chapter eight

[ season 2 | episode 4 ]
[ abomination ]

               MARLOWE WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING FEELING LIKE DEATH. The fighting from the day before took so much from her, both pride and energy. It put knots in places she didn't even know possible and made her nearly afraid to show her face in front of Scott again. And to think, the two were beginning to sort of, maybe not hate each other.

So, tired and sore, she wanted to be in a hot bath so badly, yearned for the feeling of that warm water on every single swollen muscle, but was stuck in that stupid, dusty station. She sat just above Boyd, the sides of her legs brushing against his shoulder. They were on the staircase, the uncomfortable seating making her knots worsen. The two watched as Isaac repeatedly ran at their Alpha, flipping over furniture and bouncing off walls, constantly getting thrown to the concrete. Soon after, Erica would try and surprise him, jumping from different high points and landing next to Isaac every single time.

Finally, the two merely grunted on the floor as Derek looked simply disgusted. He paced, arms twitching and eyes narrowing. "Does anyone wanna try not being completely predictable?"

Erica, taking that as an invitation, jumped up from the ground and threw herself into him, her arms locking around his neck and lips pressing against his. They moved against each other for a few moments, making both Marley and Boyd turn away, until Derek pushed her off. She landed on her ass, next to Isaac again.

He wiped his lips, walking away. "That's the last time you do that."

"Why? 'Cause I'm a beta?" Despite her liking the blonde, Marley felt an incredible urge to roll her eyes. Derek gave her a new chance of life, a rebirth, yet she insulted him so easily?

"No," he began, his eyes holding something close to annoyance. "It's because I have someone else in mind for you."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Isaac's body move. "Are we done?" He shifted even more, elbows holding his weight as he tried to stand. "'Cause I got about a hundred bones that need a few hours to heal." Yeah, she knew that pain all too well.

Their alpha let a silent okay from his lips as he walked towards the figure and bent down. "Let me see." His hand gingerly took Isaac's. "Yeah?" With a sickening crack, the hand was bent backwards and Isaac was releasing a cry of pain. She moved from where she sat. "Hundred and one. You think I'm teaching you how to fight, huh? Look at me! I'm teaching you how to survive."

Ignoring the sheer emphasis in that last word, she began moving closer to the two boys. "Derek. Ease up a bit. It's not exactly that easy to become a killing machine." She ignored the sharp glare he sent her.

"If they wanted us dead, why aren't they coming for us now?" Isaac's words came out rushed, confused, and pained, his hand no doubt still throbbing as his bones began to mend. "What are they waiting for?"

"I don't know. But they're planning something and you two," Derek's eyes flitted to Marley and Isaac, a pointed look lingering in his irises. "especially, know that's not our only problem. Whatever that thing is that killed Isaac's father. I think it killed someone else last night. And until I find out what it is, you all need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you." Once he knew his speech struck something in all of the teenagers, he retreated into the stuffy old train.

She emptied her mind, tried to release the iron cuffs that held her brain in a constant state of stress, and motioned towards Erica and Boyd. Since the fight, they planned on Marley to drive them to school while Derek picked them up. She'd offered but the whole lacrosse thing sorta interfered.

          The ride was silent, filled with her heater blasting and soft pop music flowing through the speakers. And once they finally arrived, they had enough of time in the morning to do literally anything. They parted ways, though.

          She took to wandering the hallways, a feat she could probably accomplish with her eyes closed at that point. It didn't take too long for her to memorize how the school worked, which turn led to what corridor. It was a maze on a kids menu and Marley was an eager child with a crayon.

          "I'm so sorry about the other day. I'm trying. We'll get through this. Uh, I know because I love you." At the sound of that annoying voice, she quickly turned her head to the white boy with several different moles. Across from him was none other than a smiling-like-an-idiot Scott McCall. What the hell? "I love you more than— oh my God! I can't— you and Allison just have to find a better way to communicate.

The Latino didn't realize the new presence, didn't see the humored chocolate gaze that landed on him and his best bud. "Come on, you're the only one that we can trust." Ouch. "Is she coming to the game tonight?"

"Yes, okay? Message complete."

She finally moved from leaning against the wall, walking down the stairs until she sat right behind the dorks. Putting a hand on each of their heads, she sent a smile and thought of the perfect greeting. "Woah, there. For a second I thought Stilinski was finally professing his little boy crush. I almost swooned, myself." Then, at the thinner boy's unamused stare, she folded her hands in her lap. "'M also kinda hurt you don't think you can trust me, Scotty."

Dumb rolled his eyes while Dumber huffed a small chuckle, the latter refusing to meet her gaze. Honestly, she expected him to not even entertain her after last night. "Oh, shut the hell up, Sinclair. Now leave so I can ask Scott about his weird boss."

And she nearly heard an audible ding as a lightbulb erupted in her head. "Ooh, color me intrigued. I wanna be a part of this little secret society. C'mon, let me in." Leaning forward a bit on her step, she waited for more than an empty silence. Perhaps chirping crickets. "Alright, if this is about me being in Derek's pack, I swear myself to secrecy. Come on. Scout's honor." She put her right to her heart and stuck her left in the air like she always saw in the movies.

Stilinski furrowed his brunet eyebrows as his brunet eyes stared into hers. "You were in boy sc—"

He was cut off by a quick and sharp slap to the back of his skull, eyes watching Marley's roll backwards. "No, dimwit, I was just tryna be funny."

"Yeah? Well, how'd that work out for you?"

"Better than your millions of attempts to impress the Lydia freaking Mart—"

Scott's softer voice made hers stop as he looked between the two of them. "Okay, you two, shut it. Or else you'll be arguing all freaking day and I'll be forced to share it with someone else. Marlowe, if you promise to—" She nodded eagerly. "—not tell Derek, then I guess we can trust you."

          Stiles snorted. "Yeah, Sinclair, get out of— wait what? Scott you cannot be serious, c'mon man. She's evil. Like aura of pure darkness type evil. Like sacrifice cute, little puppies evil. Cruella de Vil style 'n everything. We can't trust her."

Dumb simply stared at the girl as his friend continued blabbering. "Well, I do."

Then began another stretch of uncomfortable silence, one with four eyes on the spastic teenaged boy and two on the supposedly evil Cruella de Vil. It was broken by Stiles' annoyed huff as he said, "Alright, fine. Tell us everything."

All three of the bodies leaned closer to one another, Scott and Stiles on the stair just below Marley. Her back, which was hunched over and incredibly uncomfortable, was exposed to the flurry of traveling students. "Uh, he thinks that Allison's family keep some kind of, uh, records of all the things they've hunted. Like a book."

That little light bulb inside of her head went off again as she wracked her brain for what he spoke of. The word sat just out of reach from her tongue, a taunting whisper repeating the word too softly for even her supernatural hearing. A clap brought her from her focus and she jumped nearly a foot in the air, glaring at Stiles. "He probably means a bestiary." Bestiary!

"A what?"

The revelation seemed to energize her. She turned to Scott, ecstatic, and rested her elbow on his shoulder. "A bestiary. You know, like—"

His soft laugh cut her off, humor clinging to his scent like a really strong cologne. She had a feeling that whatever was about to come out of his mouth would be kind of stupid. "I think you mean bestiality," he giggled.

Instead of rolling her eyes, like she previously thought she would, Marley let out a loud cackle and fell quickly into a deep fit of laughter. Stiles had that serious, somewhat annoyed look, though. "Nope, pretty sure we don't. It's like an encyclopedia of mythical creatures.

"Oh Lord, bestiality. Ha!" Another cackle sounded while she wiped an actual, tangible tear drop from the corner of her eye.

McCall stared her down, trying to hide to amused smile. "How am I the only one who doesn't seem to know anything about this stuff?"

It took a moment for the spazz to think of an explanation, but, when he did, she almost praised him for it. Almost. "Okay, you know, you're my best friend, you're a creature of the night. It's kind of like a priority of mine."

"Yeah, and I'm just smarter than a fifth grader." She jumped as Stiles' hand whacked her knee. Okay, perhaps she could've worded it better.

The omega didn't even spare her a glance. "Okay, if we can find it and it can tell us what this thing is..."

"Or who," Stiles chipped in, the realization donning on all three of the beating hearts.

Suddenly, simultaneously, they all said, "We need that book." Marley and Stiles stood, already heading out of the building to find Allison and relay the information.

She sat at one of the round tables, her hair in a cute side ponytail thing, and jumped at the two approaching figures. Maybe she was waiting to hear a response from the boy she was forbidden to love. The boy she still did love. If it wasn't for the whole werewolf-enemy-lizard-hunter ordeal, Marley could see herself being close friends with that trio.

So, the werewolf sat by while he relayed all of the information, taking to checking her curls for split ends. As she ran her thin fingers through the strands of frizzy hair, she made sure to lightly follow Stiles' story. He made sure to refrain from mentioning her name for whatever reason.

"I think you mean be—" stiality?

"No, I mean bestiary. And the two of you, I don't wanna know what's goin' on in your heads," he finished, cutting Allison off before she could've finished the word. Seemed like dumber found his perfect match.

"Okay, um, can you describe this thing?" All traces of humor were wiped from the huntress' porcelain skin, her beady eyes sticking to Marley's golden skin. "And why she's here."

He just left the conversation in silence for a moment, joining the sitting girl in staring at the wolf. "Well, she's here because your boyfriend is stupid and likes to trust puppy-murdering evil people." Marley twirled towards him, whacking his arm while her eyes widened. Allison's brows furrowed at the comment. "But the bestiary is probably like a book. Old, worn..."

"Like, bound in leather?" He nodded enthusiastically and a goofy smiled lit up his face. "Yeah, I think I saw Gerard with it last night." Oh, perfect. They'd have to go up against the possibly psycho hunter dude.

Stiles dragged Marley with him as he headed back into the brick building, searching for his best friend. They stumbled against the heard of students in the busy hallway, a few kids even shouldered her without even so much as a sorry. The boy with the crooked jaw walked with the crowd. Stiles quickly pulled her up to his side, ignoring her wince as he tugged roughly on her arm.

          "Yes... seen her grandfather with a book like that." She chuckled at his fatigue.

          Scott's tan face lit up and he put a hand on his friends' shoulder. "Ask her where he keeps it."

          So, the bony hand wrapped around her upper arm and dragged her, in a run, back towards where Allison sat outside. When the duo reached her, he began gasping for breath as Marlowe laughed. "Where... does he... keep it?"

She lost herself in thought for a moment, eyes narrowed and a hand twirling her chocolate curls. "Well he probably keeps it somewhere near him. Somewhere not many people have access to."

Another light bulb went off in Marley's head; she seemed to be having a lot of them today. "Somewhere like his office." She received a nod.

          As soon as they reached Scott again, who was rifling through his locker, the whiter boy was only able to take breaths in deep pants. The sight made her nearly double over in laughter, especially after seeing the sheen of sweat that stuck to his forehead. "It... it has to be... office. Ahh. Ahg," he gasped, his tongue sticking out from his mouth. She had to put a hand on one of lockers to stop herself from collapsing.

"Okay, does she know if there's any way that to get that book?"

          Stiles rolled his eyes and pouted, looking like he wanted to cry. Because she was a werewolf, she didn't have to worry about the fatigue that plagued him. But he was a human. A human with poor lacrosse skills and apparently awful physical shape.

          Once they reached the girl, he sucked in a long hit of an inhaler. Half of Marley pitied him while the other half wanted to cry of laughter. "You know, drug dealers have been using disposable cell phones pretty successfully for years."

"My parents check every call, e-mail, and text message I send. Trust me, they'd find it," she finished.

Marley knew what it was like to have suspicious, strict parents. She used to, and the Barley's made it very obvious that there was nothing she could hide. "Yeah, as someone who lived with two incredibly strict foster parents, they always know how to find dirty little secrets." All six of the eyes widened. "Not that they'll find out about you and Scott..."

A hand whacked her arm. "Shut up, Sinclair. All right, can you get the book?"

"Not without his keys." Allison lost herself in thought again, trying to form a foolproof plan in her mind with no help. A sly smile lights her face up and she looks at the two kids standing in front of her. "I think I have a plan."

The cold, winter air nearly stung as it brushed across her skin. Instead of being on the field and able to warm up through physical activity, Marley sat right next to Stilinski on the frozen bench. Scott wanted to have supernatural hearing on Allison and Gerard, so he convinced her to fake an ankle injury.

And she wasn't exactly complaining because number forty-two was a beast. He rammed straight into their number nine, sending the boy plummeting towards the grass. Even with her werewolf strength, she cowered at the thought of facing him one-on-one.

          Coach stared at the supposed minor, his entire face littered with shock. "Come on, is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!" He sat between the two lacrosse players on the bench, motioning towards the big guy. "Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?"

She moved her hair from one shoulder to the other, transitioning to whichever side was colder. "I dunno but they should definitely run a few more tests," she muttered.

"Eddie Obomowitz, Coach. They call him 'the abomination.'"

Bobby snickered at the nickname, his jaw tightening as the Beavers scored another point. "Oh, that's cute."

"Yup, real clever." Marley began to focus her hearing on the Argent duo sitting a few rows up, trying to stop her leg from vibrating the entire bench and she waited for the signal. A knot tightened in her stomach. She felt a bit of worry for Allison; pickpocketing a man line Gerard was no doubt a dangerous feat.

She heard Allison suck in a sharp, anxious breath. "I knew I should have brought a warmer jacket."

"You're cold. Here, take my coat." Chivalry wasn't dead after all. The old man shrugged off his black coat, handing it to his granddaughter without further hesitation. At least he seemed like a nice grandpa?

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, yeah." There was some shuffling, Marley figuring Allison was putting the jacket on.

To her right, Stiles' body turned towards her more, watching as she fluttered her eyes while listening to the two. As soon as she opened them, receiving a start from seeing him so close, he leaned in even further. "Anything yet?"

With pursed lips and a curt shake of the head, she sighed. "Nope, not yet. He did just give her the coat, though, so we should be moving soon."

Eventually, the jingle of metal clinking together met her ears, breaking through the sounds of boys getting pummeled to the ground. She nodded to Stiles, a quick motion to let him know their plan was a go. Forty-two put another two boys in the grass not a moment later, bringing forth a comment from Gerard: "Good God, is it always this violent?"

Stiles took her signal because, seconds later, he was pulling Marley up and towards the Argents. They walked in front of everything before snaking around to the side of the small, metal bleachers. The keys were cold in her hand as Allison handed them over, and she quickly passed them on to her companion.

They walk through the parking lot, an air of both suspense and worry hugging them like a second skin. Before they could get too far, something stops Marley from moving forward. Almost like a barrier landed just before her, halting any further movements. Her ears picked up on some sniffling and she turn towards Lydia Martin's small car, motioning for Stiles to check on her. Despite the weird connection she made with the girl, she knew he would be more effective.

"Go." At his suspicious glare, she sighed, "I won't listen. Promise." And he left for the red-head that he lived with his whole heart.

After a few minutes of her trying so desperately to focus on something other than the conversation happening just moments away, Stiles reaches her once more. "We better be quick, c'mon." He lightly gripped her wrist, dragging her towards the office. "So, what'd you hear?"

With furrowed brows and a small yank, her wrist wasn't caged in his hand anymore. She still did run beside him, though. "What?"

"The conversation, how much did you listen in on?"

A pit formed in her stomach. She wouldn't go as far as saying she liked Stiles much but him not even trusting her promise made her sad. Despite their rocky relationship, she wanted him to feel like he could trust her, believe that she had enough of a moral compass to not break a measly promise. "Stiles, I didn't listen to any of it. I promise I wouldn't so I didn't."

Something close to guilt built up in him, the smell rich to her nose. "Oh. I dunno I just thought—" He cut himself off as he rounded the corner, one hand coming up to unlock the office door.

When they entered, Marley standing at the door to potentially knock any threats out—Stiles' words, he moved to the desk, rustling through papers and whatnot. "Book, book, book, book," he repeated, the words quickly becoming a mantra.

She cleared her throat, foot tapping the carpeted floor and fingers tapping her thigh. "Um, Stilinski, I don't think saying the word constantly is gonna conjure the damn book up."

His head swung up, eyes narrowed and digging into hers, irritation swirling around those whiskey irises. "Did I ask for your input, Sinclair? No, now text Allison and say there's nothing here."

"Gee, didn't know I needed to ask for permission to speak, sir. When did we travel back into the fifties?" With both hands on her hips, she refused the task—no, she refused the demand he'd given her. Sure, it was fairly petty and he didn't mean for it to come across in that way but she was definitely not letting the stupid Stilinski boy order her around.

          Stiles' mouth open and closed, like a goldfish in a small aquarium, clearly not expecting that reaction. "Well, I..." he trailed, unsure of what to say. After a few moments, he let every soft feature on his face harden as he went back to rifling through the stuff. "Just text her. Please."

          Giggling, she began to type away on her small device. Nothing he

          Her finger stopped, hovering just above the r but not daring to press down. A particular, bombshell blonde stood in the doorway, the signature ringlet curls giving away who it was before Marley could really catch her face. Erica dragged her eyes over the office, going painstakingly slow when analyzing the two snoopers. "Hello, Stiles. Marlowe." A weight latched onto her stomach as her pack mate hissed her name with so much venom.

          A dainty hand wrapped itself around the brown girl's wrist, much more rough than Stiles' previous grip. Another one went two his ear, bringing a cry of pain from the sheriff's son. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, okay, okay," he pleaded. The whining continued as they walked through hallways, turning a few corners and passing the large bookcase with the sports trophies. Marley caught sight of a certain name and it sent a wave through her entire body. Peter Hale.

Shaking him from her mind, she tried to figure out where they were headed. She knew the school like the back of her hand. Left, left, right, left, ri— pool! Okay, so they were going to the pool, that's great. She didn't know why, though; perhaps Erica decided to take notes from Isaac and wanted to drown them, leaving their bodies for the janitor to just come across eventually. Or maybe she was going to drown them and then chop their bodies into such small pieces that they fit into the drainage system. Or— she stopped.

          Derek stood in the doorway to the pool with a basketball being tossed lazily in his hands. She remembered something about him once playing the sport. Her veins turned into frozen water, icicles growing from the cold temperatures that now encompassed her entire body. "Stiles." He failed to meet her eyes, meaning the alpha was angrier than she could imagine. She felt her chest ache at that knowledge.

"Derek."

      He kept his beady eyes on Stilinski, unwilling to let his stare go. Almost like he would disappear if let out of sight. "What'd you see at the mechanic's garage?" That must have been where the other body was, meaning Stiles must have been there with it.

"Uh, several alarming EPA violations that I'm seriously considering reporting." At that answer, ten claws simultaneously dug into the hard shell of her ball, letting all of the air out as it shrunk to just a flat, leathery half circle. Both Marley and Stiles widened their eyes, slightly terrified of Derek in that moment. "Holy God."

She looked to her companion. "Agreed."

The half circle dropped to the shiny tiles, a dull thud reverberating through the floor. "Let's try that again."

Listening to his rapid heartbeat, she knew Stiles would be telling the older man everything he wanted to know. "All right, the thing was pretty slick looking. Um, skin was dark. Kind of patterned. Uh, I think I actually saw scales. Is that enough? Okay? 'Cause I have somebody I really need to talk to." Lydia.

          Derek looked into his eyes and a grunt sounded, neither of which interrupting her thought process. He must've promised to come back to her, meaning she'd be waiting for her knight in shining armor while he was face-to-face with a pissed off alpha werewolf. "Um, fine, eyes. Eyes are, um... yellowish and slotted. Um, it has a lot of teeth. Oh, and it's got a tail, too. Are we good." Marley watched as Erica's head tipped, her eyes landing on something above them. Whatever it was made fear pulsate from her thin body.

          Following that gaze, she looked up to find that creature. The one that somewhat framed Isaac for murdering his father, the one that haunted Marlowe's sleep for the past few nights. The one that Stiles was describing in very awful detail. "What? Have you seen it? You have this look on your faces like you know exactly what I'm talking about."

She gulped, her throat bobbing and eyes flooding with more fear than she felt that night on the stupid lacrosse field. "Well, Stilinski based on your subpar descriptions, I think we all know exactly what you're talking about."

An ugly, gut twisting screech echoed around the entire room as the lizard-thing leapt from where it stood on the railing. Landing between Erica and Marley, it shoved the blonde directly into a wall, rendering her completely unconscious. Derek, with his claws and fangs at the ready, crouched, letting a low growl out.

He shoved the human back with a forceful hand, turning his back on the monster for a small second. "Run!" he yelled, eyes meeting Marley's. They practically pleaded for her to follow the order, to get to safety.

"Derek, your neck."

          A thin slit went across his flesh, tearing the flesh apart with the most clean cut she'd ever seen. Apparently the lizard wanted to be a surgeon. As Marley stalked towards the creature like a lioness about to jump at her prey, Derek went completely limp. Her heart jumped at the sight, panic causing a red blotch to spread onto her neck. But she couldn't help, couldn't offer Stiles a hand as he held onto the alpha's arms.

The thing turned it's yellow eyes to her. Gold met gold, the two glowing irises battling for some semblance of dominance as the two beings walked around one another. They were in a dance, a choreographed act that sent them hurdling towards each other in an instance.

          She scratched at the scales, her claws barely breaking the surface, while it whipped her with its tail numerous times, welts forming on her calves. It let out a hideous screech once more, saliva and sound waves crashing against her skin. As she held it with her arm and continuously tried to defend the two helpless people behind her, she felt her muscles burn from the force she put into the movements.

           It didn't take a genius to know who was winning their battle. She was Great Britain and it was America and they were nearing the end of this revolution. And they did, moments later, when the thing threw her entire body just like it did Erica's, her head hitting the wall and dots fading into and out of her vision. Soon, she let her body release its tension, let her skull fall onto the tiled floor. The last thing she saw was her alpha being tossed so carelessly into the pool. She'd have to... yell at... him...

When her eyes opened once more, there was no monster from her nightmares, just the dull thundering sound of a hammer against her brain. The two boys she sacrificed her own body to defend sat against the small bleachers, their clothes dripping with chlorine-tainted water, and Scott, with extra facial hair and claws and fangs, crouched near her. As she stirred, a small sound coming from her pained throat, his gentle eyes scanned her figure for any hidden injuries. She didn't miss the way Derek's did too. Nor did she miss how concerned his wide eyes seemed or the worry making his body reek.

Shifting so that she was leaning on her elbow, she tried to quiet that ravenous pummeling in her head. "What... the hell happened?" It came out as more of a groan than anything else, the words sending deep pains into her skull.

"That thing knocked you out as someone threw Derek in the pool." He sent a sharp look towards Stiles, who avoided his entire direction while trying to explain it. "Long story short, the gecko is gone and Scott showed up with some important information, apparently."

          Scott gave her his hand and, as soon as she took it, gently pulled her from the damp floor, worried eyes asking a silent question at her small winces. "Come on you two, I hafta show you this."

          Leading them back into the parking lot, Scott pulled a mini thumb drive from his pocket and immediately thrusted it into the laptop's USB port. A book-like thing popped up, the language that of a forgotten era. The Latin words took up all of the pages, a jumble of beautiful sounds that made absolutely zero sense to any of them.

      Stiles stared long and hard at the screen. "Is that even a language?"

          Turning her head towards the boy who she previously thought was smarter than Scott, Marley narrowed her eyes. "It's... it's Latin, Stilinski." He grumbled something along the lines of shut up, Sinclair.

          "How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott's question made her mind wander. Latin was a dead language so there weren't many ways to get it translated. Especially with that type of writing.

          "It's called the Kanima." Derek's voice made her jump, the man coming out of literal shadows. Next to him stood Erica, the only other people who knew how wonderful it felt for that stupid lizard— Kanima— to knock her upside the head.

          Stiles scoffed and stared down the duo. Once upon a time, Marley would've been on the receiving end of that stare, standing on the opposite side of Derek with nothing but a scowl. "You knew the whole time." It wasn't a question. Stiles wasn't asking if he knew that small bit of information but nearly demanding it, instead. The boy had a thing with demands. Marley didn't know if she wanted to be angry at Stiles for insinuating that or Derek for keeping it a secret.

          "No, only when it was confused by it's own reflection." What? Yeah, she obviously missed a good portion of the juicy details.

          Scott, making some kind of epiphany over there, pointed his head downwards before bringing it back up. "It doesn't know what it is," he remarked, a light bulb going off in his brain this time.

          "Or who." The alpha stared at the kids like a teacher watching kindergarteners retain their alphabet.

          Holding back a mean scoff, Marley rolled her eyes and inwardly groaned. "That makes our job so much easier." Stiles grunted in agreement.

          "What else do you know?" This time he politely asked.

          For a moment, Derek's eyes flickered to her as she shifted from foot to foot. The two hadn't yet addressed the whole her kinda betraying him thing— meaning their next chat would probably be a bit awkward. Those eyes went back to the human. "Just stories. Rumors."

          "But it's like us?" Scott asked the question that she'd been wondering. Was the Kanima stuck in that horrendous form or was it a...

          As if reading her mind and answering that question simultaneously, Derek said, "It's a shape-shifter, yes. But it's— it's not right. It's like a..." He was at a loss for words, ironic considering so many popped into her head. Error, aberration, terror, monster—

          "An abomination." Yes. The new shape-shifter was an abomination in the world, a smudge of ink on a newly printed paper. Was it weird that she felt some semblance of pity?

          He began walking away after nodding so mysteriously somehow, his eyes lingering on his beta for a moment. "Derek!" Turning, he stared at Scott's broad figure. "We need to work together in this, maybe even tell the Argents." A shiver ran down her spine as Erica grimaced, the two girls in agreement about their sour feelings towards the hunters.

          "You trust them?" The alpha's words were hard and he was clearly angry as the emotion pulsated from him.

          "Nobody trusts anyone." That exact same aura began to emit from Scott's body as he practically yelled the statement. "That's the problem. While we're here arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger, and faster than any of us and it's killing people! And we still don't even know anything about it!"

          The power in his words made Marley's gut twist and she felt her body jolt as a wave of electricity traveled through her. Adrenaline flooded into her muscles at the intensity of that speech, at the amount of tension and fear and anger that lingered in the parking lot, at the overpowering longing for a sense of normality.

          "I know one thing." Her alpha's eyes darkened. "When I find it... I'm gonna kill it." He turned to leave, Erica sending her a glance before following. She was torn between staying with dumb and dumber or leaving with the two people she trusted and cared for. It was her pack or her friends.

          She winced at the word that rushed into her head. Friends. No, nope, nada. Marlowe was not friends with Stiles Stilinski or Scott McCall or anyone for that matter. No, she had a pack and that was all she needed. Her pack mates were her friends. Her alpha was her friend. Her grandmother was her friend. Not them. She just didn't do friends.

Without a glance back at the duo, she quickly caught up to her alpha, unknowing of the poor fate that would befall Scott that night. Unknowing that he would find himself with a dagger being twisted into his gut and an Argent patriarch threatening the person he loved most in this world: his mother. Because, if she'd known, maybe she wouldn't have left his side. Because, despite her hatred for the soft spot that was beginning to develop, she didn't do well with the idea of harm coming to Scott McCall.

word count: 5820

author's note

hi!! before i get into anything else, i just wanted to let everyone know that this will probably be the last update for a while. i've been uploading pre-written chapters and i have nothing written after this one (brain go brr)

aside from that, how did y'all like the chapter? this has one of my favorite s2 scenes (the scott, stiles, and allison scene) so i was really eager to incorporate miss marley

anywhore, tell me what you think :) (and if you catch any errors in any of the chapters pls lmk) <33

— andy