Chapter Text
“I’ve never known what you father died from.”
“Oh, mom. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I just wish I knew. I’d finally feel like I had closure.”
* - * ~ * - * ~ *
Stiles’ knee jumped up and down all through class. He didn’t know why he had been so bitter towards Taylor, and why he had so rudely dropped something on her that she most likely didn’t want to hear. He wasn’t lying; he truly wished Taylor had been human. He never wanted to drag her into their whole supernatural lives. It was too dangerous for her, and he wanted her to be safe and secure. He didn’t want to have to worry about her.
“Dude, you okay?” Scott had asked him when he walked into second period. Stiles only shrugged one shoulder, plopping down in his seat and fixing his eyes on the teacher, his head jumbling with thoughts.
He wanted to believe that the anger he felt was because of what was happening with Taylor, but he knew that there was something else. There was something he didn’t like about the new kid, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he could be supernatural, it had everything to do with the fact that Taylor had so easily grown accustomed to him, when it had taken her so long to adapt to the pack, and that made Stiles feel—
“I can smell the jealousy on you in huge waves, man,” Scott whispered to him, making Stiles’ head snap to him. Scott had a frown on his face, and Stiles could tell Scott was worried about him.
“I’m not jealous of anything,” Stiles snapped, turning his head back to the front of the class.
“I can tell when you’re lying,” Scott deadpanned, face flat. Stiles took in a deep breath, running his palm across his forehead before crossing his arms.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know it’s about Taylor,” Scott started. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll ask her mys—”
“Boys,” the teacher growled warningly, making them immediately clamp their mouths shut. Stiles could hear Scott mumbling under his breath, but he refused to pay attention.
He was not jealous.
* - * ~ * - * ~ *
Taylor was already waiting outside Stiles’ second period class when their lunch period came through, and she immediately grabbed his arm when he stepped out, dragging him behind her as she headed for the courtyard. Once she stepped outside, she found a secluded area before stopping, turning to face him.
“Look,” Stiles sighed, looking down at his hands. “I’m really sorry for what I said earlier. I was just…”
“You were jealous.”
Stiles head snapped up to look at her, but Taylor wasn’t going to crack. She had been trying to figure out what the chemo-signals were saying the whole time, and after a good thirty minutes of pretending to listen to Easton, she had finally figured it out. It was jealousy.
“I—yeah. I was. I don’t know why.”
“Stiles,” Taylor breathed, running a hand through her hair. “I literally just met Easton. He’s a nice dude, and he’s new, so yes, I’m talking to him. In fact, I’m not really sure why you’re jealous anyway, since we aren’t together, or even dating, so I don’t understand why you—”
“Stop,” Stiles sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I was just worried, alright? Look I have a lot of trouble trusting new students because they could turn into anything. There’s a… a tree, that attracts supernatural creatures—which is an extremely long story—but now we keep getting new students and somehow, they turn out to be supernatural. That’s probably why you were drawn to this town. That’s why I don’t trust the guy; I have no idea whether he was drawn here because his parents just happened to stumble upon Beacon Hills, or if it’s supernatural-related again. Trust me, Taylor, the last thing I wanted was for you to get involved with this supernatural stuff. I just wanted… you. Just you.”
Taylor gulped, her heart racing. She couldn’t decipher the message Stiles was trying to send. She knew he cared about her, and she felt like she could definitely trust him, but what if there was more beneath it? What if there was something else Stiles was feeling… something Taylor wasn’t ready to admit to herself?
“Let’s go find Scott,” Taylor replied, pretending that Stiles’ words weren’t weighing on her.
“We need to tell him about me; we need to tell the whole group.”
Stiles silently nodded next to her before following her as she weaved through the tables in the courtyard, making her way to the cafeteria before stalking straight for the pack. She plopped down on the empty seat next to Erica, Stiles going around the table to take the seat that faced her before she opened her mouth.
“I’m a bindjii,” Taylor spoke, taking everyone by surprise. Erica nearly choked on her food, Allison’s eyebrows deepened into a frown, Lydia raised a single eyebrow, Isaac and Boyd glanced at each other, Kira bit her lip nervously, but Scott simply leaned in, intrigued.
“I’m… it’s hard to explain. Apparently, my father was the only other bindjii that ever existed. It’s a weird twist to a werewolf, and it’s a very complicated situation, but I’m not a werewolf. However, I’m supernatural.”
“What are we doing? Do you want to join the pack? For what it’s worth, you don’t really need a werewolf bite to be in the McCall Pack. If we can have two humans in the pack, then you’re okay,” Lydia explained.
“I… what? Pack?”
“Yeah. An alpha wolf has a pack," Kira finished.
Taylor’s head was spinning. She was actually going to be in a werewolf pack. Werewolves existed. She was a supernatural creature. It seemed like suddenly, everything was hitting her at full-force and she had no idea how to calm herself down, feeling her lungs clench together and her breathing start to stutter.
Before she knew it, she was on the floor, her fingernails dug into the ground, feeling her claws making scratches on the floor. She knew her eyes were purple, and she didn’t know what she would do if she got exposed to the school. Everyone would think she was a monster.
The panic didn’t help much, and she felt herself shove a body that was directly in front of her, but her vision was too blurry for her to identify who it was. She didn’t care. She just needed… she didn’t know what she needed. She needed answers. She needed to know why this was happening to her.
She felt someone pull her up to her feet and lead her to a room that she couldn’t identify, her brain only zeroed in on her breaths and her nails itching to… to…
An excruciating pain spread through her stomach, making her vision clear out as she crumpled to the ground. When she finally let herself focus on her surroundings, she was met by a row of rusty, gray lockers and a familiar face.
“Scott?” Taylor groaned, slowly pushing herself up to her elbows.
“Pain makes you human,” Scott mumbled, helping her sit up. She immediately pushed her back into the lockers, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them.
“You okay?” Scott asked, kneeling in front of her.
“I can’t stay here,” Taylor sighed, feeling her eyes water. “I need to be admitted somewhere, anywhere. I'm crazy. I have a problem. I don’t want to hurt anyone, Scott.”
She couldn’t help the sob that escaped through her mouth, and Scott wrapping his arms around her didn’t help her emotions either. Before she knew it, she was getting tears all over Scott’s shirt and sobs were echoing so loud through the locker room, she was sure anyone outside could hear it.
“It’ll be okay,” Scott sighed, pulling away to make eye contact with her.
“How are you so sure?” Taylor sobbed, dropping her head in her hands. “I’m… I’m not normal, Scott. I’m barely human. I came here, expecting a fresh start and instead it seems that everything that could possibly go wrong is happening to me right now, and I don’t know how to stop it, or control it, Scott. I just, I don’t know what to do, and I’m scared, I’m scared that people will find out about me, and find out about my dad, and think I’m a monster—”
She was unable to finish her sentence when another voice spoke above her. “You’re not a monster.”
She turned to see the whole pack entering the locker rooms, Stiles immediately rushing next to her. She could see a small amount of blood seeping through Stiles’ shirt, and immediately she realized that Stiles was the person she had shoved when she was freaking out. She shook her head, looking up at the sky.
“I hurt Stiles, twice, without my control,” she whispered, shutting her eyes tightly. “I am a monster.”
“Stop that,” Lydia snapped, coming to stand towards her.
“We’ve all felt that way, but we learn from it,” Erica continued.
“Trust me, you’re far from being a monster,” Kira added.
“You’re not evil, Taylor, and you’re not a monster,” Stiles spoke, looking at her deeply as if he was trying to deliver a message only through his expression. Suddenly, he turned towards Scott, who had stood up and was holding out a hand for her. She grabbed it before standing up, suddenly being eye-level with Scott.
“You’re a supernatural creature,” Scott mumbled. He shut his eyes, and suddenly the red eyes of an alpha reappeared on his face.
“Like me. Like all of us.”