you made this mess, I'll knock at your door,
don't you ignore or forget about it

[venomous: season 2, episode 5]
⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

Before Tara could ask any questions as to what the hell had just happened, she was awkwardly dragged into Coach's office by Stiles, joining both Allison and Scott. "And why do I need to be a part of this conversation?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Stiles.

        "Because Derek's waiting outside for Lydia," Scott informed Tara and the others.

        Allison's eyes widened, "Waiting to kill her?" she asked, the concern for her friend evident in her voice.

        Scott nodded, "If he thinks she's the kanima, then yes- especially after what happened at the pool," he said.

        "It's not her," Stiles insisted.

        "You know, continuing to say that out loud doesn't make it true," Tara said, lifting herself up to sit on the edge of Coach's desk. "It just means you're in denial," she pointed out.

        Stiles shot the girl a pointed glare but didn't say anything to her, though Tara could tell that he wanted to.

        Scott sighed, "Stiles, she didn't pass the test, man. Nothing happened," he said, recounting the events that everyone there had already seen.

        Stiles shook his head, "No, it can't be her," he repeated.

        "It doesn't matter," Allison butted in. "Because Derek thinks it's her. So, either we can convince him that he's wrong or we've got to figure out a way to protect her," she reasoned.

        "Well, I don't think he's gonna do anything here," Scott figured. "Not at school."

        "What about after school?" Allison challenged. Tara just looked down at her lap awkwardly while no one else answered the girl's question. "What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?" Allison added.

        Stiles resisted the urge to scoff, "By three o'clock?" he asked skeptically.

        "Uh, there could be something in the bestiary?" Allison said, somewhat unconvincingly.

        "Oh, you mean the nine-hundred-page book written in archaic latin that none of us can read?" Stiles said sarcastically. "Good luck with that."

        Allison looked back at Tara, "Can you read archaic latin?" she asked.

        "Um, no," Tara answered slowly, a little confused as to why Allison was asking her. "No, I cannot."

        "Why would she know that?" Stiles asked Allison, rolling his eyes once more.

        Allison held up her hands defensively. "Well, I don't know. I don't know her," she replied. "I- whatever, if she can't, I'll find someone who can."

        Tara clicked her tongue, "I am right here, you guys, that means I can hear you!" she snapped.

        "Uh, I can talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove it's not her?" Scott reasoned.

        Stiles nodded slowly, "Okay, well, what about Erica and Isaac?" he asked. "They seemed pretty adamant on, uh- killing her," he finished awkwardly.

        "I'll do it," Tara said instantly.

        Scott raised his eyebrow, "Do what?"

        "Be the distraction," Tara offered. "Look, the best plan of action is getting Lydia out of here before three without Derek's little wolves noticing and attempting to slit her throat on school grounds, or whatever. So, while Scott talks to Derek I can stall the other two and then meet you all afterward," she decided, finishing her sentence with a small shrug.

        "Why?" Stiles asked instantly.

        Tara hummed, "I don't know, maybe I just want to be helpful," she said, sending Stiles a smug smile.

        Stiles sighed, "Okay, fine. Fine. I deserve that. Will you stop holding it over my head now?" he asked Tara, trying not to look annoyed.

        Tara paused for a second, pretending to think her answer over. "No, I don't think I will," she responded.

        "Alright, cool, I'll talk to Derek while Tara takes care of the other two," Scott decided. "But, if anything happens, you guys let me handle it, okay?" he asked, his eyes lingering on Allison.

        "What does that mean?" Allison asked.

        "That you can't heal like I do," Scott said, taking a step closer to Allison. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

        Allison looked away, dropping her backpack off of her shoulder as she began to dig through her bag. She grabbed onto the handle of something and dragged it out of the pile of fabric, a mechanical crossbow. She latched onto the trigger as she placed it at her side.

        "A weapon," Tara said under her breath. "You brought a weapon to school? Great."

        "I can protect myself," Allison asserted, but Scott still looked apprehensive. "What?" Allison asked, her confident demeanor dropping for a second. "Did something else happen?"

        "I just don't want you getting hurt," Scott told Allison. "Seriously, if anything goes wrong, you call me, okay? I-I don't care if your dad finds out. Call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I'll hear you and I'll find you as fast as I can. We have until three," he finished. Allison bit her lip before nodding slowly as a look of relief spread across Scott's face. He gave everyone in the room another small nod before turning to leave. He got to the door of Coach's office before an arrow came flying toward the back of his head. Scott turned around and caught it quickly before it made contact with his skin.

        Stiles awkwardly looked at the crossbow in his hand. "Ah sorry... sensitive trigger on here," he said slowly, passing the weapon back to Allison.

        "Nice going," Tara said as she slid off of Coach's desk. "Remind me to never trust you while you're holding one of those," she told Stiles.

        "Ha ha ha, whatever," Stiles said dryly as they both followed Scott and Allison out of the office. "Are you really gonna distract them?" Stiles asked her before they needed to part ways in the hallway.

        "Yes, god, put your trust in me just this once, Stilinski," Tara hissed. "It's not gonna fucking kill you."

        Stiles tilted his head at her, "Yeah, but it might kill Lydia," he retorted.

        "It won't," Tara repeated with a sigh. "I'll see you after school, got it?" she said swiftly.

        Stiles nodded in response before walking down the opposite side of the hallway to Tara. The girl shrugged to herself as she silently walked down the hallway to her locker. It was almost noon so Stiles and Allison had about three hours to try and prove that Lydia wasn't the kanima before Derek sent Erica and Isaac after her. Tara sighed as she reached a locker, a week ago she wouldn't have to worry about all of this. In fact, a week ago her biggest worry would probably be getting a good grade on the lab report that Harris had just given out in class. But now she had to spend time thinking about werewolves and kanimas and hunters and whatever the hell else was waiting for her as soon as she stepped outside of the school. Whatever, it didn't matter now because this was her life, whether she liked it or not.

        Tara looked to her right and was met with two pairs of eyes. One belonged to Erica Reyes and the other belonged to Isaac Lahey. The girl resisted the urge to scoff. 'Seriously?' she thought to herself. 'Don't they have anything better to do than to watch me go to my locker?' Tara sent the pair a weird look which they did not reciprocate before rolling her eyes and turning her back on the two of them.

        "Derek needs her, remember?" Erica said slowly, nodding at the dark-haired girl at the end of the hallway. "He's been telling us for the past week."

        Isaac sighed, "I know, I've been trying to get her on our side all day," he whispered. "Subtly and smoothly," he added.

        Erica scoffed, "Right, by flirting with her?" she asked sarcastically.

        "I'm- I'm not flirting with her," Isaac responded instantly. "I'm just talking to her. In fact, I'll go talk to her right now."

        Erica shook her head, "No, no. I'll do it," she decided. "Your approach isn't working."

        "Wha- uh, why?" Isaac asked, stuttering over his words.

        "Because every time you try and talk to her you start thinking with your dick instead of with your head," Erica said bluntly. "She's a pretty girl, Isaac, and unknowingly or not, she's got you wrapped around her finger."

        Isaac frowned, "That's a-" he started. "That's a bold accusation there, Erica."

        Erica rolled her eyes, "Whatever, you know it's true," she replied casually. "I'm gonna go talk to her, and you're gonna sit there, do nothing, and let your jealousy consume you because you don't get to talk to her," she finished, crossing her arms over her chest. She raised her eyebrows at him before turning her back on the boy, "Have fun!" she called over her shoulder as she made her way over to Tara.

        Tara slammed the door of her locker closed and was immediately met with the eyes of Erica Reyes. "Hi," Erica said smoothly. "It's about time we talked, don't you think so?" she asked, twirling a piece of her bright blonde hair around her finger.

        Tara gave her a small fake smile, "You know, no, I don't think it is," she finished, briefly looking the girl up and down. "I actually don't have any interest in talking to you at all, so, you can run along. Go back to doing whatever it is you do."

        Erica laughed, "Oh come on, a little girl talk? It could be fun," she offered. "We could skip class, get our nails done," she said, showing off her claws as she dug them into the sheet of metal on Tara's locker. "What do you say?"

        Tara hummed, "My nails are fine, thank you though," she said, peeling Erica's hand off of her locker.

        Erica scoffed, dropping her kind demeanor, "You're no fun, you know that, right?" she said, placing her hand back at her side.

        Tara pursed her lips, "Hm, right," she said absentmindedly as she tightened her grip on her bag. "You wanna do us both a favor and tell me why you're over here?" she asked, looking up once more to meet the girl's eyes.

        "Why are you still hanging around Scott McCall?" Erica asked pointedly.

        Tara raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl, "Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" she replied quickly.

        Erica tutted, placing a hand on Tara's shoulder. "Aw, sweetie, you know you're better than that," she said mockingly. "Scott has nothing," she stated simply. "Derek, on the other han-"

        Tara groaned, "Oh, so this is about Derek? Yeah, I'm not interested in whatever two-for-one deal you're gonna offer me in exchange for joining your pack," she said, shaking the other girl's hand off of her shoulder.

        "Who said that's what I was trying to do?" Erica said defensively, backing off a tiny bit.

        "Erica, I'm not stupid," Tara retorted. "If Derek wants to talk to me, he can do that himself. I probably wouldn't listen but he can try," she said honestly. "But if that's all you wanted to say to me, you can go now," she finished, pointing her finger to where Erica had come from.

        "You haven't been listening this whole time!" Erica shot back. "Staying with Scott is dangerous and there is strength in numbers. The math seems easy to me but maybe you need a little more direction," she hissed. "This vendetta you have against Derek is weird."

        Tara blinked as she clenched her fists. "This whole thing is his fault. Me being like you guys. He triggered that shit for me against my will!" she asserted. "Or did he just conveniently leave that part out when he sent you to do his dirty work?" she challenged. "He wants to turn you guys into killers, that's fine by me, but you need to leave me out of that. Derek has done nothing for me, but Scott? He decided he would help me before your little alpha even lifted a finger, and he's stuck to that promise," Tara said taking a step closer to Erica. "So I'll be damned if I let you or Lahey over there," she said, nodding at Isaac who was obviously listening in on their conversation. "Make me turn my back on him, okay?"

        Erica opened her mouth to try and respond but was cut off by a swift motion behind her. "Hey, blondie," Kenna said, pulling Erica's shoulder back, pulling her away from Tara. "Get your little werewolf ass away from her.

        Erica giggled, locking eyes with Kenna. "Or what?" she asked teasingly. "What are you going to do about it?" she continued, looking the girl up and down.

        Kenna smiled smugly, "I'll make your life a living hell," she stated, continuing her dangerously nice tone. "Have a good day," she added, not so subtly telling Erica to leave the conversation.

        "Have a think about what I said, kay?" Erica told Tara, sending her a small wink before she strutted away from the pair.

        Kenna glared at the back of the girl before looking back at her friend. "What was that about," she whispered as Tara spun on her heel, beginning to walk down the south end of the hallway.

        Tara sighed as she readjusted the bag on her back. "It's nothing, just Derek getting his minions to do his dirty work, again," she said in a low voice. "But, thanks for your help, Ken," she added sincerely.

        "Yeah, of course," Kenna responded. "Anytime."

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

        Tara received a long and detailed text from Stiles about an hour before the day ends discussing their plan of rushing Lydia out of the library and to Scott's house without Derek's pack noticing. Which means that Tara needed to stay back in the library and keep Erica and Isaac from reaching Lydia before Stiles and Allison could leave the school grounds. Erica no doubt would be able to see through whatever Tara was doing given their heated exchange earlier in the day, however, she wasn't sure about Isaac. She might be able to keep him occupied for the right amount of time to prevent them from killing Lydia. Hopefully.

        Tara stared at the clock in the library until it hit the dreaded hour of three pm. The girl shifted uncomfortably as she watched most of the students file out of the room, keeping a close eye on Allison, Stiles, and Lydia as they slipped out of the exit, surrounded by a bunch of other students which would hopefully add to their cover. Tara looked around at the now mostly empty library except for two other students. "Shit, you've got to be kidding me," she whispered to herself as she rose from her seat and marched over to the table where they were peacefully sitting.

        "You two," Tara said pointing at Danny Māhealani and some other student that she didn't know the name of. "Out," she said as menacingly as she could.

        "Wha- Tara, we're kind of in the middle of something here," Danny protested, standing up from his seat.

        "Plus, this is the library," the other guy added. "It's free use! You can't kick us out!"

        Tara sighed, rolling her eyes at their objections. "Does it look like I care?" she asked the two of them. "I said out, Danny. Don't make me ask again."

        Danny paused for a second before closing his laptop quickly and shoving it into his backpack. "Wha- uh- what are you doing?" the other guy asked Danny, looking between him and the fairly annoyed Tara. "She can't actually make us leave."

        "No, dude, you don't get it," Danny whispered, throwing the rest of his things into his backpack. "You can't cross those soccer girls, they're scary," he said in a soft but equally scared whisper. "We can just use one of the free classrooms instead." With that, he got up and made his way to the exit.

        The other guy took one more look at Tara, tossing his camera back into his bag before following Danny out. "Bye!" Tara said in a singsong voice, giving them an over-exaggerated wave as they left the room.

        Tara groaned as soon as she saw that the two boys had finally left. She sat up on the edge of one of the tables, looking around the room to make sure that she hadn't missed anyone and that the room was empty beside her. Tara smiled to herself as she saw both Erica and Isaac rush into the library, a little surprised to see her there instead of Lydia.

        "Peters, where's Lydia?" Isaac said coolly, strolling up to the girl. 

        "Lydia, Lydia, Lydia?" Tara asked, tutting as she swung her legs from the edge of the desk. She brushed her hair off of her shoulder before she continued. "I don't- I don't think I know a Lydia. Sorry," she finished, pouting as she looked up at Isaac.

        Isaac let out a small laugh, "You don't know a Lydia, really?" he pressed.

        Tara thought her answer over for a second before shaking her head. "No, sorry," she said insincerely.

        "Peters, really, you're gonna play this game?" Isaac asked her, looking down at the girl in front of him.

        "What game?" Tara said innocently. "I'm just simply telling you what I know," she said, resting her hands on her knee. "Which is nothing, so," she continued letting her voice trail off as she met the boys eyes. "Better luck next time."

        "Hmmmm, I see," Isaac sounded. "So what are you guys planning this time?" he asked carefully.

        Tara raised her eyebrow at him, completely ignoring the blonde girl behind the two of them. "You really wanna know?" she asked.

        "Yeah, I really wanna know," Isaac replied, sending her a small smile.

        Tara shrugged, "Sorry, can't tell you. My lips are sealed," she said, making a zipper motion across her lips.

        "Peters," Isaac started.

        "Lahey," Tara said in a similar tone to him.

        "Oh my god, Isaac, she's not going to tell us anything," Erica said seriously. "So unless you want to keep flirting with her and wasting our time, we should go," she insisted, flicking her thumb back at the exit doors.

        Tara shook her head, "No need, I'll see myself out," she said, sliding off of the desk as she made eye contact with Isaac, who stepped back as she moved forward. "Good luck finding this Lydia girl. See you guys around, yeah?" she asked, giving them both a small smirk before skipping out of the library.

        "Yeah," Isaac said slowing craning his neck to watch the girl leave. "See you- around."

        Erica scoffed as soon as she heard Tara's steps retreating out into the hallway, "Oh my god, you think she's hot, don't you?" she asked Isaac.

        Isaac shook his head immediately. "No, no. I don't think that, no," he stuttered. "She's, uh, she's okay. Decent, even."

        Erica nodded slowly, "You know what, I stand corrected. You think she's really hot," she said giggling to herself.

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

        Tara held her phone to her mouth, "Hey I'm here, how the fuck do I get it?" she asked, walking around the perimeter of Scott McCall's house. "Also how the fuck did you get my number earlier?" she continued, stopping at the back door to the house.

        'Kenna gave it to me,' Tara heard Stiles' slightly robotic voice respond. 'Just wait at the back door, I'll let you in.'

        "Right," Tara said as she glanced around the backyard. "And just so you know, my number is for emergency use only, I don't want you texting me whenever you please, got it?"

        She heard Stiles groan slightly as she saw his face pop up in the back window. 'Got it,' he mumbled, hanging up the phone quickly and shoving it back into his pocket. Tara stood at the doorway as she watched Stiles undo about three different sets of locks and push a chair out of the way. He cracked open the door as he glanced at Tara curiously. "You alone?" he asked suspiciously.

        Tara tapped her foot hurriedly, "Paranoid much?" she asked as she took a step toward the door.

        Stiles sighed, "Just answer the question," he said in a much darker tone than Tara was used to hearing from him.

        "Yes, god, I'm alone, just let me in," Tara responded quickly.

        Stiles nodded as he opened the door just wide enough that Tara was able to slip through the back into Scott's house. "Where's Scott?" Tara asked, letting Stiles lock up the back door once more before moving through the house.

        "Still at the school talking to Derek, I assume," Stiles responded as he followed the girl up to the front of the house.

        "Hmm, right," Tara hummed quietly. "And Lydia?" she continued, noticing the lack of the strawberry blonde in the entryway.

        "She's upstairs talking to Jackson," Allison answered. "It puts some space between her and the others if they try to come from her."

        Tara groaned, "Jackson, right, okay, that's great," she said mostly to herself. "And do you guys care to fill me in on why Jackson knows what he knows? Because I was not prepared for that bombshell this morning?" she asked, looking expectantly from Stiles to Allison. Both of them stayed silent, not entirely sure how to answer her fairly pointed question. Tara narrowed her eyes, trying to stare them down for an answer but that unfortunately did not work either. "Awesome, cool," she said absentmindedly. "I didn't really want to know the answer to my question anyways," she finished sarcastically.

        "Uh, he wanted to know why Scott was suddenly good at lacrosse and kinda figured everything out from there," Allison caved, answering the girl's question.

        Tara resisted the strong urge to scoff, "Oh course it had to do with lacrosse," she responded. "And he's here because?"

        Allison shrugged lightly, "He still cares about Lydia," she answered.

        "Supposedly," Stiles said under his breath as he rolled his eyes.

        "Good to know," Tara said as she took a seat at the foot of the stairs. 'This is going to be a long night' she thought to herself as she rested her hand under her chin.

        About an hour into what Tara had coined: 'Lydia watch duty' they had gotten some not-so-great news. Allison peeked out the window and looked back at Tara and Stiles. "Guys, you might want to come see this." Tara begrudgingly got up from her spot on the staircase and pushed aside one of the curtains covering the small windows on either side of Scott's front door. Tara frowned as she spotted four figures standing in the middle of the street, staring at Scott's house. Derek Hale, Vernon Boyd, Erica Reyes, and Isaac Lahey.

        Stiles looked to his right, directly at Tara. "I thought you said you were gonna distract them," he hissed.

        "And I did!" Tara shot back. "I distracted them so you could get Lydia out of the school! I did my damn job!" she argued.

        Stiles rolled his eyes, "Yeah, and you did a shit job of it," he said under his breath, knowing damn well that Tara could hear him.

        "You got her here, didn't you?" Tara reported, placing a hand on her hips as she whipped around to look at Stiles. "They probably followed her scent here, we can't mask that, so don't come at me for doing what I said I would do."

        Allison ran her hand through her hair quickly, "I'm- I'm gonna call Scott and tell him to come back."

        Stiles nodded as he retracted from his spot at the window, "Here, use mine," he said, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. Allison nodded as she walked away from the window as well, retreating back into the entryway.

        Tara moved the curtain back in front of her. "If you look on the bright side, they probably don't know how to get in?" she offered.

        "Yeah, probably," Stiles grumbled, triple-checking that he had locked every lock on Scott's door. "At least we can hope."

⊱ ───ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ─── ⊰

        Tara wasn't keeping track of time at this point, all she knew was that the sun had almost set and Derek and his wolves had still not moved from their spot on the street. They just kept watching, waiting, for the right moment to kill Lydia but Tara didn't know when that was. "Oh jeez," Stiles whispered as he looked out the window once more.

        Allison nervously looked down at the phone in her left hand and back up at the window. "What are you doing?" Stiles asked, noticing Allison's behavior

        "I think- I think I have to call my dad," Allison said anxiously.

        Stiles immediately shook his head, alarm bells going off. "No, if he finds you here, you and Scott-"

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

        "Yeah, and if you call your dad, he will shoot and kill all of the werewolves here," Tara pointed out, glancing at the phone in Allison's hand. "Including me and not to sound selfish but I really don't want to die right now. There's got to be another way."

        Stiles' eyes trailed down to the weapon in Allison's hand. "I got an idea," he said quickly. "Just shoot one of them," he suggested.

        "Are you serious?" Allison asked incredulously.

        "Right because if Allisons tries to shoot one of them, she'll be down an arrow and Scott's window will be broken," Tara said sarcastically. "Great thinking, Stiles!"

        "We told Scott we could protect ourselves, so let's do it!" Stiles insisted, ignoring both the protests from Tara and Allison. "Or at least give it a shot, right?"

        Allison bit her lip before nodding, "Okay," she said slowly. The girl took a step back and held her crossbow up to the window.

        Tara narrowed her eyes, "You a good shot?" she asked Allison, carefully eyeing the crossbow in her hands.

        "Pretty good," Allison said, focusing on holding her crossbow forward.

        "Okay, go for it then," Tara said with a small shrug.

        Stiles turned to Allison. "Look, they don't think we're gonna hit, so if one of them gets hits, I guarantee they'll take off," he explained quietly. "So, just shoot one of them."

        Allison took a deep breath in, "Which one?" she questioned.

        Stiles thought for a second before answering. "Uh, Derek. Yeah, shoot him," he decided.

        "Preferably in the head," Tara chimed in.

        Allison tilted her head slightly, "If Scott was able to catch an arrow, Derek definitely can," she asserted.

        "Okay, uh, just shoot one of the other three, then," Stiles reasoned.

        "You mean, two," Allison corrected, looking out the window once more to confirm the number of werewolves standing outside of Scott's house.

        Both Stiles and Tara exchanged confused glances. There should be three. Derek has three betas, not two. "No, I mean three," Stiles repeated before looking out the window once more. Tara watched as Stiles shifted uncomfortably. "... Where the hell is Isaac?"

        "What?" Tara asked almost instantly, looking over Stiles' shoulder to the street in front of the McCall house, and sure enough, it was only Erica, Boyd, and Derek standing out there. No Isaac. "Shit, okay, okay, okay, okay. You guys go upstairs and protect Lydia," Tara said quickly. "I can- I can handle Isaac," she decided.

        A concerned look flashed across both Allison and Stiles' faces. "Woah, woah, are you sure about that?" Stiles asked quickly.

        Tara nodded, "I promised I'd kick his ass earlier, can't break that promise," she answered.

        Allison gave her a small smile, "Good luck," she said.

        "Thanks," Tara responded as Stiles and Allison slipped up the stairs to where Lydia and Jackson were.

        Tara took a deep breath in as she slowly made her way to the back door of the house because that's where she was sure Isaac would be coming from. The girl tried to make as little noise as possible as she listened for any signs of life in the downstairs area. Footsteps, breathing, anything that would allow her to sneak up on Isaac. She peaked her head around the corner as she entered Scott's living room, it felt like all of her instincts were heightened as she searched the darkness for the boy, but nothing. 'Maybe he went upstairs without me noticin-'

        But Tara wasn't able to finish that thought as she came crashing to the ground, her head hitting the hardwood floor with a large slam. Tara felt her practically beating out of her chest as her eyes with bright gold eyes of Isaac Lahey.

        "Hey stranger," Tara said breathlessly, pushing her hair out of her face.

        Isaac's eyes widened, their bright gold color fading back to their original hue. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry," he said quickly, his hand still not moving from her shoulder.  "I thought you were-"

        "Lydia?" Tara answered. "I know."

        "I assume you're here to try and stop me from killing her?" Isaac asked her even though the answer was obvious.

        Tara nodded, "Yeah, but it's kinda hard to do that right now since you are- uh- on top of me," she explained.

        "Right," Isaac said awkwardly.

        "It's, uh, cozy down here, nice, we should do this more often," Tara said sarcastically, looking around the living room quickly.

        Isaac tutted, "Don't get too comfortable sweetheart, I have a job to do," he replied.

        Tara raised her brow, "Sweetheart?" she asked. "The fuck is your problem?"

        Isaac smirked, "Thought it was fitting, don't you?"

        Tara met Isaac's eyes, biting her lip quickly before she responded. "I hate you so much right now," she whispered.

        "Hmm, sure you do," Isaac sounded.

        Tara shook her head, feeling the back of her skull against the hardwood floors. "I do," she insisted. "Especially since I'm trapped on the floor right now. I don't really love that," she said, sending the boy a smug smile.

        "You do realize I'm here to murder your friend, right?" Isaac asked, raising his eyebrow at the girl beneath him. "And you're kind of standing in the way of that. Hence why you're trapped on the floor."

        "Lydia's not my friend," Tara stated.

        Isaac tilted his head at her. "Eh, my point still stands. If she's the kanima then she has to die. So either I let you go and you let me murder Lydia. Or I take you down with me," he said slowly.

        Tara scoffed, "Fuck you, Lahey," she snarled, her eyes flashing gold for a second before returning to their normal brown color.

        Isaac's eyes lit up, "Aw cute, didn't know you could do that," he said sarcastically.

        Tara rolled her eyes, "If you're gonna knock me out to get to Lydia, you should do that already. You don't gain anything from staying here to talk to me," she pointed out.

        Isaac thought over her statement for a second but before he could respond. Tara used all of her strength to push the boy off of her, causing him to hurl backward into the wall. Tara took this opportunity to pin him to the ground, using her newfound wolf strength to keep him there, her claws dug into his chest slightly. Isaac smiled, trying to regain his breath. "Well played, Peters," he commented.

        Tara smirked, "Maybe if you thought with your head and not with your dick then you would've seen it coming," she whispered.

        "Fair enough," Isaac said, a small twinkle in his eye. "I underestimated you, Peters, remind me never to do that again."

        "You're enjoying this too much," Tara stated, looking down at the boy under her.

        Isaac scoffed lightly, "I could say the same thing about you, Peters. Who says I'm not just distracting you so Boyd can sneak in and kill Lydia?" he asked.

        "Because I haven't heard Boyd come in the back door, or seen him come in the front door, dipshit," Tara pointed out, a small growl coming out at the end of her sentence. "Plus Allison's up there and she could always shoot him."

        Isaac laughed, "So you're friends with Allison now too? A hunter and a Kanima, you really know how to pick 'em," he said sarcastically.

        "Lydia's not the kanima," Tara said seriously.

        Isaac frowned, "How do you know?" he asked.

        "You trust me?" Tara asked Isaac, looking down at him.

        "No?" the boy answered almost instantly.

        "Okay, great, I'm gonna knock you out now," Tara told him. "Sorry," she said before using as much strength as she needed to punch the boy in the jaw, creating enough force to knock him out, at least for long enough to get Lydia out of the house if needed. Tara sighed as she brushed herself off, standing to her feet. "Sorry again," she whispered to the now unconscious Isaac who wouldn't be able to hear her anyway. Tara heard a pair of footsteps behind her and she whipped around to face Scott, who looked past her at the boy behind her. Scott nodded approvingly, "Good job," he told her.

        Tara smiled, "Thanks," she replied. "Stiles and Allison are upstairs with Lydia."

        "Not anymore," Allison said as she dragged the paralyzed body of Erica behind her. "The kanima's here," she said quickly. "I used its venom to get her," she said nodding at Erica.

        "And Lydia?" Scott asked.

        "She's safe!" Stiles said as he rushed down the stairs, a little out of breath. "She's safe," he repeated.

        "Let's end this, then," Scott said, motioning the three of them to follow him out onto the porch. He stopped in the living room to pick up Isaac and throw him onto the porch, leaving him next to Erica.

        Derek smiled looking out at the four of them. "I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me Scott," he said knowingly. "You're not an omega- you're already an Alpha of your own pack," explained, briefly glancing at Tara, Stiles, and Allison. "But you know you can't beat me."

        "I can hold you off until the cops get here," Scott stated. Tara strained her neck, listening to the police sirens that were growing closer and closer to the house. But a more prominent sound began to plague Tara's ears, a small hissing noise that she had only heard once before, at that night at the pool. She looked up to where the noise was coming from, but she couldn't see anything from under the porch. The girl sprinted out onto the lawn and directed her gaze up to the roof, sure enough, there was the kanima. The creature hissed at the group down on the lawn before jumping off of the roof and scurrying off into the night.

        Derek looked over at Boyd, "Get them out of here!" he said pointing to Erica and Boyd.

        Tara was about to turn to Stiles and ask him how he knew Lydia was safe but her question was answered when she saw the girl stumble onto the porch. "Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on??" she asked.

        "So if Lydia's out here-" Tara started.

        "Then it has to be Jackson," Scott finished for her.

hey, tell me what you want me to say, you know I'm stupid for you <3

Grace talks ig: guys apparently I'm incomparable of writing chapters that are under 5,000 words. IM SORRY IDK WHATS WRONG WITH ME. I just keep adding extra scenes until I'm satisfied with what I've written and then everything ends up being so so long. But I do really really like this chapter bc of the tarisaac content obviously (all they do is flirt with each other and I love it). But also because Tara got to interact with both Erica and Allison and I think her relationships with both of them are very interesting and I can't wait to explore them more!!! Anyways the next chapter probably won't have a lot to do with the actual tw episode it follows because it's a lot about Jackson and I don't care about him enough to follow that storyline soooo I'm not gonna LMAO. But I hope you all liked this chapter and I'm gonna go to bed bc I'm tireddddddd. Vote/ comment if u want. BYE BYE NOW!