiety and she locked her jaw to keep it from trembling.

"It takes a tremendous amount of strength to cut through tissue and bone like that-" Mr. Argent continued slowly.

She felt like she was going to be sick, the image of the gaping wound at Laura's hips flashing in her mind as clearly as the day she'd stumbled across it on the trail in the woods. She could vividly remember the long smooth cut in the flesh, the lack of hesitation where the blade had torn through her cleanly. She remembered the way she'd so easily been able to see all of the bones and muscles where the lower half of the body had been sliced open.

She was distracted by the memory, her blood pounding so loudly in her ears that she didn't even notice when the group of men left. She was pulled to her feet by Stiles' hands in hers and she blinked as her eyes finally refocused to find him standing in front of her.

"Y'okay?" He asked her quietly.

She nodded slowly, pulling in a deep breath through her nose, "Yeah," She said finally, "Sorry. I- I'm fine."

As she came back to herself, she tugged on his hand and jogged back up to where Scott was still caught in the trap. Stiles released her hand and he and Allison moved over to where he'd tripped the wire in the first place.

"Help me with this." Allison told him as they worked at where the trap was hooked up to a tree trunk.

Amber reached up to pull uselessly at the thick wire around Scott's ankle but he bent at the waist, leaning up, claws sprouting from his fingertips. He sliced them through the wire under her fingers easily and fell down to the ground, landing smoothly on his feet beside her.

"I think I got it." Scott announced with a goofy grin.

She rolled her eyes and reached up to punch him in the shoulder, "Show off." She scoffed.

Scott grinned wider and shrugged at her, reaching up to grab her shoulder and push her back in the direction of their friends.

"How long can we look for Lydia until we, like, desperately need to go home and get to bed for school tomorrow?" Amber asked the group at large.

Scott shrugged, "Maybe eleven?"

"Eleven?" Allison repeated in disbelief, "If I'm not home by nine, my parents will ground me for life."

"Nine?" Amber repeated this time, pulling out her phone to check the time anxiously, "Are you kidding? It's already almost eight!"

Stiles' arm dropped around Amber's shoulders and he pulled her into his side as they walked, "So, we'll look for another hour. My dad has the whole Sheriff's department looking for her, alright?"

She sighed, burrowing further into the warmth of Stiles' torso. A heavy feeling of worry settled deeper into her gut as she realized that if she was cold in sweats and a hoodie, then she couldn't even imagine how Lydia must be feeling.

They needed to find her.

On Monday night, Amber was typing up a search party sign-up sheet to distribute to the teachers at school the following day. She was desperate to find Lydia, but evidently four teenagers and the entire Sheriff's Department just wasn't enough bodies to cover the sheer amount of densely wooded territory that Beacon Hills was home to.

She was shutting down her laptop and stuffing it into her backpack when she noticed a dark figure in the corner of her eye.

"Jesus fucking Christ-" She whispered, flinching and knocking a cup full of pencils and highlighters to the ground with a small crash, "Derek!"

The older werewolf was sitting on the edge of her bed casually, flipping through the book that she'd been reading over the weekend at the hospital. His gaze lifted from the book when he heard her exclamation and he raised his eyebrows with an unimpressed look.

She huffed and bent down to pick up the spilled writing utensils, shoving them back into their cup aggressively, "You need a freaking bell or something." She muttered quietly under her breath as she got to her feet again and placed the cup back onto her desk.

"Or you need better hearing." Derek suggested, "I've been here for five minutes."

"You've-" She spun around to face him and scrunched her face up in irritation, "You could've said something, then. Instead of just lingering around quietly and waiting to give me a heart attack."

"You're not in a very good mood." He observed, closing the book in his hands and setting it back on the nightstand where Amber knew she'd initially left it.

"No. I'm not." She snapped quietly, turning back to her desk to finish putting her school books into her bag. "In case you forgot, I was present for, not one, but two murders a couple of days ago, one of my best friends was bitten by a werewolf and is now missing, and I've had an overall shitty weekend. I'm so very sorry if my mood isn't up to your standards."

"Okay.." Derek said slowly, "Well, I have a proposition for you-"

"Yeah? Well, I have a proposition for you too," She interrupted, spinning back around to face him, "How about you go back in time and not murder the only chance Scott had at being human again. How about that?"

Derek looked taken aback at her hostility, "What?"

"You said yourself that Peter was the only way Scott could be cured," Amber explained, huffing in frustration, "And you still went ahead and ruined it! You- you ripped your own uncle's throat out! I mean, sure, he was a total nut job but-" She took a shaky breath as the image of Derek's bloody clawed hand re-emerged in her mind.

"There is no cure." Derek said simply.

"Yeah, I know!" She snapped, "Because you killed-"

"No," He interrupted sounding wholly exasperated, "There was never a cure, Amber. There's nothing that can reverse the effects of the bite. Ever."

"But-" She faltered, eyebrows furrowing, "But you told Scott-"

Derek sighed a long suffering sigh, "I know what I told Scott. But he was being an idiot and I needed him to focus in order to help me find the Alpha," He explained, "I told him what he wanted to hear. That there was a way to fix everything and that the Alpha was the answer."

"You.. You lied?" She said slowly.

Derek reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose and sighed again, "Yes. I lied."

"There's no cure.. And there never was?" She asked, feeling like she needed clarification one last time.

"There never was." He confirmed.

She moved across the room slowly and sat down on her bed a few feet away from him as the information processed. Derek allowed her to sit silently for a long minute before he stood and crossed the room, moving over to the space in front of the desk that she'd only just vacated. He leaned back against the surface and crossed his arms over his chest, frowning in thought.

"Wasn't there something you wanted to say before?" She realized, watching his behavior with a confused frown.

"I was going to get right into it but now I feel like I should explain things a little first." He said quietly.

"Explaining is good." She nodded slowly, urging him to continue.

He sighed and pinched his face in a tight frown, "All werewolves are drawn with the instinct to be a part of a pack," He started, watching her closely to be sure she was following, "But the instinct is different for Alphas. Stronger."

"That's why Peter bit Scott that night in the woods." She deduced.

Derek nodded, "Even out of his mind, he knew he needed a Beta to take up a pack bond with. Needed it in order to lessen some of that instinct- To make it bearable."

"And now.." She started slowly, "Now that you're the Alpha, you're feeling that instinct?"

"Yes."

She nodded, pulling her legs up underneath herself on the mattress and toying with her fingers in her lap as she thought, "What does it feel like?" She asked curiously, "The instinct to build a pack."

"It feels like shit." He said simply, "It's like- It's like a hollow feeling of loneliness. I felt it, when Laura died.. When I was a Beta and on my own for the first time, but-"

"But?" Amber prompted after a second of silence.

"But it's a hundred times worse as an Alpha," He explained, "Borderline painful. Just, this stabbing longing in your gut for something you don't have."

"But don't you have a Beta?" She asked, "I mean, Scott's a part of your pack now, right?"

Derek shook his head, "I'd feel it if he was. Scott doesn't want to be a part of my pack."

She frowned and Derek continued.

"-But I thought maybe you might."

"That I might what?" She questioned in confusion.

"Want to be a part of my pack." He finished, uncrossing his arms and placing his hands back to rest on the desk on either side of him.

"Like-" She blinked in shock, "Like, as a werewolf?"

"Yes. As a werewolf."

"I don't want to be a werewolf." She said quickly.

Derek frowned like he was truly perplexed, "You don't?"

"No!" She told him, "Wh- Why would I want to become a werewolf? Are you joking?"

"Why wouldn't you?" He prompted, "I mean, you'll be as strong as Scott. You'll be able to hear, see, and smell better. You'll be able to protect yourself-"

"While also attacking my best friends?" She finished incredulously, "No way."

Derek shook his head, "I'd help you control that. We could wait until after Wednesday and then we'd have a whole month before the next full moon-"

"No." She said again, "I- I don't want to be a werewolf."

His shoulders seemed to slump a fraction when he realized her decision had been made, "Fine."

She rose from the bed and approached him with a frown, "I'm sorry, Derek."

"It's fine." He told her again.

"We- We can figure something else out, though. I mean, I could help you find someone and then by the next full moon-"

"I already have someone else." He told her.

"I- You what?" She asked, looking up at him in alarm.

"I'm going to do it tomorrow." He said easily, "I watched him over the weekend to make sure he was the right choice for the pack. I'm going to talk to him tonight so he has some time to think about it and then tomorrow I'm going to give him the bite."

"Wh- He? He who?" She prodded, "And.. You're going to bite him a day before the full moon? Have you actually lost your mind?"

"I wasn't initially planning on doing it so soon, but circumstances-"

"Circumstances?" She repeated in disbelief, "What kind of circumstances could possibly justify turning someone into a werewolf with only twenty-four hours to prepare before the full moon?"

"The kid needs to be able to defend himself or there's a pretty good chance his piece of shit dad's gonna kill him." Derek explained after a moment of hesitation.

"'Kid'?" She questioned after he finished, "How old qualifies as 'kid'?"

"He's sixteen." Derek said, "Goes to your school. Isaac Lahey."

"Isaac Lahey?" She repeated slowly, her eyes drifting to the wall behind the werewolf as she pictured the outrageously tall boy on the lacrosse team.

"Yes."

Her eyes snapped back to Derek with a glare, "And how exactly are you planning on stopping Isaac from attacking and killing someone at school if he gets a little angry? Huh?"

"Isaac doesn't get angry." He said simply.

"Wh- Everybody gets angry." She argued.

"Not Isaac." Derek replied, "Kid's too scared to get angry."

"Scared of what?" She asked quietly.

"His dad. Himself. Everyone and everything around him." Derek listed off easily.

Amber shook her head and took a small step back, "His dad's that bad?" She asked softly, "You really aren't sure if Isaac will be dead in the next couple of days.. Because of his dad?"

Derek nodded.

"Okay.." She sighed, shaking her hands out at her sides, "Okay, we can figure this out-"

"We don't need to figure anything out," He interrupted, "You don't want to be a part of the pack and I don't need your help."

"You don't need my-?" She stammered, "Wh- Of course you need my help."

Derek's eyes narrowed, "I don't need any help controlling my pack. Especially not from a sixteen year old little girl."

"I- You came to me." She pointed out.

There was a moment of silence before he responded, "Yeah. Clearly that was a mistake."

He turned to leave and she followed after him in distress, "Wh- Derek don't be like that-"

"You want to stay human. That's fine." He told her without looking back, "But if you stay human, then stay out of things."

She opened her mouth to respond but he was already gone.

Amber got to the school on Tuesday morning early with the intent of getting the fliers printed out and distributed between the teachers before the start of first period at eight o'clock. She was surprised when she climbed out of her car at six forty-five to see Stiles and Scott tumbling out of the Jeep and heading toward the building already.

"Hey!" She called out, jogging to catch up with them as they walked up the path to the school, "Guys, wait up!"

Scott and Stiles both turned to her in confusion.

"What are you doing here so early?" Stiles asked curiously.

"I'm printing out the fliers for the search party tonight and then I was gonna work on my World History project in the Library until English." She explained, shivering when the breeze blew across her bare legs beneath the thick woven fabric of her sweater dress, "Do you guys have a morning practice or something?"

They both nodded.

"Every day this week." Scott told her.

She looked over at Stiles and watched him readjust his backpack over his shoulder awkwardly.

Amber's posture slumped as she regarded him, "Uh, what- What were you guys talking about?"

"Lydia." Scott supplied easily, flinching when Stiles elbowed him in the side aggressively.

"Why?" She asked quickly, "What happened now?"

Stiles shook his head with a sigh, "We think she raided a casket at the graveyard at like three o'clock this morning."

"'Raided a casket'?" She repeated, "What does that mean? What would she want from a dead person?"

"Apparently their liver." Stiles supplied.

"What?" Amber squeaked in surprise. "What would she do with a liver?"

"Eat it." Scott said with a disgusted wince.

"I never said she ate it. I just said that's what was missing." Stiles disagreed, wrapping an arm around Amber's shoulders over her backpack straps as he started walking toward the school building again, "And y'know what? Even if she did, so what? It's the most nutritious part of the body."

Amber gagged at the thought.

"I never ate anyone's liver." Scott pointed out.

Amber scoffed, "Yeah, because when it comes to werewolves, you're a real model of self-control." She said sarcastically.

"Actually, wait." Stiles stopped walking suddenly, his arm tightening around Amber's shoulder as he looked over at Scott, "Hold on. You're the test case for this," Stiles told Scott, "So, we should be going over what happened to you."

"What d'you mean?" Scott asked in confusion.

"I mean, like, what was going through your mind when you were turning, y'know? What were you drawn to?" Stiles asked.

Scott shrugged, "Allison."

Amber rolled her eyes with a deep sigh as she let her head fall back to rest over Stiles' arm, reaching up to fist her hand in the soft material of the heavy brown flannel he was wearing.

"God. Nothing else?" She asked Scott, "Seriously?"

Scott shrugged at his best friends, "Nothing else mattered. But- No. That's good though, right?" He asked, looking between them slowly, "'Cause the night that Lydia was bit, she was with the two of you."

Stiles sighed, his fingers gripping Amber's shoulder tight, "Yeah, but.. She was looking for Jackson."

They all frowned in thought and after a few moments, Amber reached up to pull Stiles' arm from around her back.

"Alright. We'll talk more about this later," She told them both, "But I need to go print off a bunch of sign-up sheets and you guys need to go get changed for practice."

Scott nodded and took a step toward the side entrance near the locker rooms, pausing in confusion and looking back at them when Stiles didn't immediately follow behind him.

"I'll be right there." Stiles promised, making a face at Scott over Amber's shoulder that she couldn't decipher the meaning of.

"Alright, dude." Scott agreed with a quiet laugh, "See you in there."

"What was that about?" Amber asked as she turned her head to watch Scott walk inside alone.

Her gaze drifted back over to Stiles and he had his lips pulled together nervously, his hand gripping the strap of his backpack tight, "I, uh, I wanted to say goodbye. Y'know, privately."

"Goodbye?" She chuckled, "I'm gonna see you in like an hour in English. I sit right in front of you, remember? Just like I have all year.. And, what-? Privately?"

"Nevermind."

Stiles huffed in annoyance and his gaze dropped to the sidewalk under their feet for a moment before he took a step to follow after Scott.

"Ohh.. Oh!" She realized suddenly, reaching out to grab his arm, "No, no! Wait, I'm sorry. You meant like-" She swallowed, continuing more quietly, "Like, a romantic goodbye?"

He shrugged, "Yeah."

She smiled at how cute he was, standing in front of her, looking adorably nervous. She bit down on her lower lip in an attempt to hide how ridiculously giddy she felt at having his thoughts focussed on her romantically.

"Okay." She told him softly.

"Okay?" He repeated.

"Okay. I'd like my romantic goodbye, now." She grinned.

"Oh, I- Okay." He said nervously, looking at the other students loitering around them for a moment before his eyes went back to her.

He took a small step closer, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear as he leaned in painfully slow and she lifted onto her toes, gripping the loose lapels of his flannel between her fingers as she met his lips halfway.

She got lost in the feeling of his mouth on hers after a moment and when he parted his lips slightly on one of his slow, soft, repetitive kisses, she tugged at his flannel and unconsciously licked her tongue into the small opening of his mouth to quickly brush against his.

His hand spread out over the side of her face and he guided her to tilt her head so that his own tongue could follow on the next deeper kiss. Her fingers tightened further around the thick fabric of his overshirt, head hazy and unable to focus on anything except the points of contact between them.

She reeled back, flinching in surprise, as someone wolf-whistled at them from a few feet away.

"Oops." Stiles said quietly, a small smile on his lips as he dropped his hand down over the top of her shoulder.

"You should go get changed for practice." She told him breathlessly, eyes still focussed on the soft shine their kiss had left over his lips.

"Yeah." He agreed, making no move to put any distance between them, continuing to look at her with a goofy grin on his face.

"I think that'll require going to the locker room and y'know.. Getting changed." She prompted gently.

He sighed dramatically in feigned annoyance, "Yeah, okay-" He pressed his lips to her cheekbone in a quick kiss and dashed off toward the school's side entrance.

Amber stood in place for a few seconds, stunned. She lifted her fingers to brush delicately over the place where his mouth had left a clumsy kiss over her cheek, biting down on her lip to contain her smile. She laughed quietly to herself before shaking her head and walking down the path toward the main entrance of the building.

Once she was inside, she headed into the Library to print off several copies of the sign-up fliers she'd drafted the night before.

With a large stack of the fliers printed and ready, she pulled out a notebook and settled into one of the tables to jot down bits and pieces of information she needed to finish her project for World History. She worked on her assignment for just under an hour before she hurriedly put away the books she'd been using and packed her things back up, dashing out of the Library with the stack of sign-up sheets in her hands.

She rushed around to all of the classrooms to get a copy on each teacher's desk before taking off in the direction of the boy's locker room, hoping to catch Coach Finstock before he let the boys shower and get changed for classes.

She was nearly there when she spotted the back of Isaac Lahey's tall frame, still wearing his jersey from their morning practice and carrying his lacrosse bag over his shoulder, clearly the last one to come back inside from the field.

"Isaac!" She called, running up behind him.

The boy flinched at the volume of her voice and turned to face her in surprise. She frowned when her gaze caught on the dark purpling bruise over his left eye and her steps faltered momentarily before she regained her focus.

"Hi, Isaac." She greeted with what she hoped was a reassuring smile, fighting the urge to look at his injured eye.

"Um, hi." He said slowly, looking around as if he was unsure why she was speaking to him.

"What's up?" She asked casually.

"Uh," He slowed his steps to match her shorter stride and readjusted his bag over his shoulder, "I'm heading to the locker room. Lacrosse team had a morning practice."

"Yeah, me too!" She told him. Isaac looked at her in confusion and she continued, "I mean, not 'me too' like I had morning practice too. I'm just heading to the locker room. Gotta give this flier to Finstock." She supplied, waving the paper in her hands in show.

"Okay." He said slowly.

"I, um, I also wanted to talk to you." She said carefully.

"What about?" Isaac asked in confusion.

"I, um-" She paused, "I know Derek. Derek Hale."

Isaac's eyes widened and he looked around them quickly before his eyes drifted over her in scrutiny, "Are- Are you-?"

"No," She told him quickly, "But I know that Derek offered to-"

"I, uh, I should get in there. Gotta get changed or I'll end up being late for first period." Isaac interrupted, pushing the locker room door open and slipping inside before she could respond.

She looked at the empty space where he'd been standing a moment before and sighed before cautiously going through the door after him. She made her way through the changing room toward Coach Finstock's office at the back, where she handed him the flier as she explained the plan she'd gone over with the principal and Stiles' dad the day before.

He yanked the paper from her hands and stepped out of his office, "I have an announcement!" He yelled, pulling the attention of the teenage boys around him, "Gather 'round! Quicker!"

Coach nodded for her to step up beside him as the team slowly made their way to huddle in the area in front of his office. The teacher held his hand up to block her eyes for a moment and she blinked in surprise at the fingers in front of her face.

"Danny, put a shirt on." Coach berated quickly before dropping his hand, "Let's go! Gather 'round." He repeated, waiting until the boys in front of him gave him their full attention urging Amber to speak.

"Um, right." She said awkwardly, looking around at the lacrosse team, "So, the police are asking for help on a missing child advisory.. It's a, um, a sick girl roaming around.. It's my friend Lydia-"

"She's totally naked." Coach Finstock interrupted.

There was a small round of chuckles among the team members and someone at the back of the group whistled. Amber glared as she looked over the group of boys in front of her, meeting Stiles' gaze where he was giving her a reassuring smile as Coach continued.

"Now, it's supposed to get down to forty degrees tonight. I don't know about you, but the last time it was that cold and I was running around naked, I lost a testicle to exposure." He paused, seemingly lost in thought, and Amber frowned and reached up to give their teacher an awkward pat on his shoulder. He shook his head and the action seemed to refocus him quickly, "Now, I don't want the same thing happening to some innocent girl. So, police are organizing search parties for tonight."

He held up the flier in his hand and made a show of taping it to the outside of his office door.

"You sign up-" He told the group, "And you get an automatic 'A' in my classes."

The team cheered excitedly and rushed toward the sign up sheet, pushed past Amber and Coach Finstock as they hurried to write their names on the piece of paper.

She moved through the crowd of boys to look for Stiles and Scott and found them at the back of the room talking quietly. She brushed her hand over the back of Stiles' practice jersey as she stepped up beside them.

"What's up?" She asked curiously.

"We're gonna ask for Jackson's help finding Lydia," Scott told her quietly, peering behind himself at where Jackson was standing a few feet away, "If she's drawn to him, then maybe-"

"Jackson!" Amber called immediately, stepping around Scott and heading toward the other boy as her best friends both made quiet noises of dissent behind her. Jackson scowled at her as she approached and she continued toward him with a sharp look, "You're going to help us find Lydia." She told him.

"That- That's not exactly how we were planning on proposing the idea-" Stiles said quietly, stepping up behind her and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Jackson looked between the three of them with an unimpressed frown, "If Lydia wants to take a naked hike in the woods, why should I care?"

"Because a normal human being with feelings would be worried about her." She said sharply.

"-Also, because we have a pretty good idea that she might be-" Scott paused, looking around them cautiously before finishing in a quiet voice, "Y'know.. Turning."

"Turning?" Jackson repeated blankly.

"Yeah, turning." Scott replied slowly.

Jackson looked between the three of them again in confusion, "Into-?"

"A unicorn." Stiles snapped sarcastically after a moment of silence, "What do you think, dumbass?"

"Well, I think if Lydia's turning, she's not the one who's gonna need help." Jackson told them.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Amber asked, annoyed with his vagueness.

Jackson sighed, "You've got it all backwards. When I was with Lydia, you should've seen the scratch marks she left on me." He said with a smug grin, "What do you think she's gonna do with a set of real claws?" He laughed at the stunned look on their faces quietly and pushed past them.

Amber to a step to follow after him, angry at the derogatory comment within the implication, but Scott and Stiles both pulled her back with hands on her arms. She turned to face her best friends with a dark look still clouding her features.

"Y'know, for the record, he's completely full of shit because I know for a fact he isn't even that good in bed-" She revealed quietly. Stiles and Scott both looked at her in shock and she shook her head, "Not- Gross, not like that. Just- Girls talk about those things, so y'know-"

"They do?" Scott and Stiles both asked, sounding equal parts nervous.

"Yeah?" She told them in confusion.

"Girls.. They talk to each other about, like-" Scott stammered with wide eyes, "Whether it was good, or- Or average, or terrible, or whatever?"

She shrugged, "Yeah.. Do guys not do that?"

They both shook their heads and Scott spoke in a hushed voice, "It's more just like, 'hey, dude, I had sex', y'know? It's.. We don't really go into detail."

"Huh." Amber said as she processed the information. Her mind flashed with the in depth analyses Lydia had given her over the last seven months of her and Jackson's different sexual encounters, "Yeah.. Girls definitely go into detail."

"That's.. Terrifying." Stiles stated.

Scott nodded in agreement and they settled into a small lapse of silence as all three of them processed the new information they'd been given.

When third period rolled around, Amber entered the Chemistry classroom and moved toward the empty space beside Stiles, leaning down to press an enthusiastic kiss to the back of his head as she passed by. She dropped her books down on the table and settled onto the stool beside the window, turning her head to look at the boy beside her.

Stiles had a barely-there flush on his cheeks and he was already looking over at her with a dopey grin, his left cheek dimpling cutely.

"Hi." She greeted quietly.

"Hey." He replied.

"You guys are disgusting." Scott's voice announced from the table in front of them.

They both flinched in surprise and turned their heads to look at Scott.

Amber recovered quickly and leaned onto her elbows on the table, "Thanks." She grinned at Scott.

He shook his head with a small smile, "It wasn't a compliment."

She pulled out a pencil and her smile faded into a frown as Mr. Harris stood from his desk at the front of the room with a stack of papers just as the final bell rang out in the hallway.

"Alright." Mr. Harris said loudly, dropping small stacks of paper onto the tables at the front of the room, "You're going to do a pop quiz on chapters seven and eight so that I can monitor just how little you all are truly retaining." He told the class, looking around the room with a blank stare as everyone groaned quietly, "Once you have a quiz, you may begin."

Amber frowned as the papers were passed back slowly. Scott turned around to drop the quizzes on her and Stiles' table and he gave them a wide-eyed look of panic at the surprise assessment.

"You've got this, Scott." She whispered reassuringly, tapping her pencil eraser rhythmically on the tabletop as she lied.

He nodded at her with a quiet sigh and turned back around.

When she reached over to grab a paper from the stack, her gaze caught Stiles' and he raised his eyebrows in reference to the admittedly unrealistic comment of reassurance she'd made to Scott. She pouted at him with a small shrug before pointedly turning her attention to the quiz on the table in front of her.

She was halfway through the questions on the paper when Stiles leaned forward onto his elbows over the table to whisper between her and Scott.

"Alright, it's causing me severe mental anguish to say this, but.. I think Jackson's right." He told them quietly, his mind evidently on Lydia instead of Chemistry.

"I know." Scott responded in a hushed voice, angling his head back toward them slightly as he spoke.

"What if the next body part she steals is from someone who's still alive?" Stiles whispered again.

Amber's stomach clenched painfully at the thought, but it faded quick when Mr. Harris' sharp voice filled the quiet room and made her flinch in surprise.

"This is a pop quiz, Mr. Stilinski." Their teacher said, glaring toward the back of the room over the brim of his small glasses, "If I hear your voice again, I might be tempted to give you detention for the rest of your high school career."

"Can you do that?" Stiles questioned immediately with wide eyes.

Amber reached out under the table to wrap her hand around his knee that was jutting toward her, squeezing in a silent plea for him to keep quiet.

"There it is again. Your voice-" Mr. Harris said with an irritated scowl, "Triggering the only impulse I've ever had to strike a student.. Repeatedly. And violently."

Amber bit down painfully on her lip in an effort to remain silent as Stiles' jaw dropped in disbelief beside her.

"I'll see you at three for detention." Mr. Harris stated, eyes drifting over to where Amber's face was pinched in frustration beside Stiles, "You too, Miss Callisto?"

She shook her head as she continued to bite down on her lower lip and Mr. Harris nodded in support of her decision to remain silent before he turned his attention back down to something on the desk in front of him.

She huffed a quiet breath of frustration through her nose and squeezed Stiles' knee reassuringly one final time before returning to her quiz.

"Dude.. Your nose." She heard Danny whisper from behind them after only a few seconds had passed, "You okay?"

She turned her head curiously to peer back toward Danny's table, watching as Jackson lifted a hand up to his face to cover what appeared to be a bad bloody nose. The boy pushed up from his chair quickly and rushed from the classroom and Amber watched him go with a small frown before shaking her head and turning her attention back to her quiz yet again.

At the end of the school day, Amber stood at her locker, clumsily stuffing her books into the backpack she had clenched between her knees as she hurriedly tried to collect her things. The sooner she got out into the woods to look for Lydia, the sooner she could actually find her friend.

And she wanted to find Lydia.. Like, yesterday.

"Here, let me help-" A voice said from just behind the door of her locker.

Her eyes snapped up in surprise and she watched the boy who had a locker three doors down from hers approach her. They'd never spoken, but he was on the lacrosse team and currently had his hand held out in an offering to take her bag. She hesitated in surprise for a moment and he gave her a friendly smile, raising his eyebrows in question as he reached toward her bag cautiously.

"Oh," She jumped, pulling the bag from between her legs and handing it over, "Thanks, Matt."

"No problem," He smiled, "You looked like you were struggling."

She laughed quietly and pulled a few notebooks she needed from her locker, "I was, actually. It's a lot easier when I'm wearing jeans and I can just squat down or prop my bag up on my knee or whatever."

He held her backpack open for her when she turned to tuck the notebooks inside and she heard him take a small nervous breath, "That.. That's a really nice dress." He complimented quietly, nodding his head in a gesture to her outfit.

"Oh," She blinked in surprise as she closed her locker, "I- Thanks." Her eyes caught on the large expensive looking wide-lens camera hanging around his neck as she turned and zipped her bag closed, "That's a nice camera. Are you a photographer for the paper, or yearbook, or something?"

Matt shook his head, relinquishing the bag to her as he responded, "Nah, I just take pictures for pleasure. It's more of a hobby than anything else."

"Oh, that's cool. Are you any good?" She commented conversationally, "Or- Is that a really annoying question?" She laughed, pulling her backpack straps over her shoulders.

Matt looked pleased, his posture seeming to straighten up a little at her curiosity, "Yeah, I think I'm alright." He smiled, "Maybe- Maybe I could show you some of my stuff sometime?"

"Yeah, sure. Sounds cool." She agreed, taking a small step to the side and pointing down the hallway, "I actually really need to get going, but- It was nice talking to you."

"Oh, yeah," Matt grinned, "You too."

She gave him another small smile before she moved toward the front entrance of the school. She needed to find Lydia before something terrible inevitably happened.

Amber hiked through the woods for nearly three and a half hours with absolutely no sign of Lydia. By nightfall, the temperature had already dropped significantly and she huffed out a foggy breath into the air as she finally clicked on her flashlight.

As the evening grew colder, she found herself feeling like an idiot for wearing a dress, even if it was a thick knit sweater that normally left her feeling a touch too warm, because while her torso was a comfortable temperature, her bare legs were covered in goosebumps.

She continued hiking in the dark for another thirty minutes before she heard a twig snap quietly in the distance. Her heart stuttered in her chest nervously and she took a shaky breath before making the decision to call out for her friend.

"Lydia?" She asked cautiously, continuing through the trees and shining her flashlight out into the darkness.

The beam of light caught on something pale white behind a tree and she took a few more quick steps forward to get a better look. The glow from the flashlight illuminated Lydia's naked body and Amber stumbled, scraping her knee roughly on the bark of the tree as she hurriedly ran toward her friend.

"Lydia!" Amber cried out in relief, watching the redhead take a small step over a rock with her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

Amber dropped her flashlight to the ground as she stepped in front of her friend and reached up to grip Lydia's arms. Amber looked into her friend's empty distant gaze and she tightened her hands around the other girl's cold arms.

"Lydia?" She asked softly, reaching up gently to move a knotted lock of her strawberry blonde hair out of her face, "You're okay. I'm gonna get you home, okay, Lyds?"

Lydia's eyes locked on hers for a second and the redhead nodded distractedly.

"Okay." Amber said softly in relief. Her hand on Lydia's arm tightened over her icy skin and Amber's heart stuttered anxiously, "Okay, we- We'll need to warm you up slowly, right?" She asked quietly, not really expecting an answer.

She quickly dropped her hands from Lydia to pull off her dress, stripping down to her underwear without a second thought. Amber righted the thick knitted material now in her hands and slowly reached up to tug the fabric down over Lydia's head, untangling her friends arms slowly from where they were hugging her own chest to help guide her hands through the thick sleeves.

Lydia's body shivered at the sudden warmth enveloping her and Amber rubbed her hands up and down Lydia's arms worriedly.

"Is that a little better?" Amber asked quickly, "A little warmer?"

Lydia nodded minutely again and Amber looked down at her friend's bare feet nervously. Without hesitation, she pulled off her socks and sneakers, kneeling down in the dirt to help Lydia slide them both onto her freezing feet.

After she was done, Amber retrieved her abandoned flashlight from the ground and stood back up. She looked Lydia over and nodded to herself once she determined that she'd done the best she could until they made it out of the preserve.

She held out her hand toward her friend and Lydia looked at with a hollow gaze it for a few slow seconds before lacing their fingers together. Amber tightened her grip around Lydia's cold hand and pulled on her arm gently to lead her back toward the path she'd been following earlier.

As they walked, Amber's whole body erupted into goosebumps, dressed now in only the thin dark lace of her bra and underwear. She led Lydia as quickly as she could manage while still being careful not to rush her fragile-looking friend.

"Lydia, you have no idea how glad I am that you're okay," Amber admitted quietly as they walked, "We've been looking for you for days, you know. I was so worried that-" Her words cut off just before she could bring up the hunters who were also searching for her, "Just- I was really worried about you."

Lydia remained silent again but her fingers tightened a fraction around Amber's hand and that was as good of a response as anything she could've verbalized.

Amber's teeth were beginning to chatter and her toes were going numb as the cold earth seeped into her feet with every step. The numbness in her toes began to make it confusingly difficult to watch her step over twigs, and rocks, and tree roots when she couldn't even feel them beneath her.

They were only halfway down toward the trail entrance when she caught sight of flashing emergency lights through the trees and she made a quick decision to pull Lydia off of the path to head in that direction instead.

As they got closer, she could make out the different colors flashing of both an ambulance and a police vehicle. She reached out to move a large branch that was obstructing their path to the road. She clicked off her flashlight as she pulled the branch to the side, releasing Lydia's hand and urging her to go ahead of her through the narrow treeline.

"Lydia?" A voice said quietly as the redhead exited the woods and stepped out into the open, "Lydia!"

It was only when she heard his shout that Amber realized it was Stiles' voice. She stepped out from behind Lydia and continued to urge her friend forward. Her gaze lifted up to find Stiles and his dad standing a few yards away, staring at the two girls in astonishment.

Amber shivered violently and Lydia seemed to catch sight of it in the corner of her eye. The redhead blinked as she seemed to finally come back to herself and looked at the two Stilinski's with an unimpressed frown.

"Well?" Lydia asked, holding an arm out to gesture toward her friend's nearly naked body, "Is anyone gonna to get her a coat?"

Amber laughed quietly at her friend's typical snark but it came out as more of a trembling gasp as her body shuddered from the cold. Her eyes found Stiles but he was seemingly focused on her distinct lack of clothing, staring with his mouth open in awe.

He wasn't able to meet her gaze, struck dumb as his eyes drank in every blissful inch of bare skin on her shivering body. The only remaining thought in his head was dedicated to memorizing each and every curve adorning her nearly naked body. Until this very moment, the sight was one that he'd only ever been graced with in swimsuits — that, while perfect and incredible and had worked as fuel for many of Stiles' late night fantasies — couldn't possibly hold a candle to the thin lace weakly attempting to conceal her goosebump-ridden skin now.

His eyes found the unlined cups of her bra, the painfully hard buds poking through the material in the cold air and practically begging to break free, the dark lace pulled tight over the curves of her breasts.

He's nearly high with the static in his brain, blood rapidly rushing south and rendering him mildly dizzy as he reached up to grab ahold of the Sheriff's uniform jacket, pulling distractedly at the shoulder as he tugged the material down his dad's back without tearing his hungry eyes from what might very well be the most important thing he'd ever set sight on.

He yanked at the coat while stepping toward the two girls, head spinning and managing to trip over his own feet, hands slipping from the fabric when he fell and was forced to try to catch himself before he could hit the ground.

"Jesus." Sheriff Stilinski muttered, shaking his head at his son and stepping around the fallen boy to approach the girls, "Yep, here y'go." He said, pulling his coat off the rest of the way and draping it around Amber's shoulders.

She gasped a shaky breath at the warmth inside of the heavy jacket and couldn't help but shiver again.

The Sheriff's gaze drifted over the other deputies surrounding them and his eyes narrowed at the way they were blatantly staring. He turned back toward Amber and stepped in front of her protectively, instructing her to slide her arms through the sleeves and then tugging the coat closed around her. He zipped it up to the girl's neck before he stepped back and allowed his son to approach.

The Sheriff led Lydia away toward the ambulance that was already present while Stiles stumbled to stand in front of Amber.

"I found her." She stated obviously, shivering again.

Stiles nodded, eyes dropping to the long expanse of her bare legs beneath his dad's jacket before he dragged his gaze back up to her face.

"Did- did you just check me out?" She laughed quietly, "Because it wasn't subtle, like, at all."

"I- you're in your underwear." He observed, licking his lips nervously.

"Lydia was in the nude." She countered easily, "It was a pretty easy decision."

"Right." He nodded, blinking at her distractedly like he wasn't really seeing her.

"You're still just picturing me in my underwear?" She questioned slowly.

"Yeah." He told her honestly.

She shook her head with a fond smile, stepping forward to wrap her arms around his neck. She burrowed her cold nose into the warmth of his neck and sighed contentedly against his skin.

"I can't feel my toes." She admitted in a muffled voice against the collar of his flannel.

He reached up to rest his hands on her back, "Where's your car?"

"At the bottom of the trail on route 5." She told him as the tip of her nose began to warm back to a normal temperature.

"I'll give you a ride." He told her immediately, rubbing one of his hands up and down her spine as if he were trying to rub some warmth into her body.

She nodded against his neck before pulling back slightly in his arms. Her eyes flicked slowly over his face and she was pleasantly surprised when he tilted his head to press his lips against her cold mouth.

When he pulled back, she sighed happily as her eyes fluttered open again, "Lemme just go say goodbye to Lydia real quick."

Stiles agreed and jogged down the road to where he'd hidden his own vehicle when he and Scott had snuck onto the scene earlier.

She turned to the other side of the street and stepped around the side of the ambulance, her gaze locked on Sheriff Stilinski standing beside his patrol car. He waved her over and she followed his command easily, stepping past the ambulance and walking toward where Lydia was sitting in the open door of the police vehicle.

A paramedic was shining a small penlight into the redhead's eyes as he checked the dilation of her pupils, he apparently approved of whatever he saw because he tucked the light away and stepped back from the vehicle. The man nodded his head and said something quietly to the Sheriff as Amber stepped into space he'd vacated at the side of the car.

"Hey, Lyds." She said softly, squatting down in front of her friend, "You okay?"

Lydia huffed and pulled at the hem of her borrowed sweater, "You don't need to speak to me like I'm a child."

"Sorry." She apologized quickly, "I didn't mean to. I just.. I was really worried about you."

"I'm fine now." Lydia told her simply, still looking down at her own lap.

Amber reached up to tuck a strand of tangled strawberry blonde hair behind her ear, "You don't have to say that to try to appease me." She told her, "I want you to be okay, but if you're not, that's alright, y'know?"

Lydia sighed and locked her eyes with Amber's determinedly, "I'm fine."

She frowned but nodded, "Okay.. I just, I came over to tell you Stiles is driving me back to where I left my car down the road."

"Okay." Lydia shrugged, "You don't need my permission to run off with your boytoy."

"Gross. My boytoy?" Amber laughed quietly.

Lydia cracked a smile and rolled her eyes, "Yep."

Amber shook her head, "Okay, well.. D'you mind if I swing by to see you after school tomorrow?"

Lydia frowned in confusion, "I'll be at school tomorrow." She stated.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Amber questioned worriedly.

"What did I say about speaking to me like I'm a child?" Lydia huffed quietly in annoyance.

"I- Sorry, I just- That seems so soon after.. Everything."

"I am going to school tomorrow." Lydia repeated sternly.

"Alright." Amber sighed, rising to stand, "Then I'll see you tomorrow. Do- Do you maybe want a ride in the morning?"

Lydia pulled her lips back in thought, "Sure, that would be nice."

Amber nodded before leaning into the car to wrap her arms tightly around Lydia's shoulders, pressing her mouth against the mess of her hair in a soft kiss, "I'm so glad you're okay." She repeated softly one final time.

When she leaned back out of the doorway, her throat felt stupidly tight with affection and relief but she managed to give Lydia a pained smile anyway.

Lydia returned her smile softly when she saw the influx of emotion on her friend's face, "See you tomorrow."

Amber nodded, focusing intently on not sniffling before she spoke, "See you." She said quickly before turning to rush over toward Stiles.

When the Jeep pulled up along the road, Amber climbed into the passenger side quickly, immediately pulling her legs up to her chest inside of the heavy jacket she was wearing.

"I've literally never been this cold." She muttered as she reached to buckle her seat belt around her legs awkwardly.

"Yeah, that can happen if you're hiking through the woods naked when it's thirty-eight degrees outside." Stiles told her, glancing over at her worriedly as he drove down the road.

"Right, yeah. That makes sense." She laughed, bending to blow a puff of warm breath into the opening of the jacket around her chest.

"I- Is your brother home tonight?" He asked after a moment.

She looked across the dark car at him as her brows furrowed, "No.. Why?" She asked skeptically.

"I just- I don't really want to leave you alone." He admitted softly.

"I'm cold, Stiles. I'm not concussed." She laughed quietly. There were a few short seconds of silence before she continued, "I really wanna use my own shower, but if you- I mean, you don't need to try and convince me. If you wanna stay the night, you can."

Stiles let out what looked like a relieved breath and she laughed quietly again as he turned into the small dirt turnoff where her little yellow Pacer was parked.

"Did you think I wouldn't let you sleep over?" She questioned curiously.

He shrugged, "I mean- I don't know. Maybe."

She frowned, "We sleep over at each other's houses all the time."

"I didn't know if maybe it would be, I don't know- Different.. Now." He admitted quietly.

Her frown deepened, "I- D'you think it should?" She asked, "Should it be different now that we're-"

"No." Stiles said quickly, "I mean, I don't want it to be different. Well, I want it to be different, what with the kissing and- Y'know. But I don't want the other stuff to be different."

She sighed in relief, "Good. I- Same." She agreed, "Because, I mean, no matter what, you and Scott will always be my best friends in the world."

"Same." He repeated easily.

"Okay." She nodded, straightening her legs back out from beneath the jacket and unbuckling her seatbelt. "So, I'll meet you at my place then? D'you just need to run home to get your stuff?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Lacrosse practice at seven again." He reminded her, "But I shouldn't be long, maybe fifteen minutes."

"Okay, cool." She smiled, "I'll see you then."

She turned to reach for the door handle but Stiles leaned across the vehicle and turned her face back toward him gently with a hand on her cheek. She made a quiet noise of surprise but before she could really question his intentions, his mouth was pressed softly against hers.

He leaned back quickly and nodded his head toward the door behind her with a small smile, permitting her to leave now that he'd given her a kiss goodbye.

"See you." Stiles finally responded softly.

Her stomach erupted with butterflies and she bit down on a smile as she pulled on the door handle that was still under her hand.

When she climbed into the shower ten minutes later, Amber had to actively fight against the instinct to climb in underneath a spray of scalding hot water. Instead, she turned the water to a sad lukewarm temperature that still managed to feel blessedly warm when it ran over her frozen skin.

She cleaned her hair and body while the water slowly raised her body temperature and only after she'd scrubbed away any remnants of the forest and shaved her legs, did she finally let herself crank the temperature up.

The spray of water began to steam around her and the heat caused her body to erupt into pleasant goosebumps from the shock of it. She tipped her head back under the spray, letting the hot stream of water run down over her face as she blew out a relieved breath.

There was a sudden, loud knocking at the bathroom door and she flinched with a gasp, knocking her elbow painfully against the tiled shower wall as she heard Stiles' voice from the hallway.

"Hey, I'm here." He called out through the closed door.

She spit out a small bit of water that had gotten into her mouth and reached to shut off the water, "Okay, sorry! I'll be out in a minute!"

Stiles gave her his assent before presumably leaving to head toward the bedroom while she climbed out of the shower and pulled on a pair of pajama shorts and a short-cropped tshirt.

When she stepped into her bedroom, Stiles was already changed into sweats, laying on his stomach on the bed and doing homework. She moved to her own backpack to pull out her phone, her Algebra II notebook, and calculator before flopping down onto the mattress beside him.

"What're you working on?" She asked curiously, leaning close and peering over his shoulder to look at the page in front of him, instantly recognizing the Chemistry problems that she'd already finished in class that morning.

"Chem." He supplied distractedly as his pencil moved across the paper.

She flipped open her own notebook and finished up the math problems her AP class had been assigned, gnawing absentmindedly on her lower lip as she worked. It took her about thirty minutes to finish her assignment and she flipped her notebook closed once she was done, turning her head to look at Stiles and finding his gaze already focused on her.

A small smile pulled at her lips, "Wh-"

He leaned in and cut off her words with a kiss.

The way his lips pressed against hers was more firm and intentional than the last several quick kisses they'd shared. She found herself leaning in enthusiastically as his mouth moved against hers, her arms readjusting to support herself on the mattress as she chased his lips and pushed further into his space.

They were awkwardly meeting halfway while sprawled on their stomachs and Stiles moved up onto his knees without breaking the kiss, leaning over her until she rolled onto her back. He repositioned himself to kneel between her spread thighs and she dropped back onto the mattress beside her abandoned notebook.

As soon as they settled into the more comfortable position, she reached up to cup the side of his face, thumb rubbing along the smooth skin of his cheek. He tilted his head on the next open-mouthed kiss and his tongue slipped into the space between her lips to brush against hers smoothly.

Time moved in a blur. They kissed languidly for a long stint of time, tongues meeting sensually with each slow drag of their lips. Stiles hovered above her, his arms pressed into the mattress on either side of her with a palpable gap of space between their bodies.

She wanted to tug him down until he was pressed against her, but she worried that she wouldn't be able to make herself slow down once they'd made it that far. She felt painfully aware that the two of them had never even been on an official date and as much as she desperately wanted to go further with him, she wanted to do other things first.

There was a slight lightheadedness creeping into her brain from the length of time they'd been kissing without pause and she separated their mouths to pull in a much needed deep breath.

When she looked up at him, his eyes were fluttering open to meet hers and he leaned forward just enough to brush his nose tenderly against her own. Her thumb stroked over his cheek again and she looked between the warm brown pools of his eyes as she continued to catch her breath.

"We should probably go to sleep." She murmured quietly, the pull in her gut contrasting sharply with her words.

He nodded in response, his nose caressing hers again softly as he did so, "Okay."

"I don't want to," She told him honestly, "But we definitely should."

He nodded in agreement again and leaned down to press one more lingering kiss to her lips before rolling off of her all at once. She sat up on her elbows and watched him collect his books from the opposite side of the bed and stuff them into his backpack.

Her eyes caught on the unmistakable tent in the crotch of his sweatpants and she swallowed painfully, averting her eyes and collecting her own school supplies to put away.

Once she was finished, she pulled the blankets down the bed and crawled underneath, looking up at Stiles expectantly as she waited for him to climb in after her.

He moved across the room to flick off the light before he finally followed suit and slid under the blankets, settling onto his side on the mattress next to her.

She laid down beside him and situated herself in a position mirroring his own before scooting backwards to press her back against his front. He made a small noise of surprise and she let out a nervous breath.

"Sorry. Is this okay?" She asked quietly, "Like, cuddling or whatever?"

"Yeah," He said quickly, dropping his hand over her waist and tightening his arm to pull her back against him more firmly, "Yeah, cuddling's good."

She sighed in relief and tangled her fingers with his where they were resting over her stomach, her eyes drifting shut. A few minutes passed in silence and she was just on the brink of sleep when Stiles squirmed uncomfortably behind her. He let out a quiet huff of frustration and wiggled gently, readjusting his body while trying not to jostle her too much in the process.

"Stiles?" She asked sleepily, "You good?"

"Yeah." He froze in his movements, "Sorry."

She tipped her head back and tried to peer up at him in the dark, "Are you uncomfortable?" She asked obviously.

"No." He denied quickly, "Well, kind of- But it's not-"

She rolled over underneath his arm and propped herself up onto her elbow, squinting at him in the dark.

"How would you be comfortable laying?" She asked quietly after a moment.

"I'm not sure," He admitted, "I mean, I've never really-"

"No, that's not what I meant." She interrupted softly, "I mean, if we weren't touching at all, if you weren't worried about the snuggling part, what position would you be the most comfortable sleeping in? Right now?"

He was silent for a few seconds as he thought about her question, "Uh, maybe.. Maybe on my back?"

"So, lay on your back."

He shuffled around in the dark and flopped onto his back, holding himself stiffly in position.

She snorted, "Yeah you look very comfortable."

Stiles huffed in frustration, "Well, I don't- I don't know. I just, I don't know what to do with my arm if you're here. Do I- Does it go underneath you? Or, it'll fall asleep, right? And I can't imagine it would be comfortable for you-"

"Stiles. You're thinking about this way too hard, okay?" She laughed quietly, "Pretend I'm not here. Just move around until you're comfortable."

She heard him let out another quiet sigh and he shifted around again underneath the blankets, bending his arm at the elbow to reach one hand up underneath his pillow. He wiggled around for a few seconds before the movement ceased.

"Okay," He said determinedly, "I'm comfortable."

"Okay," She repeated softly, "I'm gonna lay down too, but if it's not comfortable anymore, just tell me."

"Okay." He promised quietly.

She grabbed her pillow and moved it into the small space under his armpit to position it over his bent elbow. She scooted down the mattress slightly and rested her head on the pillow over his arm, stretching her own arm across his stomach and rolling onto her side. Her leg came up to drape over his thighs and she burrowed her face into his shoulder as she tightened her limbs around him slightly.

When he remained silent for a short stretch of time, she looked up at the side of his jaw again in the dark.

"Is this okay?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah." He admitted, turning his head to the side on his pillow and pressing his chin into the top of her hair, "Yeah, this is nice."

"Okay. Good." She laughed quietly and snuggled into his side, her thumb tracing along his ribs softly through his shirt, "Now, go to sleep."

c h a p t e r t w o

wolf moon pt.2

After tryouts, Amber said goodbye to Allison and Lydia before she made her way down the bleachers toward where Stiles and Scott were already talking, the boys putting away their lacrosse gear, shoving items into their respective duffle bags.

"Scott!" She called excitedly as she approached, throwing her arms around his bulky padding and giving him a squeeze, "That was insane!"

Scott shrugged with a grin.

"Yeah, Scott is a lacrosse God," Stiles' voice was filled with bitter sarcasm. His eyes narrowed at the way Amber was wrapped around their friend and jealousy caused him to sound significantly less excited than he had when he'd been loudly cheering Scott on during the practice, "And don't go giving him too much love, because now he wants us to hike back through the woods to find his inhaler."

"What?" She groaned and released Scott from her hold, "Don't you have a spare?"

"No," Scott said as they began walking back to the school so the two boys could shower and change in the locker rooms, "Which means we need to find it."

Amber reluctantly made her way into the parking lot while they went to get changed, unlocking Stiles' Jeep with the keys she still had in her possession. She slid into her usual spot at the center of the bench seat, avoiding the gear shift that jutted up from the floor between her knees.

When the two boys joined her at the vehicle a few minutes later, Stiles tossed their lacrosse gear into the back seat with Amber's backpack while Scott hooked his bicycle onto the back of the vehicle. Stiles moving to settle behind the wheel while Scott slid into the vacant passenger seat. Stiles shot Amber a small smile as he started the engine, pressing their thighs together.

Though the Jeep was always cramped when they rode together like this — with so much stuff shoved in the back that all three of them opted to squeeze together into the front — Amber secretly loved it. She positioned herself a few inches closer to Stiles on the bench seat, and the warmth of his thigh where it pressed against hers was heaven.

Normally, when Stiles drove, his right hand bounced back and forth restlessly between using the gear shift and having both of his hands on the steering wheel, but when Amber was sandwiched between them in the front, he always chose instead to rest his forearm over her leg, his fingers glued to the lever.

Amber reveled in the feeling.

Stiles parked the Jeep in the same spot as the night before and they all filed out, making their way to the tree line.

Amber was grateful for the daylight this time around. Walking made easier without the fear of tripping over something that she couldn't see, though she did find herself missing the warmth of Stiles' guiding hand at the bottom of her spine.

They reached a small stream and Scott stomped straight into it, plunging his feet into the ankle-deep cold water as he spoke, "I don't- I don't know what it was." He said, kicking up water as he splashed across.

Amber had paused when they reached the edge of the waterline, hesitating as she looked for a rock to step on while she crossed. Stiles came to a stop in front of her and he squatted down, jerking his head in a silent prompt for her to jump up onto his back.

"-It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball." Scott continued as Stiles piggy-backed Amber across the stream of water.

Amber squeezed Stiles' shoulder, roughly tilting his head to the left and planting a sloppy kiss in the short hair on the side of his head in thanks as she dropped back down to the ground.

"And that's not the only weird thing," Scott spoke again, "I-I can.. Hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things."

"Smell things?" Amber laughed, bumping her shoulder playfully against Scott's as she caught up to him.

"Smell things?" Stiles chuckled, "Like what?"

"Like-like the mint mojito gum in your pocket."

Scott turned to face Stiles and Amber as the former began to search the pockets of his jacket. Amber eyed the gray zip up he was wearing underneath his open jacket thoughtfully and she reached inside, her own hand digging into the left pocket of his sweatshirt.

"I don't even have any mint mojito-" Stiles cut off when Amber's hand re-emerged with a small stick of gum pinched between her fingers, his eyes squinted in disbelief. He grabbed it from Amber's hand, tucking it back into his pocket before speaking again, "So, all this started with a bite."

They began moving through the trees again as Scott worried, "What if it's like an infection, like, my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?"

"Then we should probably be at the hospital and not hiking through the stupid preserve." Amber muttered just loud enough for the both of them to hear her.

"You know what?" Stiles said, "I actually think I've heard of this. It's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?" Scott asked, coming to a stop with a dead expression.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called.. Lycanthropy." Stiles explained.

Amber snorted.

"What's that?" Scott asked, "Is it bad?"

"Oh yeah, it's the worst. But only once a month." Stiles supplied.

"Once a month?" Scott's face was filled with confusion.

Amber hated that she was finding entertainment in her friend's pain and she tried to hide her smile by turning her face into Stiles' shoulder.

"Mhm," Stiles hummed, hand coming up to rest on her back. Her face was still smooshed into his jacket as she tried to smother her laughter, "On the night of the full moon."

There were a few seconds of silence before Stiles howled like a dog quietly.

Scott shoved Stiles in the chest, causing both he and Amber to stumble back a few steps. Stiles laughed as they regained their footing, his arm coming up to rest over her shoulders as they followed after Scott.

"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling." Stiles announced defensively.

"Hey! There could be something seriously wrong with me!" Scott said in distress, looking at his friends with a worried frown.

"I know!" Stiles exclaimed, "You're a werewolf! Grr!"

Amber threw her head back and laughed, head falling into the crook of Stiles' arm and nearly losing her footing over a fallen branch in the process.

"Okay," Stiles finally acquiesced after a moment, "I'm obviously kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt down all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Friday's a full moon."

"Maybe it wasn't a wolf," Amber pondered, causing both boys to look at her curiously as they walked, "Maybe it was actually a vampire. Y'know? And heard a wolf howling because they were fighting over territory, like in Twilight and now, you're turning into a vampire.. Sans sparkles, obviously. Because that's stupid."

Stiles snorted in amusement next to her, squeezing her shoulder, but Scott looked unimpressed with the turn in conversation.

They finally slowed to a stop and Scott spun in a slow circle, looking at the ground around them in confusion.

"I-I-I could've sworn this was it. I saw the body. The deer came running. I dropped my inhaler."

Amber looked at the trees around them slowly, trying to find anything familiar about the spot where they were standing, but it looked exactly the same to her as the rest of the preserve.

"Maybe the killer moved the body." Stiles questioned with a shrug.

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks." Scott said, kneeling down to feel for it in the leaves.

Stiles suddenly jumped, smacking Scott in the shoulder to get his attention and tightening his arm nervously around Amber's shoulders.

The three teens looked up to see a guy with dark hair, wearing a leather jacket, standing fifty feet away and silently watching them with a stormy expression. Once their attention was focused on him, the stranger began stomping toward them through the leaves.

"What are you doing here? Huh?" He called out, the slight familiarity of his voice startling Amber, "This is private property." He focused on Amber as he repeated the words from the night before and suddenly, she recognized him.

"Uh, sorry, man. We didn't know." Stiles said nervously, stepping back a few inches and pulling Amber with him.

"Yeah, we were just looking for something but-" Scott paused when the stranger raised his eyebrows, unimpressed by the excuse, "Uh, forget it."

The boy in the leather jacket pulled something from his pocket and tossed it straight into Scott's hand, they all looked down to see the inhaler they'd come for.

"How's your head?" The stranger asked in a gentler voice, looking straight at Amber where she was still tucked tightly underneath Stiles' arm.

"Yeah, good, all good." She smiled at him, "Thank you. Seriously."

He nodded silently, glaring between the two boys once more before he turned and stalked back off into the distance without another word.

Amber tore her eyes from his retreating form to look up at Stiles beside her. His mouth was hanging open in disbelief as he squinted at the boy in the distance in both shock and confusion.

"Aright," Scott broke the silence, "C'mon, I gotta get to work."

"Dude!" Stiles squeaked, releasing Amber and stepping back to look at her incredulously, "That was Derek Hale! Why is Derek Hale worried about your head?"

"I passed out for a few minutes after Scott got bit. He woke me up to see if I was okay and he helped me back out to the main road."

"He-"

Scott interrupted whatever Stiles was going to say, "Who's Derek Hale?"

"I-," Stiles paused, not wanting to change the direction of the conversation but giving in, "He's only like a few years older than us. Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?" Amber asked.

"His family. They all burned to death in a fire, like, ten years ago."

Amber gasped quietly. She did remember.

"Stiles, it was six years ago. We were in fifth grade. Don't you remember Cora? She was a year behind us?" She questioned sadly, remembering the little girl who had passed away.

They'd had an assembly in the elementary school gymnasium the following week on fire safety. To say it had been morbid would be an understatement.

Amber still remembered Jason coming home from school, seventeen and heartbroken for the Sophomore on his basketball team whose whole family had died in a house fire. He'd decided that night on his career path of becoming a firefighter, hoping he could one day be a part of preventing such loss.

The three friends stood silently for a minute, all of them reeling at the influx of information to their brains.

"I wonder what he's doing back.." Scott thought aloud.

Stiles scoffed and shook his head, wordlessly grabbing a hold of Amber's wrist and pulling her along as he started walking in the direction they'd parked the Jeep, calling out to Scott over his shoulder.

"Come on."

When Scott climbed out of the Jeep at the animal clinic, Amber remained seated in the center of the vehicle and prayed Stiles wouldn't mention the now-vacant passenger seat. When she remained in place after a moment, he returned his hand to the gear shift and backed out of the parking spot.

They were only just pulling out of the lot and back onto the road when Stiles' resolve seemed to crack, forcing out the words that had been eating at him for the past twenty minutes.

"So, Derek Hale, huh? What's up with that?" He questioned innocently, eyes flicking over to look at her before they returned to the road.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I-" Stiles spluttered, looking at her with his mouth agape before starting again, "I mean what's up with you being approached by a strange man alone in the woods and just.. Not mentioning it?"

"I'd hardly say he's a man," Amber started, skirting the question, "I mean, what is he? Twenty-one? Up until a few months ago the only thing he could do that we can't is, like, vote."

Stiles' turned his head away from the road for only a moment to look at her, his eye twitching in irritation and disbelief.

"Okay, okay!" She continued quickly, "Don't look at me like that, alright? I don't know. I don't know why I didn't say anything. I mean, yesterday was kind of mildly traumatic event after mildly traumatic event for me, and I guess a nice stranger checking to see if I'm dead and then making sure I didn't get lost in the woods, didn't exactly feel like one of them."

"Yeah, alright," Stiles said reluctantly, putting his hand on her left knee and squeezing for a second before his hand retreated, "But in the future could you just, for the love of god, let me know when creepy weirdos get you all alone?"

"Sure thing." Amber smiled brightly, patting his thigh.

As the lunchroom emptied out two days later, Amber rushed to get to Lydia and Allison before they dispersed. She kept her eyes glued to their brunette and strawberry blonde heads as she moved through the crowd to the front of the cafeteria.

Scott had plucked up the courage to talk to Allison the night before at the animal clinic, and he'd asked her to go with him to the big lacrosse party on Friday. The new girl had seemed reluctant to attend the party when it had been mentioned on Monday, but according to all of Scott's gushing at lunch, she'd agreed to the date.

"Lyds! Allison! Hold up!" Amber called out from a few feet behind them.

The two girls paused in front of an empty row of lockers, allowing Amber to catch up with them.

"Hey, Amber." Allison smiled.

"Hi." Amber breathed, happy to have caught them for a minute.

"You know," Lydia spoke, "If you wanted time to talk to us, you could always sit with us at lunch instead of Thing One and Thing Two."

"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to steal a chicken finger from one of them for my salad," Amber laughed honestly, "I mean, seriously. When was the last time you ate something deep fried in public, Lyds? When we were twelve?"

During their Freshman year, Amber had been ordering a salad at lunch for a week. She always picked at it sadly, until Stiles had offered up one of Scott's chicken tenders and insisted she cut it up for her greens. He'd come up with the brilliant idea to get his dad to simply eat salad and insisted that it would change her life. It had. She'd stolen a piece of chicken from one of their trays every day since.

Lydia pursed her lips, likely because she knew that Amber's comment about fried food was true, and Allison laughed at the two of them quietly.

"Anyway, that's so not what I wanted to talk about," Amber attempted to steer the conversation back on track, "I hear someone has a date with Scott on Friday."

The grin on Amber's face was infectious and Allison blushed, glancing between the two girls beside her and playing nervously with her fingers, "Yeah, kind of, I mean, we're going to the party together."

"It's definitely a date," Lydia stated, "And if it doesn't work out, I totally reserve the right to set you up with one of Jackson's friends on the lacrosse team."

"Scott is on the lacrosse team." Amber pointed out incredulously.

"One of the more," Lydia paused, "Mature, guys on the lacrosse team. Maybe a senior."

Amber rolled her eyes at her friend and returned all of her attention to the darker-haired girl.

"Are you excited?" She asked her with a coy smile.

Allison blushed further, unsure what to say and slightly worried that whatever she said would be relayed back to Scott. Not wanting to embarrass herself, she paused.

"-Because Scott is totally excited. It's pretty much all he talked about at lunch. I thought Stiles might stab him with his fork to shut him up." Amber continued with a laugh.

"Oh," Allison's smile widened, "Yeah, I.. I'm excited."

"Did you ever decide if you'll grace us with your presence at the party?" Lydia questioned, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she raised her eyebrows at Amber.

"I'm not sure," Amber answered honestly.

She wasn't a fan of parties. Scott and Stiles were hardly ever invited and being surrounded by all those people without them tended to make her anxiety flare up.

Lydia gave her a look like she was about to say something, but Amber interrupted-

"You'd hardly even miss me anyway," Amber commented, "Don't pretend for one second that you won't be glued to Jackson's face the whole time."

"Fine," Lydia settled, "But I really would like to see you there, even if it's only in passing. You desperately need to socialize outside of the weird little threesome you have going on with Scott and Miles."

"It's Stiles," Amber sighed. It didn't matter how many times she corrected Lydia over the years, the name inevitably went in one ear and straight out the other, "I'll honestly think about it, though. Okay?"

Lydia smiled in satisfaction and nodded. The dismissal from the redhead effectively ended the conversation and the three girls dispersed, heading to their lockers as the first warning bell rang out through the halls.

Stiles' room was a mess.

When Stiles had been driving her home after lacrosse practice on Thursday, he'd been on a tangent that Amber could barely follow, but she'd gotten the gist of it-

Werewolves. Again.

While Amber wasn't entirely sure what had suddenly put her best friend in a mindset that had him researching mythical creatures to the point of near-obsession, she knew him well enough to know that he'd be better taken care of if she stayed, versus if she left him to his own devices.

She'd nodded off once around dinner time, her face pillowed on her arms over the top of an article she'd been looking over, ten pages of folklore that Stiles had printed out, telling the story of a werewolf who'd eaten his entire village, starting with his own family.

The research had started as soon as they'd gotten home from lacrosse practice, and Stiles had insisted they kept at it all night.

At an hour to midnight, when Stiles still hadn't eaten dinner, Amber had gone downstairs to make him a turkey sandwich, returning and shoving one half of it between his unsuspecting lips. He distractedly chewed the bite of food in his mouth, moving to set the sandwich back on the plate she'd set beside of the old, leather bound book he was taking notes from.

"Where did you even get that book?" Amber asked, picking the sandwich up again to shove another bite of it into his mouth.

"Went to the library while you were napping." Stiles mumbled around the bread as he chewed.

Amber ran her hand softly across the smooth cut of his hair a few times, leaning in to read over his shoulder and feeding him bites every few minutes.

When the sandwich was gone, only a few scattered crumbs remaining on the plate, Amber leaned down to wrap her arms around Stiles' chest and rested her chin on top of his head. For a minute, she just watched him jot down notes as he read. The way he moved when he got like this was honestly mesmerizing and she found herself distracted by the way his fingertip traced along the words on the page for a minute before she realized she'd been hovering. She tightened her arms around him in a quick hug before turning away to face the messy room.

She moved to sit criss-cross on the floor, collecting some of the papers littering the floorboards. She skimmed through the articles before placing them in different piles, attempting to create some sort of organization.

By midnight, the room had dozens of books cracked open and laid out across the bed, the floor, and Stiles' desk. He'd printed out over thirty pages of information he'd found from various websites — Amber knew it was at least that much because she'd been the one to refill the paper all three times that the printer had been empty.

Having texted her brother to let him know of her sleepover plans that evening, Amber eventually nodded off at three in the morning, her face buried in a pile of loose papers and books on Stiles' bed.

She woke when Stiles' alarm for school went off, crawling out of bed and barely managing to pull Stiles away from his laptop with enough time for them both to shower and rush to school on time for first period.

With not even enough time to swing by her house, Amber had been forced to make do with what she could quickly scrounge from Stiles' wardrobe, and she'd pulled a small pair of Stiles' briefs that he'd conjured from the depths of his underwear drawer, re-wearing her jeans from the day before along with a pullover lacrosse hoodie he likely hadn't worn since middle school.

Despite the clothing predicament, Amber was glad she'd stayed with Stiles, and when they didn't have time to eat breakfast, she was grateful for the sandwich she'd managed to shove into Stiles' mouth at eleven o'clock the night before.

On Friday afternoon Amber rounded the corner, pulling her backpack on over her jacket. She was ready to head out to the lacrosse field to watch the team's practice scrimmage when she heard Scott yelling.

At the far end of the hall, Jackson was saying something quietly to Scott where he had her friend pressed against his own locker. Jackson punched the metal door over Scott's shoulder before turning and storming away.

"Scott!" She called down the hall, running to catch up to him, "What was that? Were you just yelling at Jackson?"

"Sort of." He said, slowing to walk with her.

She raised her eyebrows in question, urging him to continue.

"He thinks I'm on steroids," He stated, "Wanted me to tell him where I got them and, I just, I can't deal with this right now! I woke up in the middle of the preserve this morning and had to run all the way home, and I'm pretty sure I seriously saw a wolf out there this time."

"Jesus.." Amber breathed looking up at her friend as they pushed the door open and headed outside into the cold air, "Maybe there really is a wolf."

"Y'think!?" Scott snapped.

Amber flinched, stuffing her hands into her pockets and taking a small step away from him as they approached the player's bench. She watched him huff under his breath as he pulled his helmet out of his sport bag.

"Scott!" Stiles' shrill screech cut through the cold air behind them, "Scott, Wait up!" He placed a hand on Amber's shoulder as he came to a stop. His cheeks were bright pink from exertion and he took a few deep breaths, resting some of his weight on the shoulder of the girl beside him.

"Stiles, I'm playing the first elimination, man. Can it wait?"

"Just hold on, okay?" Stiles panted, "I overheard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis came back from the lab in L.A. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods!"

"Stiles, I gotta go." Scott dismissed, turning away from his friends and stepping toward the field.

Stiles moved to chase after him, Amber following close behind, "W- No! Scott! You're not gonna believe what the animal was!" He called after him, but Scott was gone. Stiles sighed at his friend's back, turning to face Amber, "It was a wolf."

"It was a wolf?" She repeated with wide eyes.

"Yeah, a wolf."

Stiles shook his head before walking out onto the field where all of the players were forming a circle around Coach Finstock. The coach gave some sort of speech, but Amber could only really make out the end-

"Now, get out there and show me whatcha got! Come on!"

The team cheered loudly before dispersing and Stiles walked back off the field toward her, Amber immediately flocking to his side.

"So, what does this mean? Scott really was bitten by a wolf?"

"I-" Stiles sighed again, moving to sit on the team bench, "I don't know, maybe."

She took a seat beside him and they watched the scrimmage start, players running and passing the ball down the field in a fast-paced game.

Scott got possession of the ball and his friends watched in awe as he barreled down the field toward two larger players on the team, launching himself over six feet in the air to jump up over them. He did a flip before landing smoothly behind the player's backs. Scott threw the ball at the goal and it sailed through the goalie's legs and into the back net.

"Wh-" Stiles started under his breath, shaking his head in astonishment.

The other players on the team crowded around Scott, whooping and hollering while the spectators on the bleachers cheered loudly.

"Okay.. So what if it was a wolf?" Amber questioned, "Why is that worse than it being, I don't know, a bear?"

"Because, okay? That lycaon joke I made the other day? I'm not so sure it's a joke anymore." He said quietly, and Amber found herself thinking about all of the werewolf stories he'd made her read through the night before.

"McCall!" Coach yelled from the sidelines, "Get over here!"

Scott ran to the side of the field, coming to a stop in front of Coach, only a few feet away from where Stiles and Amber were sitting.

"What in God's name was that?" Finstock yelled, "This is a lacrosse field. What, are you trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No, Coach."

"What the hell was that?"

"I-I don't know. Just trying to make the shot." Scott said quietly.

"Yeah, well, you made the shot. And guess what?" Coach said loudly, "You're startin', buddy," Scott received a slap on the cheek from the older man, "You made first line."

Amber gripped onto the material of Stiles' practice jersey as they watched the rest of the scrimmage pass in a blur of Scott running around, being the best player out on the field by a mile.

Stiles collected his things quickly when the final whistle blew and he grabbed Amber's hand, dragging her away in the direction of the parking lot.

"Aren't you going to get changed?"

"No time," Stiles said, pulling her faster until they were practically jogging to where the Jeep was parked, "We need to research.. More. So, so much more research."

They got to the vehicle and Stiles threw open the door, tossing his things in the back seat and pulling his shoulder padding over his head before throwing that in the back as well. He climbed behind the wheel and was starting the engine before Amber had even closed the passenger side door.

"More research on-" She started, buckling quickly as Stiles peeled out of the parking lot and finished the sentence for her.

"Werewolves."

A violent knocking on the closed bedroom door startled them both a few hours later, Stiles nearly falling out of his chair and Amber giving herself a deep paper cut.

Stiles closed his laptop firmly, concealing the website he'd been on. He looked over at where Amber was sitting on the floor and they gave each other nervous smiles before Stiles approached the door and he took a deep breath before he opened it to reveal Scott standing on the other side.

"Get in," Stiles urged, leaving the door open for Scott to follow, "You gotta see this thing. We've been up all night reading.. Websites, books. All this information."

Stiles flailed his arms as he spoke, heading back to his desk to search for something he wanted to show Scott.

"How much Adderall has he had today?" Scott laughed, glancing at Amber on the floor.

"A lot?" Stiles responded, finally finding the paper he wanted in the pile on the corner of his desk, "It doesn't matter, okay. Just listen."

Scott threw his backpack on the bed and sat down beside it and Amber moved to sit across from him.

"Is this about the body? Did they find out who did it?" Scott asked.

"No, they're still questioning people." Amber answered.

"Yeah, even Derek Hale." Stiles announced, looking between the two of them and rolling his chair closer to the bed.

"Oh! The guy from the woods that we saw the other day."

"Yeah. Yes. But that's not it, okay?"

The paper Stiles was holding was flapping loudly with every movement of his hands. He looked nervous, but also like he was going to burst at any moment.

"What, then?" Scott laughed, looking between the two of them.

"Remember that joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore. The wolf. The bite in the woods.. We started doing all this reading-" Stiles said, jumping out of his seat and shaking the piece of paper, "Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?" Scott asked in confusion.

"To signal it's location to the rest of the pack, Scott." Amber finally spoke. She had a sick churning feeling in her gut, nervous that their friend wasn't going to take this well, that maybe he'd think they were poking fun at him again.

"Yeah, it's a signal. So if you heard a wolf howling, i-it, that means others could've been nearby. Maybe even a whole pack of them." Stiles finished.

"A.. Whole pack of wolves?" Scott questioned in surprise.

"No." Stiles winced, "Werewolves."

Amber flinched at the lack of subtlety in Stiles' words, scrunching up her face as the room grew silent.

Scott stood from the bed abruptly and Amber followed suit, stepping up behind him.

"Are you guys seriously wasting my time with this?" Scott huffed in annoyance at his friends, grabbing his book bag from the floor and moving to leave, "You know I'm picking up Allison in an hour."

Amber reached forward to rest a hand on Scott's forearm and Stiles put a hand against his friend's chest in an attempt to keep him in place.

"We saw you on the field today, Scott. Okay? What you did wasn't just amazing, all right? It was impossible." Stiles critiqued.

Scott shook his head before glancing briefly at Amber behind him, "Yeah? So I made a good shot."

Stiles grabbed Scott's bag from his hands and threw it back behind them to land on the bed.

"No, you made an incredible shot, I mean.. The way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. Y'know, people can't just suddenly do that overnight," Stiles defended, "And there's the vision and the senses-"

"Scott, do you think we didn't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore-" Amber cut in.

"Okay! Guys, I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!" Stiles yelled in disbelief, eyes bouncing between his two best friends, "What? No! The full moon is tonight! Don't you get it?"

"What are you both trying to do?" Scott yelled back, looking between them, "I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you guys trying to ruin it!"

Stiles flopped back into his desk chair to shuffle frantically through another stack of papers and Amber flexed her fingers around Scott's arm, rubbing her thumb over his sweatshirt in what she hoped was a soothing motion.

"We're trying to help," Stiles said before continuing quietly, "You're cursed, Scott. Y'know, and it's not just the moon will cause you to physically change. It also just happens to be when your bloodlust will be at it's peak."

"Bloodlust?" Scott questioned blankly. He raised his eyebrows at Amber and when she nodded while nervously chewing on her bottom lip, he turned back to face Stiles.

"Yeah, your urge to kill." Stiles explained, looking away before bringing his eyes back to where Scott stood over him.

"I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles." Scott's voice was deep with his irritation.

Stiles spun around in his chair, dropping the papers back into a pile and picking up the book that he'd been reading earlier.

"You gotta hear this, 'The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse.'" Stiles read aloud, raising his voice and moving to stand back up in front of them, "All right? I haven't seen anything raise your pulse like Allison does."

"You seriously have to cancel this date." Amber added, squeezing her grip on Scott's arm softly.

Stiles moved past them and began to dig through the backpack that he had thrown onto his bed, "I'm gonna call her right now." He pulled Scott's phone from the front pocket.

"What are you doing?" Scott questioned.

"I'm canceling the date!" Stiles explained quickly, fiddling with the phone as he moved back toward his desk.

"No! Give it to me!" Scott growled, shoving Amber behind him where she stumbled and bumped into the bed but somehow managed to not fall on her ass.

In a blink, Scott had rushed forward to slam Stiles against the wall beside the desk and a loud thump echoed in the small room from the impact. He had one hand tight around the collar of his friend's shirt and the other was pulled back into a fist as he prepared to punch his best friend.

"Scott!" Amber yelled, her body moving toward the boys before her brain even had a chance to process what she was doing. She stopped half a step behind Scott, prepared to grab him if he made another move toward hitting Stiles. Her hands trembled as she watched Stiles take a shaky breath.

Scott suddenly yelled out in rage, and Amber flinched. He released his grip on Stiles and threw the desk chair beside him to the floor. He continued to look at the fallen chair, breathing heavily for a moment, before he looked back up at Stiles and seemed to deflate as the realization of what just happened sunk in.

"I'm sorry," Scott apologized quietly, "I-I gotta go get ready for that party."

He slowly turned to face Amber where she was already looking at him with wide eyes, her hands still shaking.

Stiles still hadn't moved from where he was standing pressed against the wall, taking in choppy breaths and refusing to look at Scott, focused instead on some fixed point at the far end of the room.

"I'm sorry." Scott said again in a near-whisper, before he grabbed his bag from behind Amber and ran from the room.

Once Scott was gone, Stiles took in a deeper, heavy breath and knocked his head back against the wall once with a loud thump.

Amber approached him slowly, reaching forward and grabbing his fingertips, pulling his hands into her own shaking ones to tug him gently away from the wall.

"Are you okay?" Amber asked softly, waiting for Stiles to look at her instead of the wall over her shoulder. When she didn't get a response after a few seconds, she slowly trailed her hands up his arms. Her fingers softly moved from his biceps, over the tops of his shoulders and neck before coming to rest them on his jaw, her thumbs rubbing at his flushed cheeks, "Stiles?"

His eyes finally flickered to life before connecting with her own and he let out a deep breath that seemed to break the dam. Suddenly his hands were on her, one gripping her hip while the other came up to rest on her shoulder, guiding her back a step further as his brown eyes flicked back and forth between her hazel ones.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a rush, "Did he hurt you?"

"Me?" Amber's voice cracked, "Stiles he shoved you against the wall so hard I thought you might've broken something. Are you okay?"

Stiles seemed to genuinely think it over before he answered, "I'm fine."

He squeezed her hip once, his thumb pressing into her skin where his fingers had slipped underneath the sweatshirt she was wearing. He moved away after a few steadying breaths, moving to right his desk chair from where it had been knocked to the floor.

"Uh, Am?" Stiles said quietly, spinning the chair around to reveal the back.

There were three long claw marks torn into the fabric.

Amber sat anxiously on the edge of the couch in the Stilinski's living room and waited as Stiles changed his clothes for the party. The bouncing of her leg and the chewing of her lower lip both a result of stress as she waited for her best friend.

When Stiles finally emerged from his room after five long minutes, he had changed into a soft, faded red button down shirt and Amber blinked, stunned for a moment at the sight of how sharp and handsome he looked as he stepped into the front room.

It took only a moment for Amber to get a hold of herself and they wasted no time before they rushed toward the front door together, Stiles' keys jangling loudly as they made their way to the Jeep. She trailed half a step behind him and she caught a whiff of cologne that he'd taken the time to apply in his rush to get ready. The smell of it made her stomach swoop with butterflies despite the worry for Scott that weighed on their minds.

The two of them sped across town to Amber's house so that she could change her own clothes and she tore out of the vehicle and rushed inside before Stiles had even parked the Jeep.

She quickly pulled on a short, black skirt with an off the shoulder knit sweater that stretched loosely to reveal her collar bones. Her hair fell in its natural wavy pattern and she attempted to detangle it with her fingers before rushing through the heavier makeup routine she would normally save for a party. Her boots were tugged onto her feet while she stumbled to the bathroom to spray herself with perfume.

When she was finished she rushed back outside, fingers flying across her phone screen to send a text to her brother, giving him a loose-approximation of her plans for the evening while leaving out the specifics about Scott's werewolf problems.

"I'm here! I'm here," Amber panted as she climbed back into the waiting vehicle, "Sorry. I got ready as fast as I could." She buckled her seatbelt while she spoke, but when the Jeep remained both parked and silent until she was finished, seatbelt locked into place, she looked up at the driver with a frown.

Stiles had a look on his face that Amber couldn't identify. His gaze flicked over her face first, but then it dropped to her chest, his eyes flicking down to her bare legs before they slowly trailed back up again.

"What? What? Why aren't we leaving?" Amber asked, heart still beating hard beneath her ribs from running around the house and then back outside again.

"Huh?" Stiles asked dumbly.

"Why aren't we leaving? Scott and Allison will be at the party any minute." She got out the words between heavy breaths, searching her friend's unfocused eyes like she might find some clue there as to what he was thinking, "Stiles!"

Stiles blinked once before his eyes rounded out. He flinched and the hand he had resting on the edge of the window jerked out toward the steering wheel, missing and accidentally punching the metal dashboard behind it.

"Ow! Shit."

"Stiles?" She asked worriedly, wincing as she watched him shake out his sore knuckles.

"Sorry, yeah," Stiles said as he righted himself, "We're leaving. Now." He quickly backed out of the driveway and headed in the direction of the house party.

"What just happened?" Amber questioned slowly after a moment. She still had one hand on the door handle and the other on her seat buckle, unmoved. The girl blinked in confusion, her eyes still glued to her friend's face as a flush rose to his mole-dotted cheeks in the dark.

"I just- I.. You look," He paused, "Nice."

It was Amber's turn to have her cheeks tinge a shade of pink, "Oh. I- Thanks." She smiled to herself, fiddling with the way her sweater fell over her shoulders.

The car was silent for a few minutes as they drove and Amber wasn't sure if the silence should feel awkward or not. She adjusted her skirt nervously on the seat as they got closer to their destination.

"You too." She said into the quiet after several minutes had passed.

Stiles turned his head to peer over at the girl beside him with his brows furrowed in confusion before his attention focused back on the road in front of them.

"You also, I mean.. You look nice, too." Amber clarified in a rush. She squeezed her hands into fists at her sides as soon as the words were out of her mouth, feeling supremely stupid.

"Oh- Thank you." Stiles said softly.

When she built up the courage to look over at him after a few seconds, she found a sweet smile on his face and she let out a breath that she didn't realize she'd even been holding.

It didn't take long before they reached a cluster of parked cars, lining the street just outside of a large house that belonged to one of the guys on the lacrosse team. Scott's mom's car didn't appear to have arrived yet and they both breathed a sigh of relief at the information.

"Okay. What's the plan?" Amber questioned, turning sideways in her seat to face Stiles as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Go to party. Keep an eye on Scott. Make sure he doesn't go werewolf and kill anybody." Stiles listed, counting out the objectives on his fingers as he went.

"That- That's it?"

"Why, what did you think we were gonna do?" Stiles asked as he climbed out of the vehicle.

"I don't know!" Amber said loudly, continuing in a whisper as a couple walked past them, "Kidnap him? Tie him up and lock him in the bathroom until the full moon is over?"

They walked up the driveway and the loud music that poured out of the house muffled their continued conversation from the teens that loitered outside.

"Ki- Kidnap him?" Stiles squeaked, "You thought we were going to kidnap our best friend from a crowded party?" He paused, looking her up and down as they reached the door, "And you still chose to wear a skirt?"

Amber's glare was piercing as she ducked under his outstretched arm where he was holding the front door open for her and she pinched the exposed strip of skin on his stomach where his shirt had risen as she passed him in retaliation.

"Ow." Stiles complained while he closed the door behind them.

There were teenagers filling up every inch of the house, spilling all the way out onto the backyard patio, dancing, drinking, and conversing loudly in an attempt to be heard over the music.

"And what, exactly, do we do if Scott does 'go wolf' and try to kill someone?" Amber questioned, pulling Stiles over to a spot just outside of the kitchen that had a good vantage point of the people coming in through front door.

"Let's deal with that problem when the time comes, shall we?"

Five minutes passed before Stiles pulled Amber's attention away from where she had become distracted by the beer pong tournament that was set up on what looked like an expensive wooden-dining table.

"Scott's here." Stiles announced.

She followed Stiles' gaze to where Scott and Allison were making their way through the house, headed in the direction of the open patio doors. Amber's hand was linked with his as he pulled her away from the kitchen and moved to follow after the couple.

The two friends claimed a spot just inside of the glass doors, where they could watch Scott even after he and Allison made it outside and into the throng of people who were crowded around the pool.

After a minute passed and Scott and Allison began dancing together, Amber settled her arms around Stiles' shoulders and hooked her fingers behind his neck, guiding him to start moving slightly to the pop music that rang out through the house.

"Wha-" Stiles started before Amber interrupted him.

"If Scott looks over here and sees us just standing around staring at him, he's gonna lose it.. Again."

"Yeah- Yeah, you're probably right." Stiles agreed, settling his hands lightly around her waist.

Amber maneuvered their bodies until she could see outside the patio doors over Stiles' shoulder, keeping a close eye on their friend where he was dancing with his date. As time passed, people moved through the packed room and bumped into them repeatedly, eventually pushing the two to stand so close that their chests pressed together while they danced.

Amber allowed herself only momentary glances to Stiles' face between bouts of watching their friend through the windows, worried that if she looked at the boy in front of her for too long, she would get distracted and lose track of Scott.

Later, when she was re-focussing her eyes outside after a brief moment spent staring at the golden flecks in Stiles' eyes as they flicked anxiously around the crowded room, she spotted Allison with her hands on Scott's chest as she looked at her date worriedly. Scott's eyes were pinched shut and he pulled away from her, moving to come back inside.

"Oh, no. He's coming back in and- He doesn't look great." Amber announced.

Stiles suddenly took a step away from her, keeping one hand on her hips and waving with the other as he looked to their friend rushing through the doorway, "Yo! Scott, you good?"

Scott stormed past them without a word and Amber and Stiles looked at one another with wide eyes.

"You go see what's up and I'll check with Allison real quick-" Amber urged.

"Good. Go." Stiles released her and pushed her gently in the direction of the back door before he dashed off to chase after Scott.

Allison stumbled through the doors as Amber went to go outside and they collided, both girls reaching out to steady the other.

"Did you see where Scott went?" Allison asked.

"Oh, yeah.. He- he had a really bad headache earlier and I think it's acting up again but I'm not sure-"

Allison had no interest in the rest of what Amber had to say, suddenly taking off in the direction of the front door where Amber was sure Scott and Stiles had been spotted exiting the house and Amber rushed to follow close behind her.

As the two girls approached the driveway, they both watched as Scott fumbled with his keys and threw himself inside of the McCall's small green car and quickly drove away from the party.

"Shit, Scott.." Amber mumbled, her eyes traveling to where Stiles had parked the Jeep only to find him already tearing off down the street after their friend, both of them becoming taillights in the distance.

"Why would he leave without telling me?" Allison asked, sounding hurt.

"I don't know, I.. His head must be really bugging him, Allison. I'm sorry." Amber apologized weakly.

"Amber," A familiar voice called out from behind them. Derek Hale stepped toward the two girls with his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket, "Allison, I'm a friend of Scott's. My name's Derek."

"Oh, um, hi?" Allison spoke.

"Derek, hey, uh.. What are you doing here?"

"Scott. He asked if I could give you both a ride home as he was leaving." He gestured toward a sleek, black camaro parked at the end of the driveway.

"Um.." Allison hesitated, looking over at the girl standing next to her for assistance.

"Yeah, of course," Amber said, hoping that she sounded slightly more confident than she felt. She grabbed the other girl by the arm and pulled her along, "Thanks, Derek."

Derek politely opened the passenger door for them when they reached the car and Amber urged the other girl to get in first. Allison climbed over the seat and into the back, Amber following behind her and climbing into the front.

As Derek closed the door on them gently Allison nudged her, "Are you sure about this?" Allison asked, visibly nervous about willingly getting into the car of a strange older-guy.

"Yeah, it's okay. Derek's cool." Amber smiled, patting Allison's hand on the back of her seat reassuringly.

The smile slipped from Amber's face as soon as she was facing forward again and she took a deep breath. Being alone with Derek Hale once was one thing, but now he showed up at a high school party and was offering to give them a ride home? She couldn't deny the weirdness of it and if anything happened to Allison, she'd never recover from the guilt.

"I'll leave my coat on the floor under his seat," Allison said quickly, not waiting for a response, "That's how they always get caught in the crime shows."

Derek had rounded the car and climbed behind the wheel just by the time the girl in the backseat was moving to sit upright again, and he turned the key as soon as he slid into the driver's seat, the loud engine rumbled to life around them.

"Who first?" He asked with a charming smile, turning to look between the two younger girls.

Amber shot off a text to Stiles as they pulled away from the curb and headed in the direction of Allison's neighborhood.

derek was at party?? giving allison & me a ride home

Derek's radio was set to a station for eighties rock music and when a STYX song started playing softly through the speakers, the normalcy of it almost had Amber starting to relax into her seat.

Allison spouted out frequent directions for Derek to make turns as they drove. When they finally pulled up to Allison's large house, Amber had to move and stand outside of the vehicle to allow the other girl to crawl out from the backseat. Once the other girl was freed, Amber moved to climb back inside the car but Allison stopped her with a hand on her wrist.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep over?" Allison asked loudly, "You could borrow something of mine, it's no big deal." Allison's eyes flicked back and forth distrustfully between her new friend and the dark-haired stranger who was sitting behind the wheel of the car.

"I'm sure," Amber insisted, grateful for Allison's quick-thinking brain but not taking her up on the offer for an escape, "Really."

"Okay." Allison said slowly, hesitating before she released Amber's arm and turned to head toward her house. She glanced back at the vehicle once and Amber waved, smiling brightly as she climbed into the car again.

Amber closed the passenger side door and re-buckled her seatbelt, tapping her fingers on her knees when Derek didn't immediately start driving again.

"She.." Derek chuckled quietly, "Did not like me."

"She was afraid you're a rapist-murderer." Amber quipped with a roll of her eyes.

"And you're not afraid?" He questioned.

Amber paused, genuinely thinking the question over before responding, but now that Allison was out of the equation of danger, she felt confusingly calm.

"No." She answered honestly after a quiet moment.

Derek was looking at her intently as she spoke, his brows furrowed in concentration before they rose in surprise, "You meant that." He said, but it wasn't a question.

Amber shrugged, "Yeah."

They looked at each other for a moment, Derek looking at her in bewilderment and Amber looking at him in scrutiny, like they were both a complicated puzzle that the other didn't understand.

Derek shook his head slowly and shifted the car back into drive before heading in the direction of her house without prompt.

"How do you know where I live?" Amber questioned, suddenly suspicious.

"Are your parents still in the same house as when Jason was in school?" He asked, eyes flicking over to the passenger side of the vehicle for a moment.

Amber's chest tightened at the mention of her parents, "My parents are dead." She said quietly, "But, yeah, my brother and I- We.. It's the same house."

"I'm sorry." Derek apologized, glancing at her again before turning his attention back to the road.

"It's okay, it-" Amber played with her fingers in her lap, "It's been four years, so."

The car was quiet for a few minutes aside from a Van Halen song that played quietly through the speakers.

"Can I ask how it happened?" Derek asked quietly.

"Car accident during a bad storm," Amber answered before changing the subject, "So, what brings you back to Beacon, anyway? Didn't you move to, like, New Hampshire or something in high school?"

"New York," Derek corrected.

"Oh! Yeah, it was you and your older sister, right? In New York. Did you guys have relatives out there or something?"

"You know, you ask an annoying amount of questions?" Derek said as they pulled up in front of her house.

Amber unbuckled her seatbelt with a self-conscious laugh before moving to open her door, "Right, sorry.. Anyway, thank you for the ride."

"Sure." Derek dismissed as he watched the girl climb out of the vehicle.

Amber closed the car door silently behind her and headed inside the house, unsure what exactly to make of her apparent trust for Derek Hale.

There was a light knock at the doorway to her bedroom before the door was pushed open fully. Amber's brother stood in the opening in his pajamas, his hair sticking up in all directions while he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"Didn't you text me you were going to some party with Stiles?" Jason asked in a tired voice, glancing at the clock on her bedside table to confirm the time he'd seen on the clock in his own room — It was only nine-thirty.

Amber was sitting in the middle of her bed in leggings and one of her brother's old crewneck sweatshirts with her laptop in front of her, trying to find a specific forum that she remembered reading the night before about bitten werewolves which, looking back on it, seemed semi-credible. It was just bizarre enough that it could've been the real deal.

"Yeah, um.. Wasn't in the party mood, I guess. I got a ride home with another friend." Amber explained, satisfied that it was mostly the truth.

"Did the two of you, like," Jason paused, scratching his fingers through his hair, "Have a fight, or something?"

"What?" Amber asked in surprise, "No. No, me and Stiles are fine. We're good."

Her brother nodded, brows furrowed in thought as he leaned slightly onto the doorframe, "So," He started slowly, "You and Stiles. You're still, uh, still just friends, right?"

"I- Huh?" Amber asked dumbly, "Of course we're friends. Why would you ask that?"

"And it's none of that, y'know, friends with benefits stuff?"

"Bene- No!" Amber denied quickly, eyes wide as a warm flush rose on her cheeks, "There are no benefits going on between me and Stiles."

"It's just, you've slept at the Stilinski house twice this week. On school-nights.. Which, okay, isn't technically out of the ordinary. But, you haven't mentioned Scott being there and-" Her brother sighed like just having the conversation was draining him, "Look, I wouldn't be a very good guardian if I didn't check in, right? So.. You swear there's no funny business happening?"

"Nothing funny," Amber promised, "And I see that look on your face. No. We really, really don't need to have another sex talk. The first one is still plenty fresh in my mind."

"Alright, alright," He conceded, "But if anything changes, I want you to be honest with me, okay? I'd rather know you're doing it and being safe than not know at-"

"Agh! Jason, seriously-" Amber pleaded in embarrassment.

"-And I know you're on the pill now, but that doesn't mean that you don't still need to use protection-"

"I hear you! Oh my god. I hear you, and I love you, but Stiles and I have not been having sex. No one and I have been having sex. And I swear to you, if I do have sex, we will use a condom. Okay?"

Jason swallowed, "Okay."

"Okay," Amber repeated, exhaling sharply. She leaned back onto her hands and took a few deep breaths before looking at the tiny clock in the corner of her laptop screen, "When did you get off?"

"Eight," Jason told her, "Twelve hours off and I'm due back to the station again at eight."

"You should get some sleep, then. Sorry if I woke you when I got home."

"It's fine," Her brother smiled at her with tired eyes. He moved like he was about to leave, one hand around the knob and the other flat against the door jamb. He paused and drummed his fingers against the wood a few times, "Goodnight, punk. I love you."

"Love you, too." Amber smiled, watching as he finally retreated down the hallway to his own room.

After twenty minutes, Amber still couldn't find the exact forum that she had been looking for, but she did happen across one that discussed the rarity of born-werewolves that were able to transform into their full-bodied, wolfy counterpart.

She thought about the wolf that Scott was convinced he'd seen in the woods the night before, and the animal hairs that forensics had found on the dead body, and the all-too animalistic howl that they'd heard the night this had all started.

Amber printed off a copy of the thread for Stiles and was stapling the pages together when she realized she hadn't heard from him since he'd left the party to find Scott. He'd never even responded to the text she'd sent to let him know Derek was dropping her off at home.

The girl clicked the power button on her phone a couple of times, frowning when the screen remained black. She hadn't been able to charge it the night before at Stiles' house, so it must have died at some point during the last half hour, after she had sent the text to Stiles in the car.

She fumbled to get it plugged into the charger beside the bed, hoping to receive an update about Scott.

Just as the phone was booting up again, there was a loud, frantic knocking from the front door downstairs. Amber tripped as she rushed down the staircase, unlocking the door and pulling it open it to reveal Stiles with one arm braced on the door, he tumbled inside without the support of the door and he scrambled as he righted himself.

"Dude, my brother is sleeping!" Amber hissed, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Did something happen? Are you okay? Is Scott?"

"Amber, oh my god," Stiles exclaimed, his chest heaving with quick breaths, "Why haven't you been answering your phone!"

"It died!" Amber explained, "I only plugged it in like two seconds ago-"

"It's Derek! Scott says Derek's the one who bit him."

"What?!" She questioned in surprise, "What else did he say?"

"Nothing," Stiles told her with wide eyes, "He kind of took off as soon as I told him Derek was giving Allison a ride home."

"Well, where is he now?" Amber asked.

"I don't know, we need to go out and look for him."

Amber pulled on the sneakers that were laying in the entryway without another word and they made their way out to where the Jeep had been parked haphazardly in the driveway. The two of them piled into the still-running vehicle and Stiles set off in the direction of the preserve as Amber sighed and leaned her head to rest against the window, bracing herself for the long night ahead of them.

"So what the hell happened with Derek Hale?" Stiles asked after a minute.

Amber kept her eyes on the treeline, not wanting to miss Scott if he emerged in the dark, "Nothing, really. He gave us both a ride home. He definitely didn't look like he was about to snap or howl at the moon or anything."

Stiles glanced over to the girl in the passenger seat, "Okay, well, did he say anything?"

Amber shrugged, "Just that his sister is in town, too. He didn't tell me why, though."

"I don't trust him." Stiles announced.

"I know." Amber laughed.

"And neither do you, right?"

Amber made a face, unsure what to say and Stiles gaped at her.

"..You trust Derek Hale?" He asked incredulously, "Seriously? What, because he park-rangered you out of the woods?"

"I'm not saying I trust him, necessarily. But, if he wanted to murder me or bite me or whatever, he probably would've done it. Right?"

"I guess.." Stiles muttered with disgust, "And what did I say about being alone with creepy older dudes, anyway?"

"To let you know when it happened," Amber smiled, "Which, I did. I texted you!"

"Shit, okay. Well.. I'm amending that, and I think you should probably just stop being alone with him altogether. If not for your own safety, then for my sanity."

Amber laughed, reaching over to pat her friend reassuringly on the thigh, but didn't say anything.

They drove around town for two hours before they pulled the Jeep into the preserve, the two of them deciding to park there in the hopes that Scott would eventually emerge. Amber laid down across the front seat and rested her head against the edge of Stiles' thigh, her feet coming up onto the seat beneath her. She dozed off and on for a few hours, Stiles' own head nodding as he did the same above her where he was leaning up against the window.

Stiles woke with a start and nudged Amber off of his lap when the sun started to rise and they still hadn't seen any sign of Scott. She sat up and re-buckled her seatbelt as he drove out back of the preserve and pulled out onto the main road.

They only made it a mile or so before they caught sight of a shirtless figure in the distance, walking along the side of the road.

"Scott! It's Scott!" Amber pointed.

Stiles pulled the car up beside their friend and Amber moved to sit in the center as Scott opened the door silently and climbed in to fall into the seat beside her. The group remained quiet while Stiles began to drive again, silence filling the car as they all waited for someone else to speak first.

Scott shivered and Amber turned in her seat to pulled a discarded tshirt out of the lacrosse bag in the backseat, handing it to the half-clothed boy beside her with a small smile.

Scott accepted the article gratefully and pulled it on over his naked torso, leaning to rest his head sadly against the window and looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Amber watched the way he slumped dejectedly and reached out a comforting hand, softly rubbing the chilled skin of his arm.

"You know what actually worries me the most?" Scott finally asked.

"If you say Allison," Stiles started in annoyance, "I'm gonna punch you in the head."

There was a brief moment of silence in which his friends both realized Stiles had been right about the train of thought that Scott was hung up on after the long night.

"She probably hates me now." Scott whined pathetically.

"Ugh." Amber and Stiles both scoffed in disgust.

"I doubt that," Stiles told him as reassuringly as he could, "But you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or y'know, you could just.. Tell her the truth and.. Revel in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a freakin' werewolf!"

Scott and Amber both turned to look at him with a glare and he recanted his words.

"Okay, bad idea." Stiles agreed.

Scott hung his head and Amber reached around to pull him in until he rested it on her shoulder.

"Hey, we'll get through this." Stiles continued softly.

"Come on.. If we have to, Stiles and I'll chain you up ourselves on full moon nights." Amber said with a smile.

"And feed you live mice," Stiles added, "I had a boa once, y'know I could do it."

Scott snorted out a laugh despite his sadness and Amber reached down to rest one hand on either side of her, putting one hand on each of her friend's thighs, patting them both softly.

c h a p t e r   n i n e

lunatic

Amber sighed as she stepped in a particularly deep puddle and felt the water soak into her sneaker. She shook off her foot in a sad attempt to wick away the moisture before it could fully absorb into the fabric of her sock, but it was no use because her next step squelched uncomfortably anyway.

"Where are we going?" Scott asked Stiles for the fourth time in just as many minutes.

"You'll see." Stiles repeated blankly to their friend.

"He's not going to tell us." Amber told Scott, taking a large stride past another cluster of puddles in the pothole-ridden lot where they'd parked Stiles' vehicle as they made their way through the treeline, "Besides, it's pretty obvious we're heading in the direction of the old quarry."

Stiles turned his head sharply. Keeping his left hand tucked inside of his jacket protectively, he used his right to pull her around to his other side and away from Scott, "Did you have to give it away?" He asked her quietly.

"We really shouldn't be out here." Scott interrupted them, "My mom is in a constant state of freak-out from what happened at the school."

"Are you kidding?" Amber asked him, "I'm pretty sure Jason wants to lock me up somewhere and just homeschool me at this point."

"Yeah, well. Neither one of you live with the Sheriff, okay?" Stiles announced, "It's no comparison. Trust me."

"Could you at least tell me what we're doing out here?" Scott asked as he stepped on a twig with a loud snap.

"Yes." Stiles grinned, "When one of your best friends gets dumped-"

"I didn't get dumped," Scott told them resolutely, "We're taking a break."

"Alright, well. When one of your best friends gets told by his girlfriend that they're taking a break-" Stiles amended, pulling out a large bottle from the inside of his jacket and holding it up like a trophy, "You get that best friend drunk."

The bottle of whiskey caught in the bright moonlight that shined from behind Stiles and Amber sighed, shuffling her feet, "Not to be a party pooper but.. I just- Is this such a good idea?"

He scoffed, pulling her along with a hand on her wrist as he led them further into the woods toward the quarry, "Yes, party-pooper. It is a good idea. It-It's a rite of passage! Getting drunk after your first heartbreak."

"It's just.. We have that test tomorrow morning and the full moon is tomorrow night and I think we should probably be focussing on-" She started.

"Nuh-uh," Stiles cut her off, "Not tonight. Tonight, we drink!" He announced happily, turning around and throwing his arms out to present the cluster of rocks where he intended for them to hang out.

"Stiles, did you-" Amber watched him twist the cap off the bottle of whiskey and take a large sip before sputtering and coughing as he swallowed, "Did you come out and scout this location before we got here?"

"Yeah," He coughed again, holding the bottle out to Scott, "I came out this afternoon. This is a good spot, right?"

"I.. Yeah," She told Stiles quickly upon seeing his adorably proud face, "Yeah, it's- A really nice spot." She kicked her foot against a large bit of stone that she thought might make a decent seat, "Uh, good.. rocks."

Scott took a sad sip from the bottle with a wince before handing it over to Amber. The girl eyed the dark liquid inside with a frown, she moved to lift it to her nose to sniff and Stiles reached out quickly to cover the opening with his hand.

"Don't do that." He advised her, "Don't smell it. Nothing good comes from smelling it first."

She nodded with a frown and he removed his hand so she could lift the bottle to her lips. She tilted her head back and poured a large swig into her mouth, trying to swallow the liquid before it could rest on her tongue for too long. She coughed and gagged at the bitter heat in her throat and handed the bottle back to Stiles before plopping her butt down onto her chosen rock.

The three passed the bottle between them slowly for a while, Amber perched criss-cross on the large rock that jutted up above the rest, Scott on the stone floor below her with his knees pulled to his chest, Stiles sprawled out beside him on his back where he could look up at the stars.

"Right, I wasn't looking forward to this, but I really gotta pee." Amber announced to the group, swaying slightly as she got to her feet.

Stiles tilted his head to watch her as she carefully stepped around him and moved toward the treeline, "Don't wander too far!" He called out to her as she walked away, slightly transfixed by the way her tight jeans clung to her backside.

"I won't go too far if Scott promises to tone down his wolfy hearing so I can pee in peace!" She called back over her shoulder, her long hair catching in the breeze.

"You heard the woman, Scott." Stiles told his friend, looking back up at the stars, "No listening to her pee."

"I wasn't going to listen to her pee, Stiles." Scott said brusquely.

They settled into silence and Stiles watched the way the tiny dots of the stars danced around through his blurred vision for a quiet minute, "You still thinking about Allison?" He finally asked Scott.

"Yeah." Scott said honestly.

Stiles sat up to take another drink of the whiskey before leaving the bottle sitting between them and flopping onto his back again, "Dude.. She's just one girl. Y'know? There are so many- There 're so many other girls in the sea." His words slurred at the attempt of such a long sentence.

"'Fish in the sea.'" Scott told him immediately.

"Fish?" Stiles repeated in confusion, tilting his head back to squint at Scott for a second, "Why you talkin' 'bout fish? I'm talkin' 'bout girls." He corrected with a sigh, tilting his head back toward the sky unseeingly, his mind conjuring up images instead, "I love girls.. I love 'em. I love- Especially ones with light ashy brown hair, 'nd hazel eyes that've got more green than brown in 'em, five-foot five-"

"Like Amber?" Scott asked knowingly.

"Yeah, exactly-Hey!" Stiles tilted his head back to look at Scott again in surprise, "How did you know I was talkin' 'bout- About.." Stiles trailed off distractedly, "What was I talking about?" He asked Scott, catching the sad look on his friend's face when he tipped his head back again, "Hey. You're not happy. Take a drink-"

Stiles rolled onto his side to grab the bottle again and held it out to Scott.

"I don't want any more." Scott told him with a frown.

Letting the bottle drop back down to the ground, Stiles laid on his back again, bringing his arm to rest underneath his head, "What, you're not drunk?" He asked.

"I'm not anything." Scott said miserably, looking down at his feet.

"Hey, maybe it's like-" Stiles started, "Maybe it's like not needing your inhaler anymore, y'know? Maybe you can't get drunk as a wolf," He pondered aloud, "Hey, am I drunk?"

"You're wasted," Scott told him blankly before continuing to speak under his breath, "And so's Amber.. She should probably be back by now-"

"C'mon, dude-" Stiles said, not having heard the tail end of Scott's murmuring, "I know it feels bad. I know it hurts. Well, I don't know.. But, I know this- I know as much as being broken up hurts, being alone's way worse." He paused in confusion when he processed his own words and laughed, "That.. Didn't make any sense. I-I need another drink."

"Well," An unfamiliar voice cut in, plucking the bottle up from the ground just before Stiles' fingers could wrap around it, "Look at the little bitches, all getting their drink on."

Stiles quickly stumbled to his feet, heart racing as he looked at the two men who had approached from the treeline. The smaller and lighter skinned of the two was holding Amber against his side with an arm wrapped around her waist and the girl's face was narrowed in annoyance and an underlying fear as she struggled against his grip. The larger man held the whiskey up triumphantly, eyeing the group of teens with a smug grin.

"I- Um," Amber looked between the group nervously, "I ran into these guys on my way back-"

"She told us she was here with her friends," The smaller man interrupted with a frown, "We were expecting more girls.. But, I guess just the one'll have to do." He chuckled, leaning his dirty face into Amber's hair and prompting her to jab him sharply with her elbow.

“Hey, man-" Stiles started anxiously, words cut off when Scott took a small step in front of him and spoke more firmly.

"Don't touch her." Scott spoke darkly. Stiles turned to look at him for a moment and saw no fear on his friend's face, only a cold anger.

"What's that, little man?" The larger guy asked as he raised his eyebrows, annoyed at Scott's lack of submission.

"I don't think he wants to share the girl, or the booze." The smaller man said, readjusting his grip and tugging Amber back against him when she managed to put a small amount of distance between them beneath his slackened grip.

"Let. Her go." Scott said slowly in the same dark voice.

"Listen.. You guys let her go, the three of us will leave and-" Stiles started placatingly, his heart hammering in his chest, "And you guys can keep the bottle."

"No." Scott cut in, looking back at Stiles for a moment and ignoring the furious look of disbelief of his face, "You guys brought me here to get me drunk. I'm not drunk yet."

The stranger holding the whiskey shook his head with a laugh and lifted the bottle to his lips, taking a long swig. Stiles nervously watched Scott take a couple of steps forward until he stood face to face with the two men. Scott's head turned between Amber's fear-filled eyes and the larger man in front of him.

"Let her go. And give me the bottle of Jack." Scott's voice dropped as he spoke, deepening into what was almost a growl. Stiles watched claws protrude from Scott's fingertips and Stiles' eyes widened. He quickly flicked his gaze back up at the scene in front of him. The two men both flinched back in surprise as they looked at whatever emotion covered Scott's face and the larger man slowly held the bottle out toward Scott.

Amber apparently took the moment of distracted fear as an opportunity, and she stomped the heel of her foot down onto the toes of the man still loosely holding her around the waist. She stumbled forward when he let her go in surprise and Stiles grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to stand behind Scott.

She huddled close to Stiles and fisted her small hand into the fabric of his shirt. His eyes raked over her in a rush, catching the lingering fear in her eyes and the way her chest was rising and falling with shaky breaths beneath her sweatshirt. After determining that he didn't think she'd been physically harmed, Stiles reluctantly turned his attention back to the confrontation still taking place.

Scott glanced back toward them quickly, his eyes glowing bright gold, before he turned to face forward again and threw the bottle of whiskey a couple hundred feet across the clearing. It shattered loudly against a tree and the two strange men took a nervous step away.

"We-" Stiles cleared his throat anxiously, "We cool?"

The men both nodded, backing another few steps away while keeping their eyes glued to Scott.

"Great meeting you, then." Amber said sarcastically. She tugged on Stiles' hand and grabbed the sleeve of Scott's jacket as she began to pull them away and back in the direction they'd initially hiked out from, "Let's go." She pleaded, pulling more firmly on Scott's sleeve when he didn't immediately budge.

"Yeah, Scott. Let's go, man." Stiles agreed, locking his fingers with Amber's and stumbling in his inebriated state.

He squeezed her hand guiltily as he thought about his insistence on coming out and drinking, an anxious pit growing in his stomach as she pulled him along. So far, he didn't feel like he was doing incredibly well on his promise to keep her safe.

The three friends sat in the vehicle for several long minutes after they finally climbed back inside, a thick silence filling the Jeep. Each of them unsure exactly what to say.

"So, that was kind of really scary." Amber finally admitted quietly once the silence had stretched just a hair too long. She looked between her friends for their reactions, at Scott behind the wheel and Stiles tensely sitting in his own passenger seat.

"Agreed." Stiles told her, "Am, I'm so sor-"

"I wouldn't've let them hurt you." Scott interrupted, his eyes flicking to Amber before looking back out the windshield with an angry stare, "I mean it. Just seeing him touch you like that.. If they'd hurt you I would've- I mean, I-I actually wanted to-"

He shook his head and she reached out to rest a hand on his arm to stop him, "Scott, it's okay."

"I wouldn't have let them hurt you. Either of you." He clarified, his eyes drifting past her to look at Stiles.

"We know, man." Stiles told him, leaning his head back against the window.

"Let's get out of here?" Amber prompted quietly after a moment, her attention focused on Scott.

He nodded and started up the vehicle, getting them back onto the main road. He drove the Jeep back to Stiles' house, but refused the offer to stay the night and instead insisted on walking home.

Amber watched him go with a worried frown, shivering in the late night air as she eased back from wasted into pleasantly drunk.

Stiles pulled her inside the house and they stumbled up the staircase toward his bedroom, the two of them laughing loudly at one another as they tripped over the troublesome stairs.

He veered off toward the bathroom and she entered the bedroom and moved to stand beside the dresser, leaning against the wall as she waited. When he reappeared a few minutes later, he had already changed into pajamas and she chewed distractedly on her lip when she saw how soft and attractive he looked.

"You know, you could find clothes to sleep in yourself for once." He told her with a laugh as he came to stand in front of his dresser.

"I don't want to dig around through your drawers." She frowned.

"I don't have that many clothes. There wouldn't be much digging." Stiles laughed, leaning against the piece of furniture casually and looking at her.

"No, I just meant," She paused, "I wouldn't want to, y'know, find anything.. Racy."

He blinked in surprise, "I- Amber.. First of all, I hide things better than that. My dad is a cop. A Sheriff." He laughed incredulously, "And even if he wasn't, I wouldn't keep porn in my underwear drawer."

She blushed awkwardly at his words and shuffled on her feet, her mind drifting to the contents of her own dresser.

He balked at her reaction, "I- Do you keep porn in your underwear drawer?"

"Ew, gross, no. I don't have physical copies of porn. It's the twenty-first century, Stiles." She defended quickly.

"Okay.." He started slowly, "Then what do you hide in your underwear drawer that has you so red?" He prodded gently, an eager look on his face.

"Um," She swallowed, determinedly looking at the lamp across the room, "Not porn."

"Well if it's not porn then what else would you-" He paused with wide eyes. He stood up straighter and took one step to the side to block her line of sight across the room. His own cheeks were tinged pink as he looked at her blushing face, "You.. You keep your-"

"Eugh, Stiles don't say it!" She pleaded, stepping forward and covering his mouth with both of her hands, "Yes I have a-" She paused, face hot with embarrassment, "A you-know-what. And yes, I hide it in my underwear drawer. Please, let's never talk about it again."

He was still looking at her wide-eyed and he nodded distractedly, his focus seemingly somewhere else. She dropped her hands from his mouth as she took a step back and sighed after a few seconds passed and his focus didn't return.

"Stiles, please stop thinking about my sex toys." She pleaded quietly. She'd begun to pull off her hoodie when she finally heard his voice again.

"Toys? Toys as in plural? As in more than one?"

She finally ripped the sweatshirt over her head and she glared at him as she dropped it to the floor, "I thought we were going to never talk about it again? Here we are.. Talking about it."

"Right, you're right. I'm sorry." Stiles blinked and shook his head, his eyes drifting down to her tank top for a moment. He blinked again and turned to the dresser, pulling open a drawer in preparation, "Right, okay. What'd'you need? Just a tshirt?"

"Can I have something with long sleeves?" She asked, shivering as if on command.

He shifted through his stack of tshirts for a moment before pulling out a white long sleeved tee. He held it out to her and she reached to take it from him, but he pulled his hand back playfully before she could grab it.

She made a quiet noise of discontentment and reached for the shirt again but Stiles lifted his arm over his head and held it just out of her reach, a large grin on his face as he watched her push up on her tiptoes. She pulled at his arm with one hand and nearly had the shirt in her reach when he readjusted once again.

He laughed, holding his hand outstretched behind his back where she couldn't get to it. She pinched her face in annoyance and determination and leaned closer, her arm reaching around him to grab for the shirt but her fingers only just reaching past his elbow.

"Stiles, c'mon I'm cold-" She tried again, leaning into his chest with her cheek against his as she tried to gain a couple more inches in arm length.

"The thermostat is set to seventy," He laughed again, his head turning to look at her put-out expression.

She huffed in frustration and gripped his opposite shoulder in her hand as she hauled herself higher up his body to reach for the clothing. She heard him huff another small laugh at her and she turned her head to glare at him, a quip on her tongue about it not being funny, but their faces had been hovering closer together than she'd thought and when she turned, her mouth brushed across his cheek before skimming softly over the plushness of his lips.

Her gaze caught on his eyelashes as they fluttered shut and something in her belly flipped when she felt the soft breath he let out over her lips and she gasped quietly before jerking away.

She released his shoulder quickly, dropping back down onto the floor flat-footed and easing herself back until their chests were no longer pressed together. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ribcage and her lips tingled from the soft touch of his mouth against hers.

"I'm sorry." She said quickly, eyes wide.

Stiles looked stunned and she swallowed as she watched his arm holding the shirt slowly drop back down to rest at his side, "I- No- No apology necessary-"

She nodded and trained her focus on a tiny mole on the side of his neck, worried that if she looked at his face, she wouldn't be able to force her eyes to look at anything but his lips.

Stiles reached out to awkwardly offered her the shirt still gripped in his hand and she accepted the shirt quickly, taking a small step back before pulling it on over the thin fabric of her tank top. She reached up to pull her hair free from the collar of the shirt before thoughtlessly beginning to remove her jeans. She managed to pull one leg free and lifted her other foot to tug at the fabric around her other ankle but she swayed lightly on her feet as she finally rid herself of her jeans and she felt Stiles reach up to steady her with a hand on her waist.

"I think 'm still kinda drunk." She admitted with a quiet laugh, finally looking up to find him standing temptingly close.

His brown eyes flicked slowly back and forth between hers before he spoke, "Yeah, me too."

She took a small step back out of his reach again, "Brush our teeth 'nd then bed?" She asked him, taking another step toward the bedroom door.

Stiles reached up to rub at the back of his neck and nodded, gesturing for her to leave the room first.

They brushed their teeth quickly and Amber ran back toward the bedroom excitedly, jumping into the bed and landing in an ungraceful heap in the pile of blankets where she began to kick at the duvet until she could stick her bare legs beneath the fabric.

Stiles entered the room just as she was pulling the blankets up with a contented sigh. He watched her silently for a moment before flicking off the light and coming to climb in beside her.

She flopped down onto her preferred pillow and stared up at the ceiling, dark shapes swaying and bending in her vision dizzily now that her intoxicated body was laying completely still. Her mind drifted sleepily after a few minutes in the quiet and she yawned before speaking softly into the dark.

"Can't believe we kissed after all these years.. I mean.. We've been best friends since the third grade 'nd we kiss for the first time and it's a total accident-"

"Wait, wait-" Stiles interrupted her quietly, "That wasn't our first kiss, though."

She rolled onto her side in the dark and looked at the dark shape of him in confusion, "What do you mean? Yeah it was."

She heard more than saw him shake his head against his pillow, "No it wasn't," He told her adamantly, "We've kissed before."

"No we haven't," She laughed quietly, "I think I'd remember if we'd kissed before, Stiles."

"Well, we did," He said quietly, "You were in second grade. There was this jump rope tournament going on at recess for weeks and you and Lydia refused to be a part of it. But you watched from the sidelines every day and you made these little bracelets with dandelion stems for the kids that got eliminated-"

He shook his head again in the dark before continuing, "And, anyway- Then it was just down to me and that kid Vernon and then Jackson, and- And I remember you said something about how you promised to marry the winner the next day." Stiles told the story quietly and Amber's face contorted in confusion as she struggled to comprehend his words, "Anyway, I bribed Vernon with an X-Men comic, and I untied Jackson's shoelaces, and I won."

"I do remember that," She admitted quietly, "But Stiles, you didn't win. Lydia did the whole, 'You may now kiss' thing under the slides but it was me and that third grader with the pretty hair-" She paused, trying to remember the boy's name — It hadn't been English. It had been a Czechoslovakian name, or maybe Romanian. She sighed in frustration when she couldn't quite remember, "I think he moved away after that school year. His name was.. Like, Mooshy-"

"Mieczysław." Stiles interrupted, the pronunciation seeming to fall off his tongue easily.

"Yes!" She told him quietly, "See, you do remember him."

"Amber. You know my birth name isn't Stiles.." He said slowly.

The seemingly sudden change in subject left her feeling confused but she allowed it, "Yeah, I know," She agreed with a yawn, wiggling in place in the bed to burrow deeper beneath the blankets, "It's, um-" She frowned, "I-I don't think you've ever actually told me your real name."

"It's Mieczysław." He told her with a small laugh.

She reached out and punched him in what she approximated was his arm, "No, it's not." She said quickly, but as the puzzle pieces slowly began to slide together in her brain, she gasped in the dark, "Stiles, no it's not." She repeated in disbelief before punching him again.

"Ow-" He rubbed at the newly sensitive spot on his arm, "I thought you knew!" Stiles defended, reaching out in the dark and grabbing her fist in his hand so that she couldn't hit him again.

"So then.. That was the year you were held back.. And you got rid of the shoulder-length hair.." She started, pausing for a moment, "But, the next year you weren't-"

"Going by my birth name was always hell. The teachers couldn't pronounce it, let alone the other kids-" He told her, "We went to visit my grandad that summer. He's this raging asshole of an army vet, but- He always went by Stiles and I liked it. Made my mom and dad start calling me it almost immediately and refused to answer to anything to else."

"Meecshislav," She whispered with careful pronunciation with a yawn, grinning when Stiles squeezed his hand around her fist softly, "It's kinda pretty."

"Yeah, pretty's exactly what I'm going for." He chuckled sarcastically.

She shuffled closer in the bed and nestled her head beneath his chin, taking a deep breath. He smelled like laundry detergent, and body wash, and whiskey, and something underneath it all that was inherently Stiles.

One of his arms came up to wrap around her back and she nuzzled contentedly into the warmth of his chest beneath the blankets. She resolutely blamed the remaining buzz of alcohol in her brain for the words that sleepily left her mouth next.

"Bu' you are. Think y're very pretty."

And then she was out like a light.

When Monday finally came around after the police-enforced four day weekend, just being inside of the day-lit school building felt surreal. Amber sat on the floor outside of the front office with Stiles, her legs sprawled out in front of her. She tapped her fingers impatiently against the bare skin off her thighs below the hem of her skirt.

"Stiles, I know you wanna talk to your dad, but we're seriously going to be late if we don't-"

"No," He interrupted her. "No one's gonna fail us for being two minutes late for a standardized test, alright? I need to talk to my dad before he goes out looking for Derek tonight."

She sighed, knowing that her friend was right. She was worried about the safety of all of the police officers who would be going out on the night of the full moon with a murderous Alpha still on the loose. She glanced at the clock on her phone screen, chewing her lower lip anxiously.

The bell signaling the end of the fifteen-minute morning break trilled out loudly in the hallway and Amber flinched, looking at Stiles nervously for only a second before the office door swung open. Sheriff Stilinski's voice could be heard murmuring softly to the principal and the two officers with him as they all stepped out into the hall.

Stiles got to his feet clumsily, pulling Amber up by her bicep. The Sheriff cast them both a displeased look when he spirited them and he dismissed the two officers as the teens came to stand in front of him.

"Don't you both have a test to get to?" The Sheriff asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising his eyebrows as he looked between them.

Amber nodded and Stiles spoke quickly, "What's goin' on? Did you find Derek yet?"

"I'm workin' on it," Sheriff Stilinski told him. He looked at where Amber was checking the time nervously on her phone again before returning his attention to his son, "You, go take your test."

"Alright, but dad, listen to me-"

"Go." The Sheriff insisted.

"This is really important," Stiles told him urgently. The Sheriff glanced between the two teens again and sighed when Amber nodded her own insistence. "You have to be careful tonight, okay?" Stiles pleaded.

"Especially tonight." Amber emphasized.

"You guys, I'm always careful." Sheriff Stilinski told them earnestly.

Stiles took a breath, "Dad, you've never dealt with this kind of thing before, okay? At least not like this."

"I know. Which is why I've brought in people who have." The man told them both. They frowned in confusion before he continued, "State detectives. Now, go. Both of you. Go take your test."

Stiles scrunched his face in frustration before readjusting his grip on his backpack and begrudgingly pulling Amber down the hallway with a sigh.

"Those state detectives aren't going to be any help at all, are they?" She leaned close to ask the question quietly as they fast-walked down the hall toward the east stairwell.

"Nope. Not one bit." He told her as they climbed the stairs two at a time.

As they rushed into the classroom for the test, they were still in the first half of students to arrive and Amber sighed in relief as she took a seat at an empty desk. She quickly pulled out a pencil as Stiles threw his backpack to the ground and settled into the seat behind her.

She tapped her pencil eraser against her desk anxiously as she waited for the rest of their classmates to file into the room. When Scott stepped through the doorway, Amber watched him falter as he caught sight of Allison at a desk in the front of the room. A few students shuffled around his frozen body awkwardly as they moved toward the remaining empty desks.

Scott stepped forward a few slow steps to approach Allison's desk and Amber winced in sympathy for them both.

Before Scott could say anything, Mr. Harris stepped up behind him and leaned in close as he dropped a set of test booklets on the desk at the front of each row, "Mr. McCall, please take a seat."

Scott seemed to hesitate for a moment before he frowned and made his way toward the empty desk remaining in front of Amber and Stiles, only a few seats away from Allison. As he fell into his seat, he gave Amber and Stiles a small smile of commiseration, passing the stack of blue test booklets back onto Amber's desk.

She kept one booklet before passing the final two back to Stiles for him and the student sitting behind him. He gave her a reassuring smile and his fingers brushed softly over hers as he took the tests from her outstretched hand.

She turned back around in her seat with a sigh. She had studied and done practice tests the entirety of Thursday and Friday. Though she had no reason to be nervous, she found herself wiping her clammy hands on the wool of her short skirt under her desk anyway.

"You have forty-five minutes to complete the test," Mr. Harris' voice announced from the front of the room, "Twenty-five percent of your grade can be earned right now, simply by writing your name on the cover of the blue book." He told them, letting his glare rake over the students slowly as he continued, "However, as happens every year, one of you will inexplicably fail to put your name on the cover and I'll be left yet again questioning my decision to ever become a teacher." Mr. Harris sighed with an eye roll as he sat down at the desk at the front of the room, "So, let's get the disappointment over with. Begin."

Amber wrote her name at the top of her booklet and quickly flipped open the front cover, her eyes raking over the words on the page rapidly. She sped through the first couple of pages, recognizing many of the questions from her practice tests, and circled her answers quickly as she went. She chewed her lower lip and tapped the fingertips of her left hand against the top of her desk as she plowed through the mercifully easy test questions.

There were only a few unanswered questions remaining in her booklet when Scott suddenly shot up from the desk in front of her. He grabbed his backpack and abandoned his open test on his desktop, rushing toward the door.

"Mr. McCall!" Their teacher called out, watching Scott ignore him as he ran from the classroom.

Amber turned her head worriedly to glance back at Stiles, but he already was rising from his own desk and running after Scott.

"Mr. Stilinski!" Their teacher shouted at him as he left the room. Amber began to stand from her own seat and Mr. Harris shot her a sharp look, "Sit. Down."

She shied back from his scolding and frustratedly went back to her test, quickly skimming the last few questions and circling her answers. She flipped the booklet closed and pushed up from her seat, grabbing Stiles' backpack from the floor behind her desk and rushing to the front of the room.

"Miss Callisto, if you don't return to your seat and finish your test, I am going to give you detention for the next-"

She set her completed booklet on top of his desk, "I'm finished." She told him quickly, eyes flicking to the door worriedly.

Mr. Harris narrowed his eyes and flipped through the booklet to verify whether or not she was lying. When he determined she was telling the truth, he scrunched his face up in annoyance and nodded once, dismissing her.

She tightened her grip on Stiles' bag and ran from the room. She rushed down the hallway in the direction Scott and Stiles had gone in only a minute before, looking around wildly for a clue as to where they'd gone.

"Guys." She whisper-shouted as she ran down the hall.

She got no response, but she heard a cellphone ring out with the same ringtone Scott used. It came from the next hallway over before cutting off sharply. She rushed down the hall and realized with a slightly queasy feeling in her stomach that she was heading in the direction of the boy's locker room.

When she reached the doorway, the door that had been covered in the janitor's blood just a few nights before had been removed from its hinges. She rushed through the opening without allowing herself time to think about the last time she'd been in the room.

"-I can't. I can't breathe-" She heard Scott gasp before he took a wheezing breath.

"Scott?" She called out worriedly, sprinting to the back of the room in a panic.

She skidded into Stiles' back when she turned the corner toward the showers and found Scott hyperventilating, shirtless and soaking wet. Stiles was digging through Scott's backpack frantically and he pulled out Scott's inhaler from the bottom of the bag, holding it out toward their friend.

"Here, use this." Stiles said, shaking the inhaler at him. Amber and Scott both looked at him in confusion and Stiles shook it emphatically again, "Come on. Do it."

"I- Just try it, Scott." Amber told him, taking it from Stiles' hand. She pulled the cap from the mouthpiece and held it out closer to Scott as he continued to gasp in choppy breaths.

He took the inhaler from her hand and brought it up to his mouth, squeezing the device down and taking the medicine into his lungs. He leaned over for a few seconds, beginning to inhale deep breaths as he calmed and Amber sighed in relief.

Scott breathed slowly for a few seconds before looking up at them in confusion, "Wh- I was having an asthma attack?"

"No. You were having a panic attack. But, thinking you were having an asthma attack, actually stopped the panic attack." Stiles explained slowly, "Irony."

"How- How did you know to do that?" Scott asked him.

Stiles looked at Amber sadly for a moment before returning his attention to Scott, "I used to get them- After my mom died. And-and then Amber did too, when her parents-" His voice faded out.

Amber chewed on her lower lip at the admission, recalling all of the times Stiles had calmed her down or distracted her from her own panic attacks.

"Not fun, huh?" She asked Scott quietly, reaching down and pulling at the hem of her skirt awkwardly.

Scott shook his head at them sadly, taking a slow breath, "I-I looked at her and it was like someone hit me in the ribs with a hammer."

"Yeah, that's heartbreak." Amber told him with a sympathetic smile.

Stiles chuckled sadly and nodded, "There's about two billion songs written about it."

"I can't stop thinking about her." Scott panted, leaning his head back against the shower wall.

"You could think about this," Stiles started, "Her dad's a werewolf hunter.. You're a werewolf. So, it was bound to become an issue-" He laughed quietly and Amber reached over to slap him in the arm. "That wasn't helpful." Stiles agreed with a small nod of his head.

"It's gonna hurt, Scott." Amber said softly, "And it sucks, but.. It won't feel like this forever."

"Dude, I mean- You got dumped." Stiles told him with a shrug, "It's supposed to suck."

"No," Scott disagreed, "That's not all. It was like I could feel everything in the room.. Everyone else's emotions."

"Like, everyone else's stress and anxiety about the test." Amber realized, looking at him pityingly.

"It's gotta be the full moon," Stiles said, seemingly deep in thought. He shook his head as he refocused and looked between his best friends, "So, Amber and I'll lock you in your room later like we planned. That way, you'll be contained, and the Alpha- Who's your boss," He reminded him, "Can't get to you either."

"I think you guys need to do a lot more than lock me in my room." Scott told them honestly.

"What- Are you worried about the Alpha or- Or the hunters?" Amber asked him worriedly.

Scott shook his head, stepping out of the shower stall and coming closer to his friends, "No. I-I think if I get out- I think I might kill someone."

Stiles climbed over the changing bench in the locker room, lacrosse stick in hand, and sat down in the open space beside Scott as Coach Finstock came out of his office.

"All right, geniuses!" Coach shouted to gain the attention of the team, continuing to talk as they huddled around him at the back of the locker room, "Listen up! Due to the recent pink-eye epidemic- Thank you, Greenberg- The following people have made first line on a probationary basis. Emphasis on 'probationary'."

Stiles looked around wide-eyed. He glanced at Scott to find that his friend wasn't paying any attention to the team meeting taking place but Stiles sat up straighter as he focused his attention on their Coach.

Finstock lifted the clipboard in his hands up to look at the list of player names on the sheet of paper, "Rodriguez," He read off slowly, "Welcome to first line. Taylor.. And, uh-" The Coach paused, squinting in confusion at the paper in front of him, "Oh, for the love of crap. I can't even read my own writing.. What is that? An 'S'?" He questioned aloud.

Stiles was barely containing his eagerness, rising to hover above his seat and shaking in anticipation, praying for his last name to be called. Stilinski.. Stilinski.

"No, no, wait." Coach immediately backtracked. Stiles deflated and fell back onto the bench as Coach Finstock continued, "That's not an 'S', that's a- That's a 'B'. It's definitely a 'B'." He announced, "Rodriguez, Taylor, and Bilinski!"

Stiles' head snapped up in excitement, "Ha! Aha!" He yelled enthusiastically, rising to his feet and lifting his arms above his head in triumph. He whooped and cheered and looked around the room with wide eyes, but he seemed to be the only one affected by the incredible news.

"Bilinski!" Coach Finstock yelled at him with an unimpressed glare.

"Yes?" Stiles asked quickly.

"Shut up." Coach told him.

"Yes, sir." Stiles winced, sitting back down beside Scott as a couple of their teammates laughed.

"Stiles-" Scott said to him quietly.

"It's Biles." Stiles corrected quickly, "Call me Biles or I swear to god I'll kill you."

"And another thing!" Coach called out, "From here on out, we're switching to co-captains. Congratulations McCall."

Stiles looked at Scott in surprise and found a similar look of astonishment on his face. Stiles nudged his knee against his best friend's excitedly as Jackson stepped forward to stand beside Coach.

"What?" Jackson asked quietly.

"What do you mean, 'What?'" Coach asked him, "Jackson, this takes nothing away from you. This is about combining separate strengths into one unit. This is about taking your unit, McCall's unit, and- We're making one big unit." Coach told him assuredly, "McCall. It's you and Jackson now. Everybody else, asses on the field!"

Coach blew on his whistle in emphasis and Stiles quickly grabbed his duffle bag and stood up with Scott to walk to the front of the locker room, "Dude, can you believe this?" Stiles asked, "You're captain, I'm first line.. I'm first freaking line!" He yelled excitedly.

They made their way out into the hallway and Scott still hadn't spoken so Stiles turned to his friend in confusion, readjusting his bag over his shoulder as they walked, "Are you not freaking out?" Stiles asked, still in disbelief at the events of the last two minutes, "I'm freaking out!"

"What's the point?" Scott asked blankly, "It's just a stupid title. And- I could practically smell the jealousy in there."

Stiles paused, jerking back in surprise and pulling Scott to a stop, "Wait. You can smell jealousy?" He asked in confusion.

Scott shrugged, "Yeah. It's like the full moon's turned everything up to ten."

"Oh," Stiles said, getting distracted with a sudden train of thought, "Can you pick up on other things? Like," He shrugged in an attempt at nonchalance, "I don't know... Desire?"

"What do you mean 'desire'?'" Scott asked him.

"Like.. Sexual desire." Stiles clarified with another shrug.

"Sexual desire?"

"Yeah, sexual desire-" Stiles repeated quickly, "Lust, passion, arousal."

Scott sighed and looked down the hallway. Stiles followed his gaze after a second to see the girl of his affections exiting the girl's bathroom and walking down the hallway toward her locker, looking as inhumanly beautiful as she always seemed to, "From Amber?"

"What?" Stiles scoffed a little too quickly, "No. In a broad, general sense. Can you determine sexual desire?"

"From Amber to you?" Scott clarified once more with an unimpressed raise of his eyebrows.

"Fine, yes. From Amber to me." Stiles admitted in frustration, "Look, I need to know if I actually have a chance, okay? I've been obsessing over her since the third frickin' grade and something sort of, almost, but didn't really happen last night and- I just need to know. I can't mess up our friendship for nothing, dude."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Scott questioned blankly.

"Ah, well. To save myself from utterly crushing humiliation. Thank you, Scott." Stiles told him sarcastically, "Okay, so please? Can you just go and ask her if she likes me? See if her heartbeat rises, pheromones come out-"

"Alright. Fine." Scott said quickly, sighing in regret immediately.

Stiles watched Scott head down the hallway in the direction of their best friend with a nervous excitement building up inside of him. He bit down on a smile and bounced on his toes before rushing out toward the lacrosse field, where he would be practicing. Because he was on first frickin' line.

Coach Finstock was holding a team meeting before lacrosse practice, which usually meant either Greenberg had managed to catch some sort of contagious disease again or there was a change in the lineup — possibly both.

Amber stood just outside the locker room, her ear hovering close to the newly installed, closed metal door. She impatiently attempted to eavesdrop on what was being said, but she couldn't make out much more than the muffled sound of lockers being slammed shut. Eventually, the noise faded and she realized the meeting was being held outside of Coach's office, which was tucked away at the very back of the locker room.

Abandoning her post with a sigh, she wasted a few minutes of time in the restrooms, going to the bathroom and reapplying her tinted lip balm in the mirror.

In lieu of standing in the girl's room any longer, she eventually made her way back into the hallway to head to her locker to grab her jacket and backpack. She was only a few yards from her destination when she heard Scott's voice call out to her.

"Hey! Amber. Can we talk for a second?"

She turned around and caught sight of Scott approaching her locker, changed into the maroon bulk of his practice jersey and lacrosse padding.

"Yeah, of course," She agreed easily as he led her into an empty classroom before closing the door softly behind them, "What happened in the meeting, anyway? I tried to listen in through the door but I couldn't really hear anything."

Scott waved her off, "I made co-captain and Stiles is starting. That's not-"

"Oh my god!" She yelled excitedly, "Are you serious! That's amazing! Where's Stiles? I need to-"

"Just wait. That's not what I wanted to talk about." Scott interjected, guiding her back a few steps further into the room. Once he's pushed her to lean back against the teacher's desk at the front of the class, he released her arm.

"Okay, what? What's going on?" She asked immediately in concern, eyes raking over his face for some sort of clue.

"Do you, uh.. Do you know if Allison still likes me?" He asked sadly.

"Scott," She said softly, reaching out a hand to take his, "Of course she does."

"Really?"

The look of hope on Scott's face made all of the protective instincts she had for her best friend flare up and she rubbed her thumb softly along the back of Scott's hand.

"Yeah," She said softly, "I mean, give her some time. She's scared. We were all scared, right? And then you had to leave in order to protect us and I- maybe right now she's not necessarily grateful but-"

"Are you grateful?" He asked, the expression on his face changing into something Amber couldn't quite decipher.

"Huh?"

"You," Scott repeated, "Are you grateful?"

"You went out, knowing there was a possibility of facing the Alpha all alone, so you could get a key that would've saved us all.. I mean, duh. Of course I am, Scott." She reached her free hand up to rub the small space where his upper arm was exposed from his lacrosse pads.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, Scott had leaned into her space and brought his mouth down against hers. She pulled back slightly but the boy stepped closer and pressed her more firmly into the desk. He brought a hand up to tangle in the hair at the base of her neck to keep their mouths pressed together.

She turned her head to the side and took in a breath, "Scott-" She started, but Scott's lips covered hers again before she could finish.

Her heart began to beat harder in her chest with adrenaline as the wood of the desk pressed uncomfortably against the tops of her thighs. She pushed at her friend's shoulders but with his newly acquired supernatural strength, he didn't budge so much as an inch. She broke the seal of their lips once more but she only managed a shaky breath before he guided his mouth back over hers with the hand on the back of her neck. She pushed harder at his shoulders, leaning back over the desk as she did so in an attempt to put more space between them.

When Scott's free hand brushed against the hem of her skirt as it trailed up the outside of her thigh on the way to her hip, her stomach swooped anxiously.

She tightened her shaking right hand into a fist as his fingers curled around her waist. Leaning back a few more inches, she broke the seal of their mouths once again and swung her arm with as much force as she could manage in the limited space between their bodies. When her fist made contact with Scott's jaw, the boy took an immediate step back from her in surprise.

"What the hell!?" He yelled angrily, his hand rubbing at the spot where she'd hit him.

"Me!? Scott, what the fuck was that?" She yelled back, her voice hitching as she pulled a deep breath into her lungs.

"God, Amber. You're a tease, y'know that?" He glared at her and her eyes caught on the way his lips were smeared lightly with the bright pink tinge of her lip balm.

"I- What?" She asked quietly this time, her hands were shaking, and as the adrenaline from before faded, she noticed the sharp pain in the knuckles of her right hand.

"Don't act so innocent," Scott scoffed, "You're always touching and rubbing me. My arms, my neck? Don't even get me started on Stiles- You need to put out sometime, Amber, or you're gonna end up alone."

Scott took an angry breath and she couldn't understand the look of rage in his eyes. He was actually, genuinely, mad at her.

"Scott.." She started, voice wavering before realization suddenly washed over her, "It- It's the full moon, isn't it? The.. The moon's really affecting you this much already? We- We'll figure this out, okay, you just need to-"

Before she could continue, he had turned and stormed out of the classroom.

The silence that he left behind had her ears ringing as she remained unmoving, leaning against the desk at the front of the room. She watched the door for a full minute, half expecting Scott to walk back in with an explanation for some of what had just happened, but he didn't come.

Her hands were still shaking lightly when she lifted her right hand to inspect her sore knuckles. She found the joints reddening and beginning to swell already. She clenched her fingers into a tight fist and gasped at the sharp pain that radiated through her hand.

She took a couple of slow tentative steps forward before pushing out of the classroom. There were still people milling about in the hallway but she found that couldn't hear them over the heavy rushing of blood that filled her ears as her heart continued to pound.

Her backpack and jacket were both still in her locker, so that was where she headed.

When she got to her locker, her hands fumbled with the lock, the metal slipping repeatedly from between her shaking fingers. She huffed out a frustrated breath through her nose and willed herself to calm down.

The moon's power over Scott was only going to get stronger, and she needed to pull herself together if she wanted to help him.

After her padlock refused to open for the third time, she found herself pulling and tugging at it hopelessly. When the lock remained intact she felt heat prickle at her eyes as if she were about to cry.

"What, did you forget your combination?" A voice said beside her.

She exhaled sharply and looked up at where Lydia was standing beside her locker. When their eyes met, Lydia's face twisted into worry and she reached out to comfort the brunette.

"Hon, what-"

Amber flinched away from the outstretched hand before it could make contact with her arm and her next few breaths were shallow, unable to get a good lungful of air. The sounds around her were beginning to distort again and she felt entirely too warm, like she was going to explode out of her own skin if she got any hotter.

Her breathing was ragged and the longer she panicked, the fuzzier her surroundings became. She didn't know how much time passed, but when her breathing eventually began to slow, she felt cold water against her cheeks and flinched slightly in surprise.

"Hey," Lydia's voice said softly, placing a cold, wet hand to Amber's face again, "You coming back to me?"

Amber nodded as she slowly began to take in her surroundings. At some point, they'd moved into the girls restroom. The tap was running and every few seconds, Lydia moved her hand under the rush of cold water before patting her chilled hand to the flushed skin of Amber's face.

"Good," Lydia said, ripping off a piece of paper towel from the dispenser by the sink and drying her hands before dabbing at the wetness still on Amber's cheeks. "You gonna tell me what happened now? Did Stilinski do something?"

"It's stupid." Amber admitted quietly.

Lydia tutted at her and tilted her head thoughtfully, "If it upset you that much, it isn't stupid." She promised.

Amber shook her head, moving to place her right hand under the cold tap and sighing in relief at the cold water over her swollen knuckles. "Scott-" She started, clearing her throat when the words came out scratchy, "Scott kissed me-"

"What?" Lydia said in surprise, dropping her hands from Amber's face and looking at where the girl was gently cradling her hand under the tap.

"-And I had to punch him."

"You- You had to-"

"He wouldn't- I couldn't-" Amber faltered, unsure how to finish the sentence. She took a shaky breath, "Yeah, I.. I had to punch him."

"I'll kill him." Lydia stated, her eyes already clouded with dark thoughts.

"No! No, that's not-" She paused, unsure how to defend Scott without including werewolf drama, "It'll be fine, honest. He- He's just really torn up over Allison."

"If McCall was forcing himself on you-"

"Lydia, I would never let him anywhere near Allison if I thought he'd ever hurt her, okay?"

"But what about him hurting you?" Lydia frowned.

"I'm fine." Amber promised determinedly, pulling her hands from the water and drying them on a fresh strip of paper towel. She took a deep breath, turning away from the sink, "Honestly, I'm fine. I was just overwhelmed, okay? We should go get our stuff together before we miss the beginning of practice."

Stiles was practically oozing with anxiety as he waited outside on the players bench, watching for any sign of Scott or Amber heading toward the field. His knee jerked up and down violently and his heart was beating hard beneath his ribs as his nerves grew.

After several minutes, he caught sight of Scott and he barely contained the urge to wait until Scott was sitting on the bench before he questioned him, "Hey! What happened?" Stiles asked in nervous excitement.

"What?" Scott asked distractedly, readjusting the velcro on his glove and tightening it around his wrist.

"What do you mean, 'what?'" Stiles asked incredulously, "Did you ask her? Did she say anything? Did she say she liked me? Did she imply she liked me? Did she smell like she liked me?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure, dude." Scott told him unconvincingly.

The answer didn't instill much confidence and Stiles frowned at the lack of confirmation. He was about to ask Scott to clarify when the whistle blew for the start of practice and Stiles sighed, pulling on his helmet as he rose from his seat and grabbed his lacrosse stick.

They went out onto the field to begin drills, an offensive player charging on a couple of defense and shooting on goal. Stiles stood behind Scott in the line of offensive players as they waited their turn to run through the drill.

Scott seemed to be breathing heavily already, shoulders rising and falling with exaggerated movements, and Stiles frowned in confusion, leaning forward to speak over Scott's shoulder, "Dude, you okay? Look, I know we just got good news, and all, bit there's still seven hours until the full moon, okay? So-"

The whistle blew for Scott to take his turn and he only managed to run forward a few feet before he was thrown to the ground by the two defensive players. Stiles winced and watched his friend rise to his feet again angrily.

Coach blew his whistle and turned toward Stiles, "Who's next? Let's go!" He gestured for Stiles to take his turn, "You got a problem with that, Bilinski?"

"What?" He asked in surprise, readjusting his grip on his stick, "Uh, no-"

"Alright! You're up, big boy. Let's go!"

Stiles swallowed, readying himself to charge forward, but Scott made his way back to the front of the line and bashed into Stiles' chest with his lacrosse stick aggressively. Stiles stumbled while Scott pushed him back a step before he went to collect another ball to take his turn at the drill again.

"That's it, McCall!" Coach yelled, "That's the spirit! You gotta earn it! Earn it, McCall!"

Stiles' gaze drifted past the goal and he caught sight of Amber and Lydia making their way toward the field, heads bent close together in conversation. He watched the girls for only a few seconds before Coach Finstock's whistle blew softly and his attention was pulled to Scott as he ran forward again, rushing toward the defenders.

Scott quickly shoulder-checked both of the defensive players and sent them to the ground, continuing on without pause. Danny stepped forward out of the goal to block him next and Scott plowed into him violently, swinging his stick at the goalie's helmet and shoving him down to the grass before shooting the ball into the goal.

Danny went down hard and everyone immediately flocked over to check on him, worriedly shouting his name. Stiles watched Scott rip off his helmet as he took a few steps to the side and Stiles moved to follow him, pulling his own helmet off and shaking his head, flabbergasted at his friend's behavior.

"Dude," Stiles called out as he approached Scott, "What the hell are you doing?"

Scott scoffed, "What? He's twice the size of me."

Stiles glanced over to where the sport's paramedic was checking on their goalie's bleeding face before looking back at Scott beside him, "Yeah, but everybody likes Danny." Stiles told him, "Now everybody's gonna hate you."

"I don't care." Scott huffed in annoyance before storming away to stand at the back of their teammates.

Stiles stood stunned for a moment before he followed after him to stand where everybody was still huddled around Danny, even Lydia and Amber having rushed into the crowd at some point.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Amber was questioning, standing between Lydia and Jackson.

"Looks like he just has a bloody nose-" Jackson started before trailing off, staring at the girl beside him with an amused look of confusion.

"What?" Amber questioned, looking up at him.

"Callisto," Jackson chuckled quietly, "Your lipstick's smudged."

Stiles closed the final steps of distance between himself and the group and his eyes immediately gravitated to Amber. His chest tightened when he found the pretty pink tint that normally covered her lips was smeared around her mouth, the glossy shine smudged in a way that suggested she'd been thoroughly kissed. He felt his stomach drop sharply.

"Oh. Shit, I-" She reached up to blindly wipe at her mouth with the back of her sleeve. Her wide eyes cut sharply to where Scott was stepping up to stand beside her, "I, um. I don't know how-"

But Stiles was no longer listening to her embarrassed stammering. Instead, his eyes were caught on the shiny pink smudges that covered Scott's mouth. Stiles stared with a painful ache of betrayal as Scott's lips pulled into a smirk while watching the way Amber frantically tried to clean the makeup from her mouth.

Stiles looked between the two of them with a growing pit in his stomach. His jaw clenched and he was forced to take a small step back as his mind raced with an anger he’d never felt, heart thumping wildly in his chest.

Seven hours until the full moon was at its peak.

"Right. Now, you can't tell your father about this, because he'll kill me." Kate told Allison quietly, standing just behind her niece's shoulder. The older woman surveyed Allison's stance, legs shoulder-width apart, arms stretched out in front of her as she aimed at her target.

"Okay." Allison agreed with an excited grin.

"Okay," Kate agreed, nodding and clapping her hands together softly, "Well, what's our hapless victim's name?"

Allison kept her focus trained on keeping the little red dot in the center of her target's chest where it sat in the chair in front of her, "Mr. Bear."

"You named your teddy bear, 'Mr. Bear'?" Kate asked her in a teasing voice, "That's like, the worst teddy bear name in the world."

"I was five years old." Allison defended, eyes drifting to the side for a moment to glance at the woman beside her.

"Alright, well," Kate conceded, lifting a hand to gesture at the target sitting in the chair, "Just shoot your unimaginatively named bear and put it out of its misery."

Allison's smile spread and she fought a laugh before focusing on the task at hand, narrowing her eyes in concentration. She pulled the trigger and a cluster of wires shot out from the device in her hands, planting themselves into the teddy bear and shocking it with electricity with a repetitive low clicking noise.

Allison took a step back as she watched the bear smoke softly from its now-charred fur and her eyes burned with tears.

"See! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Kate laughed, looking at the teddy bear gleefully, "See, if you'd had that the other night-" She seemed to suddenly catch sight of her niece and faltered, "Woah, now.. Wait a minute. I thought you wanted to learn how to do this, sweetie?"

Allison plopped down to sit on her bed with a wet laugh, "I just don't know what happened.

"With Scott?" Kate asked, sitting down beside her and watching as Allison nodded sadly, "Aw, listen. My gorgeous, young niece, you're gonna break hearts left and right, okay?" The tears in Allison's eyes broke free and she sniffled quietly as she listened, "And he was lucky to have gotten the tiny little taste of Allison Argent's world that he got."

"But, it just-" Allison took a shaky breath as more tears fell from her eyes, "It felt so right with him. And then he started acting so strange and now I don't know what to believe."

"Well, sweetie, he's a guy. You can't believe anything." Kate told her with a roll of her eyes.

Allison shook her head softly, "It's just, the whole thing with Derek Hale the other night. And Scott saying he didn't know him, but I know he does, and I-I saw them together so-"

"Woah, woah, wait. Hold on. Back up. Scott knows Derek." Kate repeated slowly, gauging Allison's face closely as she spoke, "Alleged killer, Derek. Are they friends?"

"No." Allison told her quietly. Suddenly nervous at her aunt's intensity, "I mean, at least that's what he said. But I know his best friend Amber was kind of seeing Derek at some point so maybe-"

"How about you tell me everything-" Kate interrupted, "That Scott and Amber have said about Derek."

"What do you mean, everything?" Allison asked anxiously, leaning away and rubbing her palms along her thighs over her jeans.

Kate pulled Allison back with a hand on her shoulder, bringing their faces close together, "I mean everything." She told her firmly.

Allison looked at her aunt's intense gaze and swallowed, taking a deep breath before beginning to spill all of her friend's secrets.

Stiles checked his phone once more, re-reading the text message Amber had sent him twenty minutes before.

have to take care of something first but I'll be there as soon as I can! promise!

He tucked the phone back into his pocket and fumbled with the duffel bag in his hand as he slid his key into the front door to the McCall house. He unlocked it and pushed the door open, stepping inside and turning around to close it behind him.

"Scott?" Ms. McCall's voice called out as she stepped into the entryway in fresh nurse's scrubs.

"Stiles." He corrected with an awkward laugh. He had assumed she'd have left for work by now.

Ms. McCall glanced down at the key still clutched between his fingers and she raised her eyebrows, "Key." She pointed out with a slow blink.

"Yeah." He smiled, holding the object up proudly, "I had one made." After the last time I got in without one and you almost bludgeoned Amber and I with a baseball bat, goes left unsaid.

"That doesn't surprise me." Ms. McCall nodded with a frown, "It scares me, but it doesn't surprise me."

Stiles dropped his duffle bag to the ground beside the door and it landed with the loud metallic tinkling of chains rubbing against one another. He grimaced as he looked up at Ms. McCall's suspicious face.

"What is that?" She asked him, looking down at the bag in question.

"Uh, school project." He responded quickly.

"Mm," The woman said, unconvinced. "Stiles, he's okay, right?"

"Who, Scott?" He questioned stupidly, "Yeah, totally-"

"He just... Doesn't talk to me that much, anymore." She admitted quietly, "At least not like he used to."

"Well he's, uh- Had a bit of a rough week." Stiles told her, sticking his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt with a casual shrug.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." She agreed, "Yeah, um. Okay. Uh, y'know, be careful tonight."

"You too." He nodded as he watched her pull her car keys out of her purse.

"Full moon." Ms. McCall clarified, nodding up at the ceiling.

Stiles flinched, "What?" He asked in surprise.

"Uh, there's a full moon tonight," Scott's mom laughed, "You should see how the E.R. gets. Brings out all the nut jobs."

"Oh.. Right."

"Y'know," Ms. McCall started, stepping closer as she approached the front door, "It's actually where they came up with the word 'lunatic'."

Stiles stood frozen in awe as she patted him on the shoulder and headed outside, closing the door behind her. With a shake of his head, he picked the duffel bag back up and raced up the stairs, hoping to set up before Scott got there.

He pushed open Scott's bedroom door and flicked on the light, his eyes catching on the figure sitting in the chair in the corner of the room.

"Ho-Oh my god!" Stiles yelled, flinching back in surprise as he looked at where Scott was ominously sitting, "You scared the hell out of me. Your mom said you weren't home yet."

Stiles walked deeper into the room and dropped his bag loudly to the floor again, this time in front of Scott's feet.

"I came in through the window." Scott told him blankly, unmoving from his armchair in the corner.

"Okay..." Stiles said slowly, watching his friend silently for a few seconds before squatting down in front of him and beginning to unzip the bag, "Uh, well. Let's get this set up. I want you to see what Amber and I bought the other day."

"I'm fine." Scott told him emotionlessly.

Stiles looked up at him in surprise as he unzipped the bag the rest of the way.

"I'm just gonna lock the door and go to bed early tonight." Scott continued.

"You sure about that?" Stiles asked doubtfully, raising his eyebrows and gesturing at Scott's face, "Because you got this kinda serial killer look going on in your eyes.. And I'm hoping it's the full moon taking effect 'cause it's really starting to freak me out."

"I'm fine." Scott told him slowly, "You should go now."

Stiles looked at his friend for a moment, entirely unconvinced, "Alright, I'll leave." He leaned back and his eyes dropped down to the contents of his duffle bag again. He reached into the bag for a moment, fingers drifting over against the copious rungs of smooth metal before tapping his other hand against the fabric on the outside with a sigh, "Well, look, would you at least look in the bag and see what we bought? Y'know, maybe you use it, maybe you don't.. Sound good?"

Scott leaned forward in his chair slowly as he stood, his eyes not leaving Stiles until he had taken several slow steps and knelt down directly over the bag. Scott reached a hand inside and pulled out a fistful of metal chains, lifting it out and examining it with a blank stare.

"You think I'm gonna let you guys put these on and chain me up like a dog?" Scott asked coldly before dropping the chain back into the bag.

Stiles sighed, "Actually, no."

He grabbed Scott's left wrist and handcuffed him to the radiator on the wall in one swift move, jumping back out of the way as Scott reached for him angrily.

"What the hell are you doing!" Scott yelled, kneeling on the floor and pulling at the handcuffs.

"I'm protecting you from yourself." Stiles said, looking down at his friend determinedly, "And giving you some payback." He admitted, watching as Scott slowly turned to glare up at him, "For making out with Amber."

Scott seethe in anger and Stiles smiled in satisfaction before turning to leave the room.

"Stiles!" Scott growled after him, continuing to pull loudly at the metal handcuffs against the radiator.

Stiles went downstairs and collected a bottle of water from the fridge and a old metal bowl from the cupboard beneath the sink. He carried his haul back upstairs, pouring some of the water into the bowl as he walked.

"I brought you some water." Stiles announced, holding up the plastic bottle in display before making a show of pouring the rest of the contents into the dog food bowl in his other hand.

He placed the bowl down on the floor in front of Scott, satisfied by the scowl on his face and returning his glare before turning to leave the room. He flinched at the impact of the cold water and lightweight metal against his shoulder when Scott threw the bowl at his retreating back.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Scott screamed angrily.

Stiles took a deep breath, glaring at the wall in the hallway for a few seconds before back spinning around to face his friend.

"You kissed her, Scott!" Stiles finally yelled, "Okay? You kissed Amber. That's my- That's like the one girl that I ever-!" He huffed angrily through his nose before continuing, "And you know? The past three hours I've been thinking, it's probably just the full moon, y'know? He doesn't even know what he's doing and tomorrow he'll be totally back to normal. He probably won't even remember what a complete dumbass he's been. A son of a bitch. A fucking unbelievable piece of crap friend!"

Stiles took a much needed breath after his rant and Scott lifted his head with a dark look.

"She kissed me." Scott told him with a devilish grin.

Stiles deflated slightly, his stomach filling with a hollow sadness at the words. He swallowed and clenched his jaw, gearing himself up to respond when someone else spoke first.

"What?" A soft voice cut in from behind him.

Amber waited until the last possible minute to show Jason her bruising hand. He was pulling on his shoes to head into the fire station when she slowly approached, hiding her right hand behind her back.

"Hey, um.." She started slowly, "I have a first aid question."

Her brother looked up at her with thinly veiled suspicion before finishing his shoe laces and standing upright, "Okay." He said slowly.

She sighed, "So, I hurt my knuckles earlier.. It doesn't hurt that bad anymore, but I'd feel really stupid if I actually, like, fractured something and didn't ask you to look at it."

Jason sighed and held out his hand patiently. Once she laid her hand in his waiting palm he brought it up to his face to examine it closely, gingerly prodding at her knuckles and feeling around the bones.

She winced at the gentle touches to her sensitive knuckles but didn't pull away.

"What did you do, now?" He asked softly, turning her hand as he checked the swelling.

"I, uh, punched a brick wall." She explained, not feeling inclined to mention that said brick wall was named Scott. At his sharp look she continued, "It was an accident. I don't just go around punching walls."

He sighed and let her remove her hand from his grip, "Nothing's broken. You should ice it tonight and keep it elevated when you can." He told her easily as he pulled on his jacket, "Holding a pen at school is gonna suck, but it should heal up in a couple days."

"Okay." She nodded gratefully, examining her red knuckles herself for a moment.

"Do me a favor and try not to get yourself seriously injured tonight? Maybe stay in and watch a movie and stay out of trouble." He asked weakly.

"Stiles and I are going over to Scott's to work in a project." She told him.

He sighed and nodded as he pulled open the front door, "Be good. Please. I love you."

"Love you."

She dashed upstairs after he left and changed into a pair of jeans, pulling off her knit sweater and swapping it out for a cutoff crewneck. She checked the time stamp on the text she'd sent to Stiles before she'd spoken to her brother and saw that it had been nearly ten minutes already.

With a sigh, she raced downstairs and grabbed her keys before heading over to the McCall house, hoping she wouldn't be too late to help Stiles and Scott get everything set up.

She parked her car at the end of the driveway and jogged up to the front door. Stiles had promised to leave it unlocked for her and she was relieved to find that it swung open easily when she turned the knob.

The moment she stepped into the house, Amber could hear Stiles's raised voice upstairs, but it wasn't until she reached the top of the staircase that she was able to make out the words he was shouting.

"-I've been thinking, it's probably just the full moon, y'know? He doesn't even know what he's doing and tomorrow he'll be totally back to normal. He probably won't even remember what a complete dumbass he's been. A son of a bitch. A fucking unbelievable piece of crap friend!"

She had moved to stand in the doorway behind Stiles and hesitated as she took in the way that Scott wasn't chained as they had originally intended, but instead had just one wrist cuffed to the metal heater beneath the window.

She watched Scott lift his head with a dark look, his eyes drifting over to her briefly before focusing on Stiles, "She kissed me."

"What?" She said in disbelief before taking a couple of steps forward and coming up to stand beside Stiles.

Scott grinned devilishly and looked between them, "She made the first move, Stiles." He said, "You should've seen it."

She immediately thought back to the way she'd been trying to comfort her friend just before he'd kissed her and she felt her eyes prickle with frustrated tears as she became suddenly self-conscious. Scrunching her face up in annoyance at her own emotions, she huffed a breath through her nose. When she risked a glance over at Stiles, she found him looking between them, unsure.

"You're being an asshole, Scott." She told him quietly.

"Oh, yeah? Is that what you're into, then?" Scott quipped back quickly before turning his attention on Stiles again, "She would've done a lot more too, man. You should've seen the way she had her hands all over me."

Amber was seething in anger and Stiles took a shaky breath beside her. His hand dropped onto her shoulder and he pulled her back gently as he guided her out of the room without a word.

"She would've done anything I wanted, Stiles!" Scott called out to their backs, "Anything!"

They stepped to the side once they got into the hallway to slip out of view of the doorway and Amber took a deep breath, "Has he been like that since you got here?" She asked, her eyes drifting back toward the bedroom.

"Yeah, pretty much," Stiles told her, "You missed the truly terrifying way he was just sitting by himself in the dark and also the murdery look he gave me when he saw the chains but- Yeah, pretty much like this and slowly getting worse."

She sighed in frustration, bringing her fingers up to tangle in her hair and leaning back against the wall.

"Hey, wait-" Stiles said, his eyes catching on her right hand, "What happened there?" He questioned, pointing to the redness on her raw knuckles.

She looked at him in confusion for a second before she saw that he was gesturing toward her injured hand. She sighed again and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Oh, that." She laughed humorlessly, watching as Stiles slid down to sit beside her in the hallway, "I punched a werewolf in the face."

"Who, Scott?" He asked quickly. She nodded and he pulled her hand toward him gently to look at her knuckles, "I'm sure he deserved it. I know I'd like to punch him right now.. But why'd you punch Scott?"

She tilted her head against the wall to look over at him as he frowned at the red swelling on the back of her hand, "'Cause he kissed me."

Stiles raised his eyebrows, "Noted. Kiss Amber, get punched."

She snorted softly, lips pulling into a frown as she shook her head, "It wasn't like that," She started, unsure how much she wanted to tell him, "He was really upset about Allison.. Asked if she still liked him and I told him she was just scared, y'know? She doesn't understand why he left. She doesn't understand that he did it to protect us from the Alpha and I-" She sighed and turned to look at the hardwood floor with a frown, "I was holding his hand. And- and rubbing his arm. And I told him I was really grateful for what he did.. I guess it was stupid. He thought-"

"Hey, no. Amber, stop it." Stiles said firmly, "I don't care what you said or did, alright? Scott should've never kissed you. Like, ever. Seriously, never. I mean, he knows..."

"He knows what?" She asked quietly when Stiles' voice faded out.

He shook his head, "Nothing. He just- He never should've kissed you."

"Agreed." She told him, "D'you think the full moon is gonna be like this every time? Forever?"

"God, I hope not." He said, thumping his head back against the wall once and closing his eyes.

She tilted her head to the side to rest on his shoulder and they settled into silence for a few minutes. Though they weren't speaking, the house wasn't quiet. It was instead filled with the sounds of Scott determinedly pulling at the metal of his handcuffs and yelling angrily at them through the closed bedroom door.

Scott stopped shouting for a few minutes, still tugging quietly the handcuffs with a quiet sound of metal clinking.

"Guys?" Scott's voice called out gently, "Please let me out."

Amber thumped her head back against the wall once and reached her left hand across her body to grab Stiles' as Scott continued softly.

"It's the full moon, I swear." Scott pleaded weakly, "You know I wouldn't do any of this on purpose."

Stiles tilted his head to look over at her and she shook her head resolutely, pinching her lips together in silence.

"Please, you guys. Let me out. It's starting to hurt." Scott begged quietly, pulling at his handcuffs again.

Amber took in a shaky breath at his words and this time it was Stiles who shook his head at her before squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"It's not like the first time.. It's the full moon, it's Allison breaking up with me-" Scott explained, "I know that it's not just 'taking a break'. She broke up with me. And it's killing me." He told them slowly, "I feel completely hopeless.. Just, please let me out."

"We can't." Stiles spoke softly, to Scott or herself, Amber wasn't entirely sure.

"No, no-" Scott began to mumble frantically before he screamed out loudly in what sounded like pain.

Amber moved to stand instantly but Stiles pulled her back down beside him as Scott continued to scream.

Amber released Stiles' hand to raise her own to her ears, palms pressed tightly over her hair as she tried weakly to block out the loud screams coming from their best friend. Her stomach turned sickeningly and she turned sideways, curling an arm around Stiles' leg and dropping her head down to rest against his knee. The two of them listened to Scott's pained screaming for a long minute, eventually giving way into a low growl before cutting off all together.

The sudden silence rang eerily through the house but this time when Amber rose to her feet, Stiles didn't stop her and instead followed suit. They both crept slowly toward the bedroom, looking between the door and each other.

"Scott?" Amber called out quietly. There was no response and her heart thumped nervously in her chest.

"Scott? Are you okay?" Stiles asked loudly, his hand reaching for the doorknob.

When the bedroom door swung open, Scott was no where to be seen. The handcuffs lay in a broken heap next to the radiator, a small trail of blood beside them. The window had been pushed open wide and more blood trailed along the windowsill and led outside.

"Oh, fuck." Amber said quietly, eyes wide. She stared distractedly at the space where Scott had been a few minutes before and was finally pulled out of her thoughts when Stiles tugged her back by her wrist to leave.

They stumbled as they ran down the stairs and out of the house, sliding into the Jeep parked at the top of the driveway.

"Where would he have gone?" Stiles asked frantically, starting the vehicle and backing out of the driveway.

"I-I don't know!" Amber said as she buckled her seatbelt with shaking hands, "Allison's house? The preserve?"

"I don't think even wolfy Scott is stupid enough to go to a hunter's house on a full moon." He told her logically, turning off of Scott's street.

"Okay, so, the preserve then?"

He shrugged at her but took the next turn toward the edge of town anyway. They drove too fast than was really considered safe on the winding roads that led out to the preserve and ten minutes later, they were coming up on the lot they'd parked in the night before.

"Stiles-" Amber leaned forward in her seat, pointing out the scene at the edge of the forest.

There were red and blue flashing lights shining between the trees and Stiles turned sharply into the lot. He put the car in park and threw himself from the Jeep, leaving the driver's side door hanging open behind him.

Amber climbed around the front of the car and followed after him only a second later, tumbling from the vehicle and rushing to stand behind Stiles.

"Dad?" He called out in the throng of officers at the scene.

One officer shrugged unhelpfully at him and the others all continued on with what they were doing, paying no attention to the two teens who had just arrived at the scene.

"Dad!" Stiles called out again, more urgently.

She reached a hand out to his arm, "Stiles, I'm sure he's-"

"Has anyone seen my dad?" He yelled.

The people around them all shied back from his panicked question but gave no answer. Amber was about to reassure him again when a stretcher was rolled past them with a white sheet laid out over the top of what was quite clearly a dead body.

The look on Stiles' face was one of pure horror and she wanted desperately to reassure him that it wasn't his dad underneath, but she was too afraid to be wrong. Stiles began to reach forward to expose the person beneath the cloth and she did nothing to stop him.

The stretcher hit one of the potholes as it rolled along the parking lot and it jostled violently. An arm from the victim fell limply from beneath the sheet and the badly burnt flesh made the both of them falter for a second.

"Stiles." A familiar voice called out from just a couple of feet away and both Stiles and Amber flinched in surprise as they turned, "What're you kids doin' here?" Sheriff Stilinski asked them with a shake of his head.

Stiles sagged in relief and pulling his dad into a tight hug. The Sheriff looked at Amber over his son's shoulder in confusion but patted him on the back and returned his son's embrace.

When Stiles stepped back after a long moment, Amber reached forward to tangle their fingers together and Stiles gave her hand a squeeze as he took a steadying breath.

"Now, circling back to my initial question," The Sheriff looked between them and crossed his arms, "What are you both doing here?"

"Uh-" Stiles fumbled for a lie.

"We were listening to the police scanner again." Amber said quickly, nodding in mock shame at the Sheriff's disappointed look, "Yeah. And we got nervous, what with a murderer on the loose, and Stiles wanted to check that you were okay."

The Sheriff looked at his son, who was nodding along with her story, and shook his head, "Next time, feel free to call me." He told Stiles, "Now go home. Both of you."

Stiles looked at where the body was being lifted into the ambulance, "W- But-"

"Now." The Sheriff demanded firmly.

Stiles sighed and pulled Amber back to the Jeep. They climbed in and she looked across the cab at him expectantly.

"Well, what now?" She asked.

Stiles drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in thought, "We can't just drive around all night every full moon looking for any sign of Scott." He huffed, "I don't- I don't know what to do."

"What if we split up?" She asked as he pulled back out of the lot, "I'll wait at Scott's incase he finds his way home like almost runaway dogs do-" Stiles snorted and she carried on, "You drive around for a little while. And if neither one of us finds anything, we'll decide from there."

He scrunched his face up unhappily at the thought of splitting up and contemplated her offer for a long minute before nodding reluctantly.

"Fine." He agreed, "But you call me the second you see him. As in, before making contact, y'know? Do not approach the rabid dog and all that."

"Deal." She agreed, "But the same goes for you."

"Deal."

Stiles dropped her off at the end of the driveway before taking off again in search of Scott.

She walked up the driveway slowly and was nearly to the front door when it pulled open and her eyes snapped up to the person exiting the house as they closed the door behind themselves.

"Derek!" She breathed out, rushing toward him.

He looked up at her for only a second before she had jumped up onto her toes and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and shoulders, her whole body suddenly trembling. She hugged him tight and took a shaky breath, squeezing his shoulders softly through his leather jacket with the tips of her fingers to be sure he was real.

After a long moment, Derek reached an arm up around her back to pat her shoulder blade gently and she inhaled sharply in what sounded almost like a sob. She released him and dropped back down to the ground, taking a small step back not giving the action a single thought before she was punching him angrily in the shoulder.

"Ow, fuck!" She gasped, shaking out her aching hand and glaring at him when he looked at her in worried confusion.

"What-"

"No, no- Don't even think about it. I've been so worried about you and you just- You just show up out of nowhere, completely fine?" She ranted, peeking down at her sore knuckles for only a second before turning her attention back on Derek, "Where have you been? How long have you been healed? How did you heal?"

He blinked, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jacket, "It took a couple days to heal completely. Wounds from an Alpha take longer. Especially life-threatening ones."

"Life threaten-" She repeated under her breath, "That's exactly my point! We thought you might be dead. I thought- I thought either the Alpha took your body or you just dragged yourself off somewhere to die." She explained, voice shaky with sudden tears.

"I didn't die." He told her unhelpfully, shifting uncomfortably on his feet at her show of emotion.

"Why didn't you let me know you were okay?" She asked quietly.

Derek shrugged, "I didn't think it mattered."

"Didn't think it mattered whether you told me you were okay or didn't think it mattered if you died?" She questioned.

Derek's eyebrows furrowed for a moment in thought before he shrugged again.

She sniffled and stepped forward once more without hesitation, invading his personal space all over again, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face in his chest. His arms came up to softly wrap around her with less hesitation this time around, settling over her shoulders.

"I thought you were dead and it was horrible and awful and I'm so glad that you're not." She sniffled into his shoulder.

Derek patted her shoulder gently, "I-" He paused for a second before continuing, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was alive."

She nodded against his shoulder, "I forgive you." She mumbled into his jacket before leaning back and giving him a serious look, "But if you do it again I'll find a way to kill you myself. Got it?"

Derek scoffed at the threat as he stepped back from her, rolling his eyes. She raised her eyebrows expectantly and he rolled them again but nodded.

"Okay, good." She said, looking up at the house behind him, "Any chance Scott's in there?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, I dragged him home right before you got here." He told her.

"Cool." She acknowledged, pulling out her phone to text Stiles and dropping down to sit on the front stoop to wait.

Derek watched her in confusion for a moment when she slid her phone back into her pocket but remained seated outside.

"You're not going in?" He asked, nodding to the front door behind her.

She shook her head, "I've exceeded my allotted Solo Scott Time for this full moon." She told him, lifting her bruising right hand in display.

"Scott hurt your hand?" Derek questioned immediately.

She nodded with a shrug, "Yeah, his face did. When I punched him."

Derek's anger seemed to melt away and he blinked in amused surprise, "You punched Scott in the face?"

"Yep."

He shook his head with a pleased smile on his face before turning his head toward the street with a nod, "I'm gonna get going."

"Okay." She leaned back against the door, watching him turn to go and calling out to his retreating form, "Be safe! It's a full moon tonight, y'know. Some people say that werewolves run amuck on the full moon. Stirring up trouble 'n such."

c h a p t e r   s i x

the tell

In the backseat of Mrs. Martin's Volkswagen, Amber was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at the vacant passenger seat that she'd thought she would be sitting in. Lydia had borrowed her mother's vehicle for the evening and Amber let her eyes travel over to where the strawberry blonde sat behind the wheel of the car.

"Hey, what did you do with all those balloons, anyway?" Amber questioned suddenly, leaning forward in her seat and tucking a lock of her ashy brown hair behind her ear. She'd nearly forgotten about the favor she'd done for Lydia that afternoon.

"I hid them in Allison's locker for her birthday." Lydia smiled, turning onto the next street. "Thank you for picking them up, I couldn't get the car until my mom got home."

"Oh!" Amber said in surprise at the new information, "Yeah, it was no problem." She smiled as she recalled how Stiles had slapped at the balloons in annoyance as they floated around the inside of the Jeep. He'd agreed to drive her back to the school that afternoon so she could hand them off to Lydia, and he had been very vocal about his regrets.

Amber's smile was wiped away and replaced with a frown when they turned to park in Jackson's driveway. The girls waited for him to come out to the car so that he could join in on what Amber had thought was supposed to be a girl's movie night.

"I still cannot believe you invited Jackson to our movie night," Amber hissed as Jackson opened the front door and stepped out onto the stoop.

"Oh, come on, babe-" Lydia sang, glancing at her friend in the rearview mirror, "It's one movie night. And besides, Jackson's been acting really strange since last week.. I couldn't say no."

Amber thought back to the look of sickening fear on Jackson's face after Derek had shoved him against the lockers a week before. She sighed, settling back into her seat as Jackson pulled the passenger door open.

"Hey," Jackson said to his girlfriend, dropping into the seat and leaning across the center console to peck Lydia on the lips. "Amber." He greeted her with a grimace before turning to buckle his seatbelt.

"Hi, Jackson." Amber said as politely as she could manage as Lydia pulled out of the driveway and headed in the direction of the video rental store. She absently picked at a loose thread on her jeans for a few minutes before breaching the silence, "So, what movie are we gonna get?"

"Here me out," Jackson started, turning to face Lydia with his hands up in a placating gesture, "I have a movie that I think all three of us will enjoy-"

"What kind of movie?" Amber asked, leaning forward in her seat in interest.

Jackson sighed at the question, "Okay, so it's a Drama.." He hedged slowly.

"And?" Lydia prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"And also a sports movie-"

"No."

"Lydia, c'mon!" Jackson pleaded, "It's really good!"

"No." Lydia repeated as she slowly turned into the parking lot, "We are not watching some stupid movie about football or whatever."

"No," Jackson argued, "Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever- It is the best sports movie ever made."

"No." Lydia blinked, unimpressed as she put the car in park.

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper." Jackson defended.

"Who?" Amber asked from the backseat. Jackson quickly turned to shoot daggers at her with his eyes and she frowned in apology, leaning back in her seat.

"No." The redhead said again, continuing to stare out the windshield.

"Lydia, I swear to god you guys are gonna like it-"

"No."

"I am not watching The Notebook again!" Jackson said angrily. Lydia turned her head toward her boyfriend slowly and said nothing but she gave him a sinister smile.

Jackson took a deep frustrated breath and huffed loudly through his nose, getting out of the car and slamming the door closed behind him. He made his way into the video store and Amber unbuckled her seatbelt, moving to go in with him.

"I'll just.. Go and make sure he grabs something decent."

Amber trailed in a few seconds behind Jackson, and looked around the large room at all of the shelves holding different genres of movies. A phone was trilling loudly at the empty front desk and Amber sighed in annoyance as it just kept ringing, never going through to any sort of machine.

"Can somebody help me find The Notebook?" Jackson called out loudly and Amber snorted in amusement.

"I'm sure we can find something else." She laughed at him, squatting down to peer at the movie cases on the bottom shelf in the aisle labeled 'Romantic Comedies'.

"Hello?" Jackson called out again, walking past the aisle that had caught Amber's attention and moving further into the store, "Is anybody working here?" He sighed and the lights in the store flickered, drawing Amber's attention toward the ceiling. "You gotta be kidding me." Jackson mumbled.

Amber rose to stand and her eyes caught on the ladder that stood a few rows away. It was propped up beneath the flickering fluorescent light. She moved around Jackson and walked to stand underneath the hole in the ceiling, frowning in confusion. Someone had left the long light tube dangling down to rest on top of the ladder as if they'd stopped what they were doing mid-installation.

"Amber.." Jackson's voice was quiet as he took slow, measured steps toward her.

"What?"

The girl spun to face him and found his eyes were glued to the floor at the end of the aisle across from her. She turned her head to follow his eyeline and a scream slipped past her lips when she saw the full picture of what had caught Jackson's eye.

Jackson could see the feet that stuck out past the end of the shelf, but what was hidden inside the aisle was so much worse. There was a young man leaning against the shelf with his throat ripped out, the skin of his throat slashed from four long mangled cuts, blood dripped down to seep into his video store uniform shirt and leaving it stained a dark red. Worst of all, his eyes were open wide in unseeing fear behind his glasses.

Stumbling back in fright, Amber bumped into Jackson's chest just as he was coming to stand behind her. He reached up in an attempt to steady her with his hands on her arms but it was too late and the two of them fell backwards, tumbling into the ladder behind them. It crashed to the ground loudly, ripping the dangling light from the ceiling in the process and plunging the store into darkness.

"This can't be happening." Amber whined as Jackson pulled her up and steadied her on her feet again. Heavy, fear-filled breaths came from the boy beside her and the sound was only amplified by the way the lights flickered weakly in an attempt to come back on, the store remaining eerily dark.

There was a low growl from the darkest end of the store and Amber's head snapped up to look over Jackson's shoulder, a pair of glowing red eyes meeting her own from the darkest corner of the room.

"Jackson. Run." Amber whispered hurriedly, giving him a hard shove in the direction of the front door.

As soon as he had regained his footing, Jackson was turning back to grab her wrist, dragging her to squat down with him as he hid behind one of the shelves. They were both breathing too loudly, shaky exhales leaving their lips in quick bursts. Amber held a hand against her own mouth to muffle the sound as she peered out around the corner of the shelf slowly.

She looked back in the direction she'd seen the creature that she knew had to be the Alpha, something dark darting between the rows in a blur and rushing to the other side of the store with another low growl. A gasp escaped her at the sight of it and she retreated quickly back into the aisle, taking a few deep breaths.

The shelf the two were hiding behind shook against their backs and a handful of DVD cases rained down onto the ground around them. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and then another, and then another, and Amber belatedly realized it was the sound of the shelves knocking against one another as they toppled over like dominos down the row toward them.

"Shit-" Amber exclaimed, moving out of the aisle and pulling Jackson behind her. She slipped out of the way just as the shelf collapsed but the boy beside her was pinned underneath it from the waist down. "Oh my god! Jackson."

Amber tried in vain to lift the shelf off of the boy's legs but he was pinned not only by the weight of one, but the weight of all four of the shelves layered on top of one another. She groaned and lifted with all of her strength once again but the shelf only moved a couple of inches before she was forced to drop it back down again.

"Amber, just go-" Jackson pleaded.

Her stomach dropped at his words, "But-"

"Go." He hissed at her while attempting to pull himself free.

Amber whined miserably but rose to her feet. She looked up from the floor and her eyes widened at the sight of the beast now looming over Jackson's back. Its red eyes still glowed bright in the dark store as it reached down with a clawed, paw-like hand to pull at the collar of Jackson's jacket, leaning down to sniff at a newly exposed scab on the back of Jackson's neck.

She wasn't sure what it was smelling, but after a few seconds of huffing breaths over the boy's back, the Alpha rose to its full height again, towering over Amber by more than a foot. It was inhumanly tall, and black. Covered in thin, mangy fur. It had a horrifying, wolf-like face, its mouth pulled back to display dangerously sharp teeth as it snarled at her.

The Alpha took a menacing step forward and Amber countered it with one step back, her wide eyes glued to the creature in fear. Her hands shook as she slowly matched its steps in an attempt to keep the beast at a distance.

On her fifth step toward the back of the store, Amber stumbled over the ladder yet again where it had fallen to the ground and she tripped as her foot caught on the metal. She fell to the ground, catching herself on her elbows and gasping when the thin shards of glass from the broken light cut through the skin of her bare arms.

The Alpha leapt forward several feet until it loomed over her, leaning down to sniff at her in the same way it had done to Jackson just a few moments before. It sniffed at her hair first, huffing a hot, sneeze-like breath over the top of her head before it moved to sniff lower, breathing in and out at the collar of her tshirt. Amber whimpered quietly when its nose brushed against the skin of her throat but It moved to sniff lower again, stopping at a spot on the fabric that covered the center of her chest. It huffed another hot breath accompanied by a quiet growl before taking one step away from her.

Suddenly, the Alpha turned and took off in the direction of the front of the store, jumping straight through the large glass window with a loud crash and running into the dark of the night.

Amber remained on the floor for a moment and took a few slow, trembling breaths before her mind cleared and she frantically moved to untangle her legs from the ladder, more small shards of glass driven into the skin of her forearms as she struggled to get up.

"Jackson!" She called out as she got to her feet. She rushed back to the front of the store on shaky legs, "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"Would you just call someone strong enough to get me out from under here!" The boy snapped at her.

"I- Jeez, okay," Amber relented quietly, pulling out her cell phone to call 911, "I thought near-death experiences were supposed to bring people closer together, not turn them into bigger assholes." She muttered under her breath as she dialed the phone and exited the store.

As soon as she stepped foot outside, she caught sight of Lydia staring out the windshield with wide, fear-filled eyes and Amber hesitated as the operator picked up on the other end of the phone, aching to comfort her friend. She shook her head with a trembling breath, moving to the other end of the parking lot as she spoke to the woman on the phone and reported the dead worker. If she were far enough away, Amber hoped her friend wouldn't be able to overhear anything, so she paced at the edge of the pavement as she spoke, not wanting to scare Lydia any further.

When Amber hung up the phone with shaking fingers a few minutes later, she rushed back toward Lydia, finding her still in the same position that Amber had left her in, with fear-filled eyes glued to the empty space in front of her. Amber wrenched the car door open and knelt down onto the pavement to take Lydia's hands in hers.

"Lyds, babe-" Amber said softly, her voice only slightly shaky, "Are you okay?"

The redhead didn't speak, continuing to stare ahead of her still with wide, unblinking eyes and Amber sighed, taking a shallow breath and rubbing Lydia's cold hands softly between her own. She gently toyed with her friend's fingers while whispering quiet soothing words, hoping to pull her friend out of her state. Amber continued for several long minutes, time dragging in a haze before she spotted an ambulance pulling into the parking lot with flashing lights.

"I'll be right back, okay?" Amber told Lydia softly, still not getting a response.

Leaving the car door ajar, Amber made her way over to the ambulance just as three EMTs were exiting the vehicle, all rushing toward her with rapidfire questions until Amber pointed them all in the direction of the store.

"There's a worker dead inside," She told them past a lump in her throat, "And-And my friend Jackson, he's stuck under some shelves but- I wasn't strong enough to lift them."

They nodded and rushed inside, one of them heading to the back of the store where Amber knew the dead worker was still lying while the other two moved to free Jackson as quickly as possible.

Amber made her way back to the Volkswagen and enveloped one of Lydia's hands in her own again, standing just outside the driver's side door.

When two police cruisers pulled into the lot a few minutes later, the group of officers split off and spread out to cover the scene. One of the officers cautiously approached where the girls were waiting at the car and patiently began to ask Amber a long list of questions, collecting as much information from the frightened girl as he could.

"The animal, did you get a good look at it?" The officer questioned eventually.

"I, yeah, uh.. It got pretty close." Amber told him nervously.

"Do you think it could've been a mountain lion?" He asked her.

"A mountain lion." Lydia repeated quietly from inside the car.

"Uh, yeah, a mountain lion sounds right." Amber corroborated, squeezing Lydia's hand.

As soon as the shelves were lifted enough for him to slip out, Jackson rushed outside, shoving past the two paramedics in the store when they tried to check him for injuries. He made a beeline for Amber and Lydia just as a police officer a few yards away was lifting a hand in signal, the officer who had questioned them darting over to assist with something. Jackson shoved Amber out of the way when he got to the vehicle, his focus on where Lydia was still sitting inside the car. He leaned in to pull her from the vehicle, speaking to her softly.

Amber took a reluctant step back from the couple, turning to watch through the broken window as two of the EMTs and a coroner moved over toward the dead body while the third paramedic made his way back outside to check on the teens. The paramedic led Lydia and Jackson over to the back of the ambulance and waved for Amber to follow when he caught her gaze.

She joined them just as Lydia was being guided to sit at the end of the ambulance between the open doors and Amber rushed to her friend's side, squeezing in to stand beside Jackson.

The paramedic glanced back at Lydia for a moment before he spoke to Jackson and Amber quietly, "She's not responding due to shock.. That should wear off soon. But she's got some blood on her hands and clothes-"

"She's not bleeding." Amber assured him. Her eyes fell to the blood on the backs of Lydia's hands and shirt and Amber frowned in confusion.

"Miss.. Are you alright?" He asked her, finally taking a moment to look the brunette up and down in scrutiny.

"I'm fine." She told him impatiently, "Could you please just get her a blanket or someth-"

"You're bleeding." Jackson muttered into her ear.

"What?" Amber looked down at herself and her eyes caught on the large smudges of blood that trailed down the skin on the backs of her arms. Now that she was looking at the red stains, the glass embedded in her flesh suddenly stung painfully, "I-I forgot." She admitted quietly.

"It's because of the adrenaline. That happens a lot." The EMT assured her. He gently guided her to sit down beside Lydia, climbing into the back of the ambulance and moving around behind them in the space. He re-emerged a few moments later with tweezers, a small metal bowl, gauze, cotton balls, and rubbing alcohol.

Amber pressed her knee into Lydia's thigh and sat silently as the paramedic raised Amber's trembling right hand above her shoulder and began to pull tiny shards of glass from the back of her forearm. She winced with each piece that was tugged gently from her skin before being dropped into the metal dish beside her.

Jackson moved off to the side after a moment, mumbling something under his breath about calling both Lydia's parents and his own.

Amber watched through the colorful lights flashing in the parking lot while the police officers worked quickly to block off the building with yellow tape. They moved around methodically, speaking with one another and frequently speaking into the radios that were clipped onto their shoulders.

By the time Jackson returned, the paramedic had finished removing the glass in Amber's right arm and had moved on to clean the cuts with alcohol while she bit down her lip painfully at the sting it caused, trying not to pull away.

"I'm going to head out." Jackson announced, standing several feet away.

The EMT didn't look up from where he was tending to Amber's arm, "I'd still like someone to take a look at your head before you go-" He insisted for what must not have been the first time.

"No, I'm fine," Jackson snapped, "I'm not one of the people here who are dead or bleeding."

Amber looked up to give the boy a look of astonishment, "Jesus, Jackson. Way to be sensitive-"

A Sheriff's Department cruiser pulled into the parking lot just as Jackson was turning to face Amber with a dark look, "Oh, shut up, Callisto. You're the one who left me trapped in there-"

"I- You told me to!" Amber defended herself, wincing when the paramedic began to pull tiny shards of glass from her left arm.

"This is ridiculous! I'm not even injured," Jackson's voice rose as he argued with the paramedic who was still focussed pulling glass from Amber's skin, "Why the hell can't I just go home? I'm fine." His voice trailed off into something quieter as he finished speaking.

"I hear ya, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard," Sheriff Stilinski's voice cut in as he approached the group. His gaze caught on the brunette sitting at the back of the ambulance and he paused, frowning at her with worry for a moment before he re-focussed his attention on Jackson, "They just wanna make sure don't have a concussion."

"My god. Jackson, just let them look at your head. It'll take five minutes." Amber finally said, yelping when a particularly long piece of glass was pulled from the underside of her arm above her elbow.

"What part of 'I'm fine' are you people having a problem grasping?" Jackson asked, raising his voice again, "Okay? I wanna go home."

"And I understand that-" The Sheriff started gently.

"No, you don't understand! Which kind of blows my mind, since it should be a basic concept to grasp for a minimum wage rent-a-cop like you! Okay, Now I wanna go home!" Jackson yelled in the Sheriff's face.

Amber had heard enough. She pulled her arm out of the paramedics grasp with an angry snarl and closed the small distance between herself and Jackson with purpose, her fists clenched in rage, nails digging into the palms of her hands. She was only a second away from hitting the boy when Sheriff Stilinski stepped between them and gently pushed her back with his hands on her shoulders.

"Oh, woah! Is that a dead body!?" She heard Stiles' voice cut through the tension.

Her fury dissolved immediately and her head snapped around to see the boy standing at the passenger side of his dad's cruiser, his arms draped over the open door with an arm pointing in the direction of the store behind them.

The Sheriff gave his son a disappointed look and Stiles began to shrink back before his eyes landed on where his dad was releasing Amber's shoulders from his grip.

"Amber?" Stiles called out worriedly, slamming the car door shut as he stumbled over his own feet and jogged toward the back of the ambulance.

"Stiles," She sighed in relief at seeing her best friend, flinching in surprise when she felt the paramedic place a hand on her shoulder and guide her to sit still again, this time off to the side so that the other EMTs could wheel the dead body into the back. "Sorry," She apologized to the man quietly as he wordlessly lifted her arm and resumed with the tweezers.

"What happened?" Stiles asked in concern, looking her over and narrowing his eyes when another tiny piece of glass was plucked from her arm.

"I tripped?" She settled on in explanation for now. Her eyes flicked nervously over the large crowd of people that had filled the parking lot.

The paramedic began to wipe her cuts clean with alcohol again without warning and she winced, reaching out automatically to grip Stiles' hand in her free one.

Stiles looked at her worriedly while the paramedic wrapped gauze around her forearms before the man left the two teens alone. Stiles pulled gently on Amber's hand in his and tugged her away from the crowd to stand behind his father's car, leaning close to speak to her quietly, "Okay. So, what actually happened?"

She swallowed, tightening her grip on his hand, "The Alpha killed the video store clerk," She explained in a choked voice, "He chased me and Jackson but didn't hurt us at all. I-I don't know why-"

"Your arms?" He interrupted, eyes flicking down to her bandage injuries before meeting her own again.

"I tripped and fell in a little bit of glass from a broken light, it's fine," She assured him before continuing, "But the Alpha, it just- Smelled us both and then ran away."

He took a deep breath and she watched as he licked his lips in thought before his gaze dropped and paused on her chest, "Where did you get that shirt?" He asked.

She glanced down at the dark gray tshirt she was wearing. She'd tied the oversized shirt in a knot at the bottom, cropping it above the waistband of her jeans to reveal a strip of skin on her stomach.

"I don't know-?" She said honestly, "I was running late when Lydia picked me up and I just threw it on. It was in my room. I figure it's either yours or Scott's."

Stiles reached out to tug at the neckline, pulling it out to look at the tag sewed into the collar, "It's not mine," He confirmed, leaning back to look at the front of the shirt again, "Scott?"

"I don't- You don't think the reason the Alpha didn't kill me is because I smelled like Scott?" She asked nervously, heart rate picking up.

"Maybe," He replied, "But then, why didn't it kill Jackson?"

"I'm not sure." She furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at the boy in front of her.

The flickering red and blue lights from the emergency vehicles filtered over his face in a haunting way, the blinking glow bringing the ever-present queasy feeling from the knots in her stomach into a sudden focus.

Her eyes drifted back to the video store. The broken glass on the pavement in front of the large front window reflected the shining colors of the lights. The yellow crime scene tape flapped back and forth in places where officers were ducking underneath it to move in and out of the building. The tshirt she was wearing suddenly felt too heavy against her skin as she remembered the way the Alpha had sniffed it deeply before growling and exhaling a hot menacing breath over her.

"Amber?" Stiles called out quietly, his voice sounding oddly distant to her ears.

She belatedly realized that she wasn't entirely sure when she'd last taken a breath and she attempted to inhale deeply but her lungs barely managed to pull anything in before she was forced to exhale again with a sharp gasp. She tried again and found herself choking on the air as she sucked it in, looking up at Stiles with wide panicked eyes as she felt her chest tighten with anxiety at the lack of oxygen.

"Hey, you need to breathe." Stiles said gently, reaching up to rest his hands on her shoulders and rubbing his thumbs softly back and forth.

"I-" She started before gasping around another too-small inhale, "Stiles- I can't."

He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her tightly, cradling the back of her head and guiding her face into the crook of his neck in a practiced motion.

"Hey, listen to me," He said softly into her ear, "You're okay. I know you're scared, but I'm not gonna let anything happen to you ever again, y'hear me? You're okay-"

She gasped in a lungful of air and her whole body trembled when she exhaled against the warm skin of his neck.

He carded his fingers through her hair as he continued to murmur in her ear, "You're safe now. And I'm gonna keep it that way because- Because I'm the Batman of the group, yeah? You said so yourself. So, I'm gonna keep you safe." He promised quietly.

As he spoke, she finally managed to lift her hands from where they'd been hanging limply at her sides and she thrust them into the warmth beneath the fabric of Stiles' jacket and gripped desperately at his waist over the thin cotton of his shirt.

Every inhale filled her nose with the scent of him. The strongest thing she could smell was the lingering traces of his body wash, beneath that there was the laundry detergent from the collar of his shirt, and then a barely-there hint of sweat. She pushed her face further into his skin and breathed in the calming, familiar scents gratefully.

It took a few minutes, but her head slowly cleared, breathing evening out as more oxygen was pulled into her body. She continued to puff out warm breaths from her mouth, parted lips pressed into the soft skin of Stiles' neck. She focused on the sound of his voice, the gentle rhythm of his long fingers combing through her hair, his chest against hers.

"Yeah, y're okay," Stiles said softly, his mouth pressed close to her ear. He waited for her to take in a couple more deep, even breaths before his grip loosened around her shoulders, "Y'okay?"

"Yeah, I-" She let out an embarrassed laugh, speaking quietly, "I'm sorry."

"No, hey. Don't apologize, alright?" He combed his hand gently through her hair, pushing it back from her face.

"I don't know what happened, I just- I was thinking about the way it looked. The way it moved. The way it was so close that it could've ripped my throat out-"

"But it didn't, right? For whatever reason, it didn't. You're safe now." He assured her.

She took a deep breath and nodded just before Stiles' dad came to stand beside the pair. He squinted at her in scrutiny, "You doin' alright, Amber?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay now." She stepped out of Stiles' embrace but grabbed his hand in the process and interlaced their fingers.

"Alright. Well, I talked to the paramedic and he says you're all set to go home." The Sheriff told her.

"Good, cool." She nodded distractedly. Her mind raced with what she was going to say to her brother when she saw him, "Can we hold off on telling Jason about this until he's off shift?" Amber pleaded.

"No can do. I already called him-" The Sheriff told her. At her outraged squeak, he continued, "I'm sorry, kiddo, but it was out of my hands. You're a minor and you were injured at the scene of what we still have to consider a possible homicide."

"Oh, god." She whined, looking around the parking lot frantically as if Jason were about to appear out of thin air to yell at her.

"Not to mention this is the third time you've stumbled across a dead body in the last month-" The Sheriff frowned at her with a disappointed look that she was sure would rival the one she'd be getting from her brother at any minute. "I don't know what is going on with you kids, but this has gotta stop happening when you all are around. Y'hear me?"

Amber and Stiles both nodded.

"You're coming back to my place, right?" Stiles asked quietly into her ear when his dad was distracted by something happening behind them.

She nodded, whispering back, "Yeah, we need to talk to Scott ASAP and figure out what the hell-" She started before a faded red pickup truck caught her eye coming down the dark street.

When Jason's truck turned into the parking lot, it did so in a rush, coming to a stop just behind the Sheriff's cruiser without bothering to pull into a parking space. He flew out of the vehicle, rushing toward them, and his hands went to cup Amber's shoulder and the side of her head as soon as he was close enough to grab her.

She watched her brother huff out a relieved breath as he verified that she was mostly unharmed and she released her grip on Stiles' hand to stepped forward and pull Jason into a hug.

"I'm fine, I'm okay." She attempted to reassure him.

When she stepped back from the embrace, Sheriff Stilinski had pulled Stiles away, leaving the siblings to talk in privacy.

"What happened?" Jason asked her firmly.

"Um, they think a mountain lion might've gotten inside the store somehow before we got here.. It attacked the worker. Then it knocked some shelves over on top of Jackson, and I tripped trying to get away but- It, um, it just ran off."

"You're damn lucky it did," He told her, smoothing the hair at the side of her head down flat. His own hazel eyes went to the scene around them and he took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, "How are you feeling though? Really. Must be shaken up?"

"I- Yeah. I-I am. Shaken." She admitted quietly.

"I'd be worried if you weren't," He said with a small smile, squeezing her shoulder firmly in reassurance, "You ready to get out of here?"

"Can I- Would it be okay if I slept at Stiles' house tonight?" She asked nervously.

"Do I need to remind you what happened the last time I let you go to a friend's house right after something like this?" Her brother questioned. The cool and calm attitude he'd displayed since he arrived at the scene seemed to fade into something more panicked and Amber shrunk back under his gaze but she didn't speak, so he carried on, "You went out in the woods to look for the other half of a dead body. And I didn't find out until Noah Stilinski called to tell me about it almost two weeks later," He paused to take a breath, "And that was before we knew it was just an animal attack! For Christ's sake, Amber. You're killing me here."

She figured it would be in her best interest to let him get it all out at once, so still, the girl deigned not to speak. She chewed her lower lip and glued her eyes to a small stain on the collar of her brother's tshirt until he filled the silence again.

"You keep finding dead bodies, and you're trespassing on private property to get my old classmates arrested for suspected murder, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do to keep you out of trouble," Jason sighed, "Would things be different- If I didn't work so much? I'll leave the station if you want me to- I will. I can find a regular nine to five and-"

"No!" She interrupted quickly, "Jay, c'mon you love being a fireman." The girl reached up to rest her fingers over the hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry about digging up the Hale property and getting Derek arrested — I really am." She promised him.

He sighed after a moment and held a hand out, gesturing toward his parked truck, "Home tonight. Okay?"

"Okay." She agreed, following him toward the vehicle. She cast a final look back toward where Stiles was standing a couple yards away, waving to him sadly as she went.

The boy gave her a small reassuring smile in understanding and waved back just as she was climbing up into the truck. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she dropped her head back against the headrest with a sigh.

The next morning, after a fitful night's sleep, Amber was dropped off at school unreasonably early before Jason had to be back at the station. Her brother had insisted on giving her a ride, and after seeing the pleading look on his face, Amber couldn't help but agree.

The first bell wouldn't ring for another hour, so Amber wandered into the library to work on an English paper that wasn't due for another week. She managed to nail down her outline and wrote a few hundred words before she noticed a handful of students milling around the library, returning and checking out books, and she suddenly realized that there were only ten minutes left until the first bell.

Collecting her things in a rush, Amber made her way through the halls, pausing when she saw Allison just a few steps away from her locker. Amber smiled in giddy excitement and plastered herself to a locker beside the girl, leaning against it casually.

Allison gave her a sweet smile, "Hey, Amber." The girl seemed to pause in thought before her face set in determination, "Can I ask you about something that's been bothering me?"

"Yeah, of course." Amber agreed immediately.

"Why was Derek at the school last week?" Allison asked, her eyes downcast.

"Um," Amber started, struck dumb by the question, "He was- Looking for me."

"Mm, how come?" Allison questioned, fingering at the edge of her leather jacket.

"He- He wasn't feeling well, so-" Amber struggled to come up with a believable lie on the spot, "Stiles and I ended up giving him a ride to the doctor's office."

"Okay-" Allison responded slowly after a few seconds passed, "And you and Derek aren't still- Y'know?"

"No, no, we're not." Amber said quickly, "Just- Friends? Sort of."

Allison nodded, pursing her lips. She looked like she was about to ask another question so Amber deflected quickly.

"So.. Birthday girl," Amber started, grinning when Allison's eyes went wide and glanced around them to see if anyone had overheard, "How does it feel to be sixteen?"

"I- Uh, I'm actually turning-" Allison looked around them worriedly again before whispering, "Seventeen." Amber went to speak but Allison held up a finger to the girl's lips before speaking again, "Please don't tell anyone. It's always a huge thing when people find out-"

Amber laughed, pulling Allison's finger away from her lips, "Why is being seventeen such a big deal?" She asked, "Stiles turns seventeen in two months."

Allison seemed surprised at this, "Really?"

"Yeah," Amber said, "I mean, he was held back in elementary sc-"

Allison sighed loudly, "That's exactly what I'm worried about people thinking."

"Who cares?" Amber asked her, "People get held back. It happens. Being held back doesn't mean you're stupid or something." Amber said defensively.

"No, no, you're right." Allison said with a shake of her head, "I'm sorry."

Amber relaxed slightly, "It's okay."

Allison turned back toward her locker and moved to begin working the combination on the little purple padlock. When she got it undone, she pulled the door open and a cluster of colorful balloons tried to break free from the confined space. The girl frantically fought to push the balloons back inside and looked around with wide eyes while Amber laughed at her.

Pulling a small card from where it was magnetized to the inside of the door, Allison flipped it open and read the note inside.

"You and Lydia-" Allison began to whisper quietly before Scott approached them from the other side.

"Is it your birthday?" Scott asked innocently, pointing to where a balloon was about to drift free from Allison's locker yet again.

"No, no!" Allison said immediately, fighting with the balloons, "Uh, no. I mean, yes. Please don't tell anybody. I don't even know how Lydia and Amber found out."

Scott looked up at Amber with a wide eyed look of betrayal and she raised her hands in surrender, "I didn't know. Lydia asked me to bring her balloons after school yesterday and I did. She didn't tell me what they were for until last night."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Scott asked softly, his attention focussed on Allison.

"Because I don't want people to know." Allison said quickly before pausing, "Because- I'm seventeen."

"You're seventeen?" Scott asked in surprise, blind to the way Amber was waving her hands frantically for him to shut up.

"That's the reaction I'm trying to avoid." Allison said with an annoyed look.

"Why?" Scott tried to recover, grimacing when he caught Amber's eye, "I mean, I-I totally get it. Uh, you had to repeat a year because of all the moving around, right?"

Allison looked at him in surprise before closing her locker door. She turned her back to Amber and leaned into Scott's space to give him a slow kiss.

"What was that for?" Scott asked with a smile.

"For literally being the first person ever to make the correct assumption. Everybody always assumes I got knocked up or held back." Allison told him, taking a step back to lean against her locker and glance at Amber again.

"-Which, y'know, if either of those were true that would be okay too." Amber reminded her futilely.

"But, that's what you hear on your birthday?" Scott asked, ignoring his best friend.

"Oh, yeah." Allison told them, "All day long."

"Then- What if you and I get out of here?" Scott asked her with a tender look.

Allison looked at him closely, "Skip class?" She asked.

"Yeah, the whole day." Scott smiled, reaching up to pull gently at one of Allison's curls.

"Scott, are you sure that's a good idea-" Amber started, cutting herself off at the sharp look he gave her. She pursed her lips, rolling up onto the balls of her feet before dropping back down, "And, I am going to leave you two lovebirds to make your own questionable choices." She announced, stepping back from the pair slowly. 'Happy Birthday' she mouthed at Allison with a grin before turning and heading in the direction of her own locker with a shake of her head.

In third period Chemistry class, Amber took the open seat across from Stiles with a smile, rubbing her hand back and forth along the softness of his short hair as she passed him and fell into her seat.

They were having a quiet class period wherein they were all supposed to work on the problems from the current chapter in their textbook — so that they could ask questions if they had trouble with anything. Hardly anyone ever did ask for help, given that Mr. Harris was a condescending nightmare on a good day, but if they talked quietly enough, it was easy to work with the people at your table.

Amber pulled out her things as class started and she began copying down the questions into her notebook. Twenty minutes passed and she was only just beginning to work on question number three, the pencil in her hand having spent more time hovering over the page in her notebook than it had pressed against the paper. Her concentration was hard to keep focused when her eyes kept drifting up to the boy in front of her.

Stiles had shifted his stool to the corner of the table to be closer to her and he was rapidly highlighting important information in his textbook for when the two of them would make flashcards later on. He had the cap of the marker held between his teeth and she watched Stiles gnaw on it, his jaw working distractedly as he traced over the words.

Her attention was suddenly torn from the way that Stiles' lips wrapped around the tiny piece of plastic as Mr. Harris began to speak from the back of the room.

"Just a friendly reminder.. Parent/Teacher Conferences are tonight," He said as he began walking down the aisle between tables slowly, "Students below a 'C' average are required to attend. I won't name you.. Because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment." As if the statement had triggered something in his brain, Mr. Harris paused at the end of Stiles and Amber's workbench, his eyes narrowing at the empty stool at their table. "Has anybody seen Scott McCall?"

Stiles looked up at where Mr. Harris was standing beside him but Amber bit her lip and looked down at her notebook in avoidance. She was saved from having to come up with a lie about her friend's whereabouts when Jackson walked into the room late, drawing their teacher's attention.

"Hey, Jackson," Mr. Harris spoke quietly, approaching the boy as he found his seat, "If you need to leave early for any reason, you let me know."

Jackson nodded and Amber scoffed at their teacher's kind comment. She'd been told nothing of the sort when she had entered the room at the start of class, despite her also having been attacked by a psychotic werewolf the night before.

Mr. Harris stepped back and moved to the chalkboard at the far end of the room, "Everyone, start reading the next chapter." He announced, pausing mid-step before speaking again, "Mr. Stilinski-"

Stiles' attention snapped up from his textbook again and he looked to the front of the room with wide eyes, surprised at having been called out.

"Try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs," Mr. Harris told him loudly in front of the class, "It's Chemistry. Not a coloring book." He finished patronizingly.

Amber's eyes narrowed at their teacher's back before her eyes were drawn to the boy in front of her again. She watched as Stiles threw his head back, exposing his long neck and sharp jawline, her eyes following his eyes movement. He blew the marker cap from his mouth and up into the air over his head, snatching it effortlessly in his outstretched hand as it fell back through the air.

Amber leaned forward across the table on her elbows and nodded her head to beckon Stiles closer. His eyes seemed to trail down to the low cut of her shirt for a second before he leaned in on the edge of his stool, closing the distance until only a small gap separated them.

"Don't listen to him," Amber told her friend quietly, reaching out with the hand not holding her own writing utensil and grabbing the capped highlighter from him. She innocently fingered the cap, chewing her lower lip for a second as she thought about the place it had been between his teeth a only few moments before. She shook her head and blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear her thoughts, "It's a studying method that works for you-" She tapped the highlighter lightly on the tabletop, "..And he's a dickhead." She whispered as an afterthought.

She unthinkingly raised the highlighter cap to her own teeth to pull it off single-handed before holding the bright yellow marker back out to Stiles. He took it from her outstretched hand with a dazed look, eyes never leaving her face.

She grinned at him and the action reminded her that she still had the cap held between her lips. When she reached up to grab it, the piece of plastic slipped from between her fingers and dropped beneath the neckline of her shirt, stopping to settle at her belly button where her shirt had been tucked into the waistband of her jeans. She cursed quietly, leaning back on her stool and peering down her shirt to look for it. She reached past the lace of her bra to fish it out, the material of her shirt stretched slightly around her arm, and just as her fingers closed around the cap, there was a loud crash.

Amber flinched, looking up to see Stiles' stool toppled over at the end of the table and the boy on the floor with it.

"Stiles!" She said in quiet alarm, "Are you okay?"

Stiles' cheeks were flushed pink as he climbed to his feet again and righted his stool, nodding and wordlessly taking the marker cap from her fingers before sitting back down in his seat. He didn't look up at her as he slowly began highlighting the page of his textbook again and Amber blinked in confusion.

She glanced around the room and caught the eye of Danny Mahealani, who was sitting directly behind Stiles. He was already watching her and Stiles with an amused grin and when she gave him a questioning look, he shook his head and turned back around to face his own table again.

Weird.

At the end of the school day, Stiles rushed up to Amber and slammed his body into the open door of her locker. He gripped the metal before it could smash into the girl and moved to stand beside it.

"Scott is being painfully unhelpful and we need to figure out what exactly Lydia saw." He said quickly as she shuffled her books around, "Where is she, anyway?"

Amber shrugged, "She was really shaken up last night. I think she stayed home for the day, but she hasn't been responding to any of my texts." She explained, zipping up her backpack and pulling it over her shoulders.

"Well, we should go to her house and talk to her, then." Stiles said simply.

"I- Yeah, I mean- I was going to-" She paused when she caught his eye, deciding against telling Stiles her plans for the afternoon.

Stiles raised his eyebrows at her sudden silence and she sighed quietly, closing her locker, "No, we should definitely go see Lydia." She agreed.

When the two arrived at the Martin house, Lydia's mom answered the door with a smile, "Amber, sweetheart." The woman pulled her into a hug, "It'll be so good for Lydia to see you. She's been holed up in her room all day."

"Yeah," Amber agreed, pulling back from the embrace, "We just wanted to check on her."

As if she hadn't noticed him until that moment, the woman's eyes caught on the boy standing beside Amber, "Oh!" She said, "And who's this?"

"Uh, I'm Stiles." He said with an awkward wave.

"Well," Mrs. Martin said simply after a moment, "Let's get you two inside then."

The three climbed the stairs to Lydia's bedroom and Mrs. Martin knocked softly on the closed door, pushing it open and poking her head in as she spoke, "Honey, Amber and Stiles are here to see you."

Lydia was laying across the bed on her stomach in a beautiful but revealing blue nightgown, examining her fingernails distractedly. Her strawberry blonde hair was long and loose, falling messily around her, and when she looked up, her eyes looked drunkenly distant.

Amber pulled Stiles through the doorway by his hand as Lydia blinked, "What the hell is a styles?" She asked in sleepy confusion.

Mrs. Martin laughed awkwardly behind them, clasping her hands together, "She, uh, took a little something for her nerves," She told them as she began to pull the door closed behind her, "I'll just, I'll leave you three-"

"Thanks." Stiles told her as Amber pulled him over to the bed.

"What are you doing here?" Lydia asked, turning onto her side and exposing her chest as she focussed her attention on Amber.

"We wanted to make sure you were okay." Amber told her softly, moving to sit beside the girl and combing her friend's red hair back from her face with her fingers.

"Really?" Lydia asked, glancing at where Stiles was still standing beside the bed, "Both of you?"

"Yes, both of us," Amber told her, tugging Stiles down to sit beside her harshly and causing him to land very nearly in her lap, "We were both worried about you today."

"How're you feeling?" Stiles asked, looking at the redhead on the other side of Amber.

Lydia propped herself up on her elbow, leaning into Amber's hand in her hair for a moment like a cat who was enjoying being petted. The redhead then came closer until her forehead rested in the center of Amber's chest, Lydia's face pressed against the place where the fabric of Amber's low cut shirt revealed her cleavage.

Lydia spoke softly into Amber's skin, "I feel.. Fantastic." She slurred as Stiles watched them with wide eyes and huffed an awkward laugh.

Amber looked down at the girl in surprise and Lydia leaned back from her place between the brunette's breasts to settle a hand on her thigh instead. Amber looked over at Stiles with wide eyes of her own and saw the matching look of shock on his face.

Stiles suddenly reached around both girls to grab a little orange prescription bottle from the bedside table before examining the label. Amber leaned close, peering down at the plastic in Stiles' hands and reading the dosage of Lorazepam the doctor had prescribed.

"Lydia, your dose is only half a tablet to start, how much did you take?" Amber asked, pulling the bottle out of Stiles' fingers.

"Mm, I took two." Lydia said dreamily.

Amber shook her head in concern for her friend. Lydia was so hopped up on her medication, she was almost completely out of it.

Stiles looked at the redhead for a moment before a small smile pulled at his lips, "I bet you can't say 'I saw Suzy sitting in a shoeshine shop' ten times fast."

Amber laughed quietly, placing the bottle back on the table, "Stiles, I couldn't say that ten times fast."

Lydia leaned forward with a determined look on her face, "I saw Shuzy-" She started.

"Ah-" Stiles interrupted quietly with a grin.

Lydia sighed, eyes moving to Amber as she started again, "I shaw-" She said, her smile slowly fading until she flopped back down onto the bed heavily, "I saw."

"What?" Stiles asked.

Amber leaned closer, resting her hand on Lydia's arm, "Lydia, babe. What did you see?" She asked gently.

"Something." Lydia said distractedly.

"Something like-" Stiles prompted, resting a hand on Amber's thigh as he leaned closer, "A mountain lion?" He asked.

"A mountain lion." Lydia agreed with a small nod.

"Are you sure you saw a mountain lion?" Stiles asked.

"-Or are you just saying that because that's what the police and I said." Amber finished.

Lydia continued to stare at the wall at the side of the bed, "A mountain lion." She repeated.

Stiles reached around the two girls to grab a small stuffed giraffe from the bedside table, holding it out in front of his chest, "What's this?" He asked her.

Lydia turned to face the both of them again and looked at the stuffed toy in Stiles' hands, blowing a clump of hair out of her face before answering, "A mountain lion."

"..Okay," Stiles said slowly, putting the animal back where he found it and flopping down to sit beside Amber again, "She is so drunk."

Just as quickly as the words left his mouth, Lydia dropped her head into Amber's lap and nuzzled her face into the girl's stomach.

"Um.." Amber laughed quietly at their current position as the redhead reached an arm past Amber to place a hand at the top of Stiles' thigh.

Stiles gasped out a surprised breath and when Amber looked over to see what was wrong, her eyes caught on the spot where Lydia's fingers were resting on Stiles' upper thigh, just along the inner seam of his jeans.

Amber took pity on him and reached out to move the offending hand, but when her fingers settled over the top of Lydia's, Stiles made another choked noise, his mouth dropped open and he leaned back, clenching his eyes shut tight. At his shaky breath, Amber quickly removed their hands from where they'd both  been clearly violating him.

"Sorry." She told him quietly, "..Are you ready to leav-"

"I gotta pee." Stiles said urgently, standing from the bed and turning his back to the two girls. He stumbled and tripped over his own feet as he headed in the direction of the door.

"I- The bathroom is across the hall-" Amber told him as he rushed from the room, "Well. You, he finds attractive," She told her unconscious friend quietly with a frown, "But then, don't we all?" Amber combed her fingers through Lydia's hair for another moment before sighing, "Alright, Lyds. We should really get going." She lifted Lydia's head from her lap and the girl pouted sleepily.

"Stay." She told her, sitting up straighter and reaching out to touch Amber's cheek, "Stay-" Lydia leaned closer and her green eyes traced slowly over her friend's face before cupping Amber's other cheek and holding her face softly between her hands. Lydia's thumb trailed down to brush over Amber's lip and she pulled it from where the brunette had it nervously pinched between her teeth, "Please?"

"Lyds, I-" Amber started nervously.

Lydia tilted her head forward and brought their mouths closer until their lips brushed together softly. Amber froze found her heart beating loudly in her ears at the barely there touch of lips.

"Oh for the love of-" Stiles' voice cut in loudly in distress.

Amber flinched and jumped back from the bed like she'd been burned. She watched as Lydia flopped down onto the mattress as if nothing had happened and snuggled into the pillows sleepily.

A moment of silence passed.

"Not. A word." Amber said quietly, lifting an accusing finger at the boy whose mouth had already been opening to say something.

Stiles raised his arms in surrender and Amber shook her head, her eyes caught on where Lydia's cell phone was sitting on the bedside table. She remembered how the redhead hadn't returned any of Amber's messages and wondered if it needed to be charged.

She took a step closer and picked up the phone, surprised when it immediately unlocked to display Lydia's camera roll. A video began to play automatically and Amber squinted at the dark grainy footage, her stomach dropping when she realized it was the moment that the Alpha had jumped through the front window of the video store. She paused it just as the creature broke through on the screen and gulped as she looked at the close-up of the Alpha's wolf-like mouth open in a snarl.

"I- Stiles?" She said in a quiet voice, waving him over.

He moved to stand beside her immediately, "What? What is it?" He asked.

She tilted the phone toward him and showed the frozen image of red eyes that glowed on the dark screen.

"What-? She got a picture of it?" Stiles asked frantically, pulling the phone from her hands.

"A video." Amber corrected quietly.

She took the phone back and texted the video to both Stiles and herself before deleting the file and the evidence of the outgoing messages, gently putting the phone back on the tabletop.

She turned, grabbing Stiles' hand and pulling him along behind her, "Let's go."

Despite the situation with the Alpha and her need to go speak with Derek growing more dire with every passing second — More than anything else, it was the guilt churning away in her gut that affected her the most.

Amber couldn't believe that she'd practically let a drug-delirious Lydia kiss her.

An hour later, Amber stepped off of her bike at the top of the gravel driveway in the preserve and made her way toward what was left of the large covered porch surrounding the Hale house. After a moment's hesitation, she wheeled her bicycle over to the side of the charred house instead of simply abandoning it out front. Once she had stowed her bike in the overgrown weeds and bushes, she climbed the porch and knocked on the chipped, soot-covered red paint of the front door.

The door was pulled open a few seconds later to reveal Derek standing in the entryway, shirtless and covered in a light sheen of sweat. In juxtaposition from the last time Amber had seen his muscled body shining with sweat, the sickly paleness from the week before had been replaced with a healthy looking glow.

"Why are you here?" He asked simply, raising his eyebrows with an unimpressed look.

"Why are you all sweaty?" Amber countered, stepping past him to enter the house. She looked around with barely concealed curiosity, eyes flicking over the room around them.

Unlike the caved-in shell that she knew stood at the back of the house, the front rooms seemed slightly less damaged. Standing in the entryway, she could almost imagine what the house might've looked like before it burned but regardless, Amber didn't much like the idea of Derek holed up in the ruins of the home where his whole family had burned alive.

Derek didn't respond to her evasive question, but he closed the front door and came to stand by the staircase in front of her, leaning back against the banister and crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for an answer to his own initial question.

"I wanted to check and make sure you were doing okay after last week-" She started. When Derek only proceeded in raising his eyebrows as if he didn't quite believe her, she carried on with a small sigh, "..And also I wanted to know if you figured anything else out about the Alpha. Scott's information distribution skills are crap at best and that thing could've killed me last night, but it didn't.. I want to know why, and also how we're planning to get rid of it for good."

Derek sighed, "First off, you are not going to be doing anything, even if I do come up with a plan. You are going to try to stay out of all this, like I told you before. Just because it left you and your friends alive last night, doesn't mean you'll be so lucky next time."

Amber took a step forward and opened her mouth to speak but he continued on.

"You can't keep coming around, alright? The hunters don't know about Scott yet, but they do know about me. If someone sees you hanging around, you're going to have more than just the Alpha to watch out for. I don't need you to be worrying about me."

Amber tore her eyes away from him to focus on the dust that covered the dark hardwood floors, "Someone should." She muttered under her breath.

"I don't need anybody to worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"But that's just it, Derek. I don't think you should have to go through all of this on your own. I want to help-"

"I don't need your help," He said simply, "I need you to not get yourself killed."

Amber's face scrunched in frustration and she sighed loudly, "Well, I don't want you to-"

Derek suddenly stepped forward and pressed the palm of his hand to her lips, his other hand coming up to cup the back of her head to ensure she didn't move away. His eyes were squinted in concentration as he looked toward the front door and Amber recalled the way he'd done something similar when he'd been listening to Argent's vehicles approaching at the gas station.

Amber made a small, questioning noise and his eyes snapped back down to her. His green eyes met her hazel ones and before she could take a breath, he had wrapped an arm around her waist and had begun to drag her down the hallway, her feet barely touching the floor as they moved. When they reached a small closet beneath the staircase, he pulled open the door and shoved her to crouch inside.

"Listen. I mean it- Do not say a word, d'you understand? I don't care what you hear or see, you stay put and you stay quiet."

"Der-" She squeaked nervously.

"Not a sound." He told her, quickly shutting the slatted closet door and moving back a few steps further into the house.

The small storage closet wasn't much of a hiding space. There was a ten inch hole in the wall to her left that gave her a decent view through to the living room and the door was shutters instead of solid wood.

Amber leaned as far away from the hole as she could in an attempt to hide herself from view, peering through the slats to see what Derek was doing only to find that he seemed to have disappeared.

Amber had only just placed one of her hands on the wall to maintain balance in her crouched position when the front door to the house burst open with a crash. She flinched hard at the loud sound of the shattering wood but managed to hold back any noise of her own as two men and a woman entered the house. One of the men held a large black gun in both hands, turning with it slowly as if ready to open fire at any moment.

"No one home?" The man with the gun asked, shuffling around as he looked around the house.

"Oh, he's here," The woman grinned playfully, "He's just not feeling particularly hospitable."

"Maybe he's out," The second man started. Amber thought he looked more like a nineties boyband reject when compared to the dangerous aura the other two held, "Burying a bone in the backyard."

"Really?" The woman asked him in disappointment, "A dog joke? We're going there and that's the best you've got?" The three moved a bit deeper inside the house as she continued, "If you wanna provoke him, say something like, 'Too bad your sister bit it before she had her first litter,'" She smiled and raised her voice, "'Too bad she howled like a bitch when we cut her in half!'"

Amber raised a hand to covered her mouth and muffle a gasp. She heard Derek growl loudly from the other side of the house, followed by a scream that had to have come from the boybander who'd been outside of her field of vision. Derek must've thrown the man to the front of the house because his body landed in the front hall with a loud thump.

She watched as Derek jumped up and swung from the doorway, hitting the man with the gun in the chest with a hard kick that sent him flying to the back of the living room. Derek rose to his feet and snarled at the woman standing in the center of the room. He charged at her and the woman pulled a baton from her back pocket, whipping it out and extending its length with an electrified zapping noise. She thrust it into Derek's naked side as soon as he was close enough and Amber watched in horror as he dropped to the floor in pain.

Derek writhed on the ground, rolling onto his side and releasing small noises of discomfort. Amber bit her lip to the point of pain, her jaw trembling as she was forced to watch Derek's body tense and twitch from the shock of electricity.

"Wow," The woman stated, stepping closer and circling Derek on the floor as she examined him, "This one grew up in all the right places." The woman watched with a smile as Derek recouperated slightly and got his hands underneath him, "I don't know whether to kill it, or lick it."

Amber's heart clenched in both fury at the women's words, and pity as Derek weakly dragged himself along the dusty floor in an attempt to put distance between himself and the woman standing above him. The electric baton zapped threateningly at his back a couple of times as the woman followed behind him with a smile.

Derek tried to pull himself up with the help of the sofa in the corner of the room and the woman shocked him again with a jab to the stomach. Derek flew back several feet from the jolt and his body twitched, muscles tightening with the after effects.

Amber pressed her hand tighter to her mouth to stifle a sound and her eyes welled up with tears as the woman laughed joyfully at Derek.

"Ah, nine hundred thousand volts," The woman grinned, examining the baton in her hand, "You never were good with electricity, were you? Or fire." She laughed again.

Amber took a quiet trembling breath and she watched through the blur of her tears as Derek slowly pulled himself away again, his legs dragging behind him limply.

"-Which is why I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. And, well, maybe we can help each other out." The woman sat on the end of the sofa and looked down at Derek as he took a shaky breath and continued to crawl across the floor, "Yes, your sister was severed into pieces and used as bait to try and catch you.. Unpleasant." She tutted, "And, frankly, a little too Texas Chainsaw Massacre for my taste, but quite true." She laughed again, "Now, here's the part that might really kick you in your balls — We didn't kill her."

Derek finally pulled himself up into a seated position at the end of the room and leaned against the wall. He glared up at the woman as the muscles in his body continued to tremble.

"You think I'm lying?" The woman asked, her eyes wide in faux surprise.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Derek choked out as his body shook.

"Sweetie," The woman said the word mockingly, coming to stand at the end of the room and crouching down in front of him, "Well, why don't you just listen to my heart and tell me if I am, okay?" She leaned into his space until she could speak directly into his ear, "We. Didn't. Kill. Your. Sister.. D'you hear that? No little blips or upticks. Just the steady beat of the cold hard truth."

Amber took another large shaky breath in through her nose, the exhale puffing out over the backs of her fingers where they covered her mouth. Her calves and thighs were beginning to ache from crouching in the cramped broom closet for so long and the resigned look on Derek's face made her chest feel tight.

The woman's lips spread into an eerie grin as she rose to stand above Derek, "They found bite marks on your sister's body, Derek. What d'you think did that? A mountain lion?" She laughed, "Why aren't we helping each other out? You might as well admit what you've been guessing all along which is; The Alpha killed your sister." She stated unsympathetically with a tilt of her head, "All you have to do is tell me who he is and we'll take care of it for you. Problem solved. Everybody goes home happy."

The woman paused with a smile, as if waiting for a response. Derek took slow even breaths but didn't respond to her, his eyes cast down to the dusty floor.

"Unless.." The woman said with a look of surprise, "You don't know who he is either." She chuckled in astonishment, shaking her head, "Wow. Guess who just became totally useless?"

As quickly as the question left her mouth, the woman pulled out a large gun that Amber hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Derek rolled to the side and dashed out of the way just as the woman pulled the trigger, releasing a rapid-fire stream of bullets.

Amber muffled a frightened noise with the hand over her mouth and Derek ran through the front door and out of the house, avoiding the area near the hall closet to protect the girl from getting caught in the line of fire.

The moment that Derek was gone, the woman sighed woefully and dropped the gun to her side. She made her way over to the men she'd brought with her, giving each of them a swift kick and ordered them to get up. Both men groaned in pain but did as she instructed, pulling themselves to their feet slowly.

"Well, that was a bust." The woman said in disappointment.

"What if Chris finds out we disobeyed him and came here?" One of the men asked, brushing himself off as the group slowly made their way to the front door.

"He won't." The woman told them, "And besides, we didn't kill him. Just.. Played with him a little."

Amber leaned toward the hole in the wall to watch them leave and waited, taking slow shaky breaths. She counted to three hundred before easing open the closet door and cautiously stepping out. Her hands trembled as she took careful steps toward the front door and when she reached the open doorway, she looked around the property warily, checking to be sure they were truly gone.

Both hearing and seeing nothing, she let out an anxious breath she'd been holding.

It was entirely possible that Derek had been on to something when he told her it was dangerous for her to keep coming around.

It didn't mean that she planned to listen to him — Just, it was possible that he wasn't totally incorrect.

"Hey, it's me again-" Amber said into her phone after going straight to Stiles' voicemail for the third time, "Look, I don't know if you're ignoring me because you're mad that I ditched you earlier or if you're on another call or what. Just-" Amber sighed, flopping down onto her bed, "I don't know if Scott's talked to you but I still can't get a hold of him. So, anyway, I'm going to go to the parent-teacher thing with Jason. Gonna see if I can talk to him there." She told Stiles through the tiny speaker, "Right. Just, call me or text me when you get this. Bye."

There was a sudden loud knocking and Amber flinched in surprise as her bedroom door was pushed open, sitting up in bed to find her brother standing in the doorway.

"Hey, you about ready to head out?" He asked her.

"Yeah, let me just grab a sweatshirt." She told him, walking over to the closet and pulling out a large gray hoodie that had almost definitely belonged to Stiles at some point.

"You know you don't even have to go to this thing, right? Your grades are really good." Jason pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Amber pulled the zip-up sweatshirt on over her tank top and brushed past him to head downstairs, "I know. But Scott has to go. I wanna talk to him about something and he's not answering his phone."

"Alright," Jason conceded as they reached the front door, "But I guess if you're coming with, I might as well show you now-"

"Show me what?" Amber asked in confusion, following him outside.

Instead of heading toward the old pickup truck that was parked on the side of the driveway, he led her to the closed garage door. Amber's heart thumped nervously in anticipation as she watched her brother pull open the large rolling door. When the garage door went up and out of the way, it revealed an absolutely hideous AMC Pacer — nearly identical to the one their dad had purchased in the seventies and had still owned when the two of them were kids. It was a ridiculous sunshine yellow and the metal was lightly rusted at the bottom and it looked so much like the one that their dad had driven them around in for the first several years of her life.

"Oh, my god." Amber finally choked out.

Her eyes welled with tears at the memories that cropped up of their dad picking them up from school. The memories of their mom complaining loudly about how much she hated the ugly car and the way things were always falling out of the backseat because, for some reason, the passenger door was built different from the one on the driver's side. The memories of Jason sitting in the back beside her and reading a comic book, flipping it around as he finished each page to show his sister his favorite parts.

Amber took a shaky breath, "It looks just like dad's."

"It is dad's," Jason revealed, stepping up behind her and putting a hand on the back of her head, "Or, it was. He sold it to that older couple over on Beacon Lake, remember?" When she nodded weakly he continued, "Well, turns out they're both eighty now and the husband finally lost his license. He sold it back to me for almost nothing."

"You bought dad's car back?" Amber finally pulled her eyes away from the vehicle and turned to face her brother.

"Yeah, bud. It's yours, if you want it."

"I want it," She said quickly, her head snapped back and forth between Jason and the car, "I want it. Oh my god."

Her brother laughed, pulling a small keychain out of his pocket and handing it to her, "It's yours."

She took the keys with wide eyes, her hands shaking as she gripped them tight.

"It's manual, though. So, you're gonna need to practice driving stick shift." He warned her.

"Stiles tried to teach me in the Jeep once," She told him, "I did okay, I think."

"Alright, well, why don't you drive us to the school and we'll see how good of a teacher your friend Stiles is." Jason grinned, walking to the driver's side door and holding it open for her.

Amber bit down on her lip and made a small excited noise, ducking into the car and onto the stained tan seat, sliding behind the wheel. Her fingertips traced over everything she could see; the ancient radio knobs, the cigarette lighter, the gear shift behind the steering wheel, the speedometer that only reached ninety miles an hour.

She was going to drive her car to the parent-teacher conferences, track down Scott, and figure everything out.

When Amber finally located Ms. McCall outside of the school, the woman was standing by herself, watching the parking lot like a hawk, and Amber deflated slightly as she approached.

"No Scott yet?" Amber asked.

"Have you talked to him?" Ms. McCall asked immediately, checking the phone in her hand as if it might've gone off without her noticing, "I should be in there already but I can't get a hold of him."

Amber attempted a reassuring smile, "I'm sure he'll be here any minute. I'll wait for him out here and I'll send him in the second I see him." She promised.

Scott's mom looked like she wanted to argue, but then she watched the last of the other parents trickle into the school and sighed, "Okay. But, send him straight in. I mean it, Amber."

"I'll send him straight in," Amber promised, "I'll even give him a kick in the ass for being late."

Ms. McCall cracked a smile before agreeing and heading inside as the doors were closing behind the final group of adults.

Amber sat down on the stairs outside the building, bouncing her knee impatiently as she waited for Scott to show up. She sat restlessly, fiddling with the strings on her hoodie and shaking her leg in anticipation. She waited for over an hour, eventually turning sideways to lean back against the cement that held the guard rail.

As more time passed, she began to lose hope. Her stomach dropped sadly when she heard the school doors creak open again after nearly two hours. Parents filed back out of the building and at the front of the pack, she spotted Mr. Argent and a woman she figured had to be Allison's mom.

"Allison. Answering your cell phone will make discussing the terms of your grounding much easier." Amber heard Allison's dad say angrily into his phone, "Well, call me back before your punishment reaches Biblical proportions."

"Kate hasn't heard from her either," Mrs. Argent told him worriedly as they descended the stairs.

Amber scrambled to her feet as the couple reached where she was and winced at the chill in her backside from sitting on the cold ground for so long, sighing at the realization that Scott was still with Allison.

Ms. McCall put a hand on Amber's shoulder as she passed and the woman went to stand in front of the Argents at the bottom of the staircase, "Excuse me, you're not Allison's parents, are you?" She asked, "I'm Scott's mom, and I hate to say it, but he's not answering his phone either."

"You're his mother?" Chris Argent said judgmentally.

Amber took a defensive step forward to stand beside Ms. McCall but the woman responded before she could cut in, "Funny, how you say that like it's an accusation."

"Well, I wouldn't claim it as a source of pride since he basically kidnapped my daughter today." He said gruffly.

"Hey-" Amber said in anger, quieting when Mrs. McCall put a hand on her shoulder.

"How do we know skipping school wasn't your daughter's idea?" She asked defensively.

Mr. Argent glared, "My daughter-" He started loudly, cutting off as he caught sight of something behind them and sighing, "-Is right there."

Ms. McCall immediately turned and rushed toward the parking lot. Amber caught sight of her brother exiting the school and she held up a hand in signal for him to give her a minute, when he nodded and pulled out his phone, she turned to follow behind Scott's mom with wide eyes.

"Where exactly have you been?" Amber heard Ms. McCall yell as the girl approached the group.

"Nowhere, mom." Scott responded quietly.

"Nowhere meaning, 'not at school,'" His mom clarified angrily.

"I- Kinda." He told her.

"It's not his fault," Allison defended, "It's my birthday and we were-"

The girl was cut off when her dad reached them and pointed sternly to the back of the parking lot, "Allison. In the car."

Suddenly, there was a shrill scream from the other side of the parking lot and Amber's stomach dropped, immediately looking at Scott with wide eyes. He met her gaze with a matching expression of uneasiness.

People quickly began yelling and rushing around the parking lot, proceeding to get more frantic as the seconds passed. No one was sure what was happening, but fear spurred them on and people rushed to their cars, some tearing out of the parking lot quickly to get away from an unseen threat.

Scott began to wander away from the group and Amber followed behind him with a hand gripping his jacket, "Is the Alpha here?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know." He told her, tilting his head as he listened through the chaos around them.

Another scream sounded out loudly above the murmuring shouts and Amber flinched, releasing Scott from her hold. When she heard her name being called, she spotted Jason standing at their yellow car on the other side of the lot and he waved to her urgently but she held up her hand again, pleading with him to give her another minute.

There was a growl in the distance and Amber flinched again at the sound, though it didn't resemble the one she remembered from the night before. In the mayhem, she realized that she'd lost Scott, her friend no longer beside her, and she wandered forward, eyes alert as she searched for him.

"Allison!" Amber heard him yell from several yards away.

Amber rose onto her toes to watch as Scott pulled Allison out of the way of a car that was barreling through the parking lot, managing to save her only a second before she would have been hit.

Amber's heart thumped painfully beneath her ribs with adrenaline and the yelling around her only seemed to get louder with each second that passed.

There was another animalistic growl, louder this time, closer, and Amber gasped and spun around as she heard whatever it was dash past where she was standing between two parked cars. When she looked up, she spotted Sheriff Stilinski standing just to the other side of the vehicle beside her.

"Move!" He yelled at the group that was forming around the parked cars as he went to head in the direction the animal had gone.

Amber ran forward in time with her friend's father. As they reached the back of the car, she noticed the tail lights come on and her eyes went wide, reaching out toward Stiles' dad and giving him a small shove just as the car tore out of the spot in reverse and backed into her. She was slammed back several feet and down onto the pavement but the car managed to come to a stop before it could run her over entirely.

"Amber!" Mr. Stilinski yelled worriedly, "What were you thinking, kid? You okay?"

There was another loud growl in the distance and Amber's heart beat loudly in her ears while Stiles' dad grabbed her with one hand in hers and another on her waist as he pulled her to her feet.

Her elbow hurt from the fall and her left hip throbbed painfully where the car had rammed into her, but she didn't feel any serious injuries, "I-I'm fine." She told him breathlessly.

The man's eyes flicked back and forth between her hazel ones before he nodded and stepped back, looking around them at the ever growing chaos. Amber watched him reach down toward his shoe and pull a small gun from a holster he had hidden beneath his jeans at his ankle.

Just as quickly as he'd pulled out his weapon, there were two loud echoing gunshots from the other side of the parking lot. Mr. Stilinski covered Amber's head with his hand and pushed her down for cover as the girl let out a quiet yelp in fear.

A few moments later, Jason sprinted up to them and pulled Amber toward him. When his hand pushed on her hip she cried out at the tender spot and his eyes widened further, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I-"

"She got hit by a car." Mr. Stilinski told him over her head.

"What!" Jason asked frantically, "We should go to the hospital-"

"We don't need to go to the hospital. They just bumped me, I'm fine." She assured both men, looking between them, "I'm probably getting a bruise already, but I'm fine." She focussed on Jason, "But the gunshots- What-"

"The mountain lion," Jason told her, "It was wandering around the parking lot and someone shot it."

"I- A mountain lion?" She asked in surprise.

"Yeah," He said, "Probably the same one that killed that guy and scared you last night."

Amber looked between the men, seeing the relief on her brother but a look of confused disbelief on Mr. Stilinski that she was sure matched her own. Before she could say anything else, Jason thanked Stiles' dad for his help and pulled her under the safety of his arm, guiding her back toward the car.

"I feel like this should go without saying, but I don't think you should drive the car for a couple days," Her brother told her as they reached the yellow vehicle, directing her toward the passenger side with a gentle push.

Amber sighed but nodded, wincing when she bumped her sore elbow as she climbed into the car.

As her brother drove them home, she couldn't help but think how unlikely a coincidence it was for a mountain lion to wander into town and get killed while the Alpha remained conveniently out of sight.