Battlefield

Waking up the next morning was something I didn't quite understand. I was confused. I thought I had died and I didn't know what really happened since I was passed out or bleeding to death for most of the night.

When my eyes fluttered open because sunlight was streaming through the crack in my curtains, my first instinct was to look around and figure out where I was. Once I realized I was in the safety of my bedroom and not in a hospital bed like a normal person who was shot would be, something in my mind clicked.

I immediately shoved the blankets off of me, realizing that I was in pajamas and not the same clothes as yesterday. Though I decided to ignore that and instead pushed my shirt up to see the gunshot wound, only to see that there was nothing there. I turned to my night stand to look at my clock which read 10:00 am, I guess I'm not going to school today.

I subconsciously ran my tongue over my teeth as I stood up to go take a shower and prepare for the day. Once I finished I made my way downstairs and grabbed some food. On the counter was a note: Scarlett, please get some rest. Stiles said that Matt hit your head hard XOXO Mom

I crumple up the note and throw it away once I finish eating. I then grab my house keys and my phone, locking the front door.

About ten minutes later and I make it to the abandoned train station that I know Derek and his pack are hiding in. "Derek!"

He comes out of the shadows, his blue eyes looking me over. "You look better than last night."

I cross my arms, teeth clenched, "You bit me." All Derek does is nod. "I told you to let me die. I didn't want this."

Derek briefly looks down before meeting my eyes once more, "You need to speak with Stiles. He's the one who convinced me to give you the bite."

"And I will. But just because he told you to bite me doesn't mean you had to listen. Why couldn't you respect my wishes?"

"Honestly? I almost did respect your wishes. But after hearing what Stiles said I knew I couldn't let you die. Hell I didn't want to let you die even before Stiles asked me to bite you. I knew that if I could possibly save your life I needed to give it a shot."

"It wasn't your call."

"No, but I still think I made the right decision. You'll thank me later."

I scoffed, my anger rising and eyes flashing white. My hands squeeze into fists, "Yeah right. Maybe next time actually listen, you're supposed to be good at that, being a werewolf and all."

When my eyes flashed Derek's mouth dropped open but I didn't let him say anything as I turned to walk away. "Scarlett." Derek grabbed my wrist.

I yanked my hand back, "Leave me the hell alone."

"Wait! Your eyes..." He trailed off.

I narrow my eyes in question, "What about them?"

"They flashed white."

I pause thinking, "What does that mean? I thought Beta's have yellow eyes?"

Derek shakes his head, "I don't know. Just try to control your anger. I don't need you turning randomly."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Instead of making my way to my house I made my way to the Stilinski residence and climbed in through Stiles' window to wait for him.

I lazily lay across his bed waiting to hear his arrival. At the sound of his footsteps I move to a seated position, waiting for the door to swing open. "Holy crap, Scar. What are you doing here?" He gasps when his gaze falls on me.

"We need to talk."

Placing his bag down he stops to really look at me. My face has a look of betrayal mixed with anger, though he tries to pretend he doesn't know why I'm here, "Yeah. What's up?" Stiles sits down next to me.

I start to shake my head, "Why did you tell Derek to bite me even after I said I didn't want it?"

Stiles takes a breath, "I couldn't let you die. I knew it would break your mom and Scott. And maybe I was being slightly selfish cause I didn't want to live in a world without you. I mean you're basically everyone's rock, Scarlett."

"I didn't want this though." I whisper, tears glistening my eyes.

Stiles looks at me concerned and hesitantly grabs my hand, "I'm sorry. Are you mad at me?"

"I was. But now I'm just sad." I took a breath and wiped a tear that slipped down my face, "I don't know what to do. Does Scott even know that I was bit? And what happened with Matt?"

"I told Scott at school that Derek had to bite you to save your life. Matt died, drowned. And your mom knows about Scott, I don't think she knows about you though."

"How?" I choke out, referring to the fact that my mom is now aware that her son is a werewolf.

"She saw him change at the station last night." I nod, slightly dazed from all of the new information.

"I went to talk to Derek. He said my eyes were white. And he didn't know what that meant."

"They weren't yellow like Scott's?" I shake my head, "So are you a werewolf or something else?"

"I don't know. I healed fast, there's not even a scar from a bite or the gunshot wound. Actually I don't even know where Derek bit me." Stiles points to my arm, where there is no mark present to show that I was bit by an Alpha werewolf.

I paused turning my arm to look at where I assumed the bite mark once was. Finally I looked back up at the brunette boy beside me, "I was thinking about asking Deaton."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll bring you."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Walking through the front door of the vet clinic, I hear the chime go off and at the same time I hear Isaac's laugh. Not even a minute later, Isaac, Scott, and Deaton come out of the back room.

"Stiles, Scarlett. Come on back." Dr. Deaton says, with a smile on his face.

My eyes immediately land on the dog on the exam table, my nose wrinkling at the smell, "He's dying." I bluntly state.

Scott's eyebrows knit, "How did you figure that out so fast?"

I pause, blinking, "I-I don't know. I just sensed it or something." My attention quickly turns to the vet, "That's actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Deaton nods, "Something concerning you about the bite." Though he's asking, he says it more like a statement.

"Yeah." I take a breath, "I went to talk to Derek. He said my eyes flashed white not yellow like a normal Beta." I carefully watch the vet's face to see if I can notice any change, "Am I a werewolf or something else?"

"You're all healed?" Deaton questions.

I nod, "Even when I woke up at 10 this morning, I didn't have any marks on me. From either the bite or the gunshot wound."

He narrows his eyes, gazing at me with curiosity, "I don't know for sure, because these are quite rare, but once you turn on a full moon you will know for sure. It's possible that you're a Zeta werewolf."

"A Zeta werewolf?" Scott asks, just as confused as I am.

"Yes, they're a rare type of Beta. Their eyes are usually the same color as their pelt."

"Pelt? You mean that she can turn into an actual wolf?" Stiles questions the vet.

Deaton nods, "This can be controlled and you wouldn't necessarily turn into a full wolf every time but until you learn control, every full moon you will probably turn into a wolf."

"Cool." Stiles breaks out into a smile as he looks between me and the vet.

"Is there anything else different about a Zeta?" I ask, curious to learn more about the type of werewolf that I may be.

"They are usually the Alpha's left hand. They're considered the most intelligent among the pack. Your strength won't be as enhanced compared to a Beta or Alpha but your speed will be just as good as an Alpha. Even in human form you can possibly move like a blur. Your agility will also be just as good as an Alpha, even sometimes surpassing an Alpha's agility."

"Well that explains how easily I climbed up to your window." I look at Stiles.

"Zeta's also have superhuman intelligence. Which is probably why you quickly realized that the dog was dying. And despite the bite being from an Alpha, it healed so quickly because the healing process in Zeta's matches that of the Alpha. Zeta's are especially special in the fact that they have a partial immunity to wolfsbane."

"Wolfsbane won't kill me?"

The vet shakes his head, "It will make you slightly weaker and you will need to rest but it will not kill you. Of course, like any other werewolf you will have heightened senses. But Zeta's have another sense known as the danger sense."

"That sounds important." Isaac mumbles.

Deaton nods in agreement, "That's because it is. A Zeta werewolf is able to detect dangers to themselves or the pack before anyone else. It's one of the many reasons why Zeta's are the left hand of the Alpha."

"This seems like a lot of responsibility." I sigh.

Deaton gently smiles, "There is one more thing. When shifted into their wolf form Zeta's have a strong mental link, even stronger than the Alpha werewolf, which connects to both born and bitten werewolves."

"Mental link? Like be able to communicate?" Scott asks.

"Not exactly communicate. But be able to sense how the others in the pack are feeling. If you practice enough you may be able to do this in your human state too."

I nod, "So pretty much I'm a badass werewolf with a lot of responsibilities? Cool."

"Look at it this way. A Zeta werewolf is so rare because most people cannot handle the position. If your body reacted to the bite this way, it's because it knew that you were the right fit." Deaton reassures me.

"Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are." Stiles states looking at me.

*_*_*_*_*_*

The next night was the championship lacrosse game. Scott originally wasn't planning on going but after Isaac told him that Jackson would be there, he knew he had to go.

Scott also caught me up with what was going on. Mom doesn't know that I was bit and for right now we wanted to keep it that way considering we were pretty sure the Argent's didn't know either.

Speaking about the Argent's, Gerard now had control of the Kanima, which makes Jackson even more dangerous than before. After finding this out I instantly had a sense that something bad was going to happen. I guess that was a warning from my danger sense that Deaton told me about.

I also found out (from Stiles not Scott) that Matt was in fact a creep and stalker. He had a lot of pictures of me saved on his camera and computer. Though it wasn't just pictures, there were edits of us together. It was like he created a whole relationship between us. This obsession apparently started even when I was still dating Nate.

I didn't feel sorry that Matt was dead. The only reason I was slightly concerned about his death was because without him alive, Gerard had control of Jackson which was slightly more terrifying than Matt stalking me.

To put it simply, I had a lot running through my mind throughout the day. I was growing more and more weary about the sense of doom that was hanging over my head and I was upset that I didn't have a plan to stop whatever was about to happen.

The only thing I knew I could do was warn Scott and Derek that something was going to happen. And it was going to happen tonight at the game.

So I sat on the bleachers next to Sheriff Stilinski and my mom waiting for the game to begin. Of course, I kept my main focus on Jackson and Gerard, knowing that the elder hunter had some sort of game plan set in motion.

My attention drifts away from Jackson as the Sheriff asks, "Why's my son running onto the field?"

I knit my eyebrows together and quickly scan the field finding number 24. "Because he's on the team?" My mom says though it sounds more like a question.

"He is. He's on the team. He's on the field." Sheriff Stilinski gets more excited as he exclaims, "My son's on the field!"

The whole crowd is giving the sheriff weird questioning looks but I can't help but to smile, also excited for Stiles.

Just before the game begins, Lydia takes a seat beside me. She smiles as she sits down and reaches to give me a brief hug. My eyes dance around the field looking out for any sign of danger.

Being so focused on the people below me, I flinch slightly at the sound of the whistle, still not used to having heightened senses.

Soon after the game starts Stiles glances in shock as the ball lands right in the pocket of his lacrosse stick. I hear him whisper, "Oh God." Before he even gets the chance to turn around an opposing player rams into him.

I cringe as my mom says, "He's probably just getting warmed up."

As the whistle blows, Stiles races forward slapping helplessly as players start to surround him. Another vicious hit has the crowd flinching. "He's just a little nervous. Plenty of time to turn it around." Lydia states.

"Yeah of course. It's his first game. He'll be fine." I nod agreeing. Though part of me is doubtful.

At the next whistle we watch as Stiles tries to catch a pass but the ball bounces off his helmet instead. My mom, Lydia, and I all exchange looks, unsure of what to say. We then glance at the Sheriff but rather than watching the field or looking at us, he has his head buried in his hands.

A motion on the team bleachers catches my eye. I notice Isaac, in his lacrosse uniform, sitting beside Scott. I quickly start listening in on their conversation. "You came to help." Scott says.

"I came to win." Isaac replied. Both boys turn their heads to Gerard, who does not look happy with the surprise player. "You got a plan yet?" Isaac asks Scott.

"Right now it's pretty much just keep Jackson from killing someone."

"That might be easier if you're in the game. We have to make it so Coach has no choice but to play you."

"How do we do that? He's got a bench full of guys he can use before he ever puts me on the field."

I slightly shake my head as I watch both teenagers turn their attention to their teammates. This is not going to be good. "Can you do it without putting anyone in the hospital?" Scott asks.

"I can try."

The next time the ref blows the whistle Isaac races past to take his position on the field. The ball drops and in the crash of players rushing to get the ball, Isaac knocks shoulders with a teammate sending him crashing to the ground. "Ramirez! You're in." Coach calls.

The injured teammate is helped past Scott as Cody Ramirez races to the field. Another whistle and another brutal crash of a Beacon Hills teammate. "Murphy. You're in." Coach then turns his attention to Isaac, "Lahey, what the hell's your problem?"

Isaac glances at Coach and acting innocent, holds his hands up in apology. I bite my lip to hide the smile that is threatening to slip onto my face.

Bodies crash into each other on the field. There are several downed players, Isaac being one of them. I quickly stand up in concern, trying to get a better look. I hear Isaac whisper to Scott, "It's not broken. But I can't move it. I think Jackson nicked me. I can feel it spreading."

I can then hear Gerard speak to Scott, "You want to play chess, Scott? Then you better be willing to sacrifice your own pawns."

I see Isaac be pulled onto a stretcher as I hear Coach call, "McCall! Either you're in or we forfeit."

"I'll be right back." I mumble to my mom and Lydia. As soon as I make it away from the bleachers I whisper to Scott, "I'll check on Isaac. Focus on Jackson and the game."

*_*_*_*_*_*

I rush inside to where Isaac has been taken on a stretcher. Straining my ears to pinpoint his exact location, I hear the stretcher clatter to the ground. Then I hear Gerard's voice, "It was a good effort, Isaac. It was. This would be so much more poetic if it were halftime."

Finally understanding what Deaton meant by moving like a blur even in human form, I sped into the boys locker room seeing Gerard and two other hunters surrounding a half paralyzed Isaac.

Eyes glowing white, I quickly shove the first hunter flying into the wall of the showers, effectively knocking him out. I send the next one slamming down on the benches, splitting the wood in half. I glance around seeing Isaac but not Gerard, "Where is he?" I ask the hunter still in my grip.

When he doesn't answer I punch him hard across the face, knocking him out too and rush to Isaac's side. "How did you control it?"

I shake my head, "I don't know. I think I was focusing on protecting you." I pause looking down, "I remember Scott saying he didn't lose control when he was focused on protecting Allison. Maybe protection has something to do with remaining in control."

Before either of us can say anything else, an ear piercing scream is heard from the field outside.