Chapter 8: Moon Rise

The day of the full moon, Stiles felt like his body was set to vibrate. He could feel the wolf under his skin and could almost hear it howling, wanting to be let out over every little thing. By the time Chemistry rolled around, Stiles was shaking with unused energy struggling to keep his claws in when Harris called him out. Isaac seemed to notice. Once Harris turned his attention back to his lecture, Isaac leaned over, gripping Stiles' wrist. "Uh, hey Stiles," he said quietly. "You okay?"

 Stiles nodded and flashed a small grin at the other boy. "Just ready to get out of here," Stiles whispered. There was a hint of a growl in his voice.

 "You sure?" Isaac wasn't looking at him but was still gripping his wrist. "You look like you want to hit something."

 "I'm more likely to scratch than hit," Stiles muttered unthinkingly.

 Isaac let out a small snort of laughter. "I would think you'd rather bite."

 Stiles stiffened. He felt his claws prick into his palms. "You know."

 "I won't tell." Isaac looked over at Stiles. "I saw another one in the cemetery a few nights ago. I didn't know you were one until today though." Stiles raised an eyebrow. "Full moon tonight."

 "Stop talking," Stiles breathed. His eyes fixed on Scott who had almost certainly heard everything they said. "Even knowing about this kind of stuff will put you in danger, Isaac. You don't want people to know that you know."

 "What do you mean?" Isaac finally let go of his wrist, frowning down at him. Scott looked back at them, and his eyes flashed gold. "Stiles."

 "Some other time. I promise." Stiles fixed his eyes on his desk and his chemistry book, praying that Isaac would let it go. Thankfully, he did. Stiles skipped Lacrosse practice, feeling the stretch of his control. His dad's cruiser was in the driveway when he got home. The Sheriff was sitting in his armchair watching something, but he cut off the TV when Stiles came in. Stiles was halfway up the stairs before Noah could get to his feet.

 "Hang on a minute Stiles," he called after him. Stiles froze on the stairs before turning back to face his dad. "There's a full moon tonight." Stiles nodded. "I'm working the overnight, but I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay tonight."

 "Yeah, I should be fine. Derek has a plan to keep me from hurting anybody," Stiles said.

 "And what about Hale hurting somebody?"

 Stiles' skin prickled at the implication against his Alpha. "Derek's not a threat to anyone. He was born a werewolf and has been controlling himself all his life. We'll both be fine tonight." There was a growl in his voice that he couldn't quite get rid of. Noah held his hands up in a placating measure.

 "I'm just trying to understand, kid."

 Stiles took a calming breath. He jammed the heels of his hands into his eyes letting out another growl. "I know Dad." He ran his hands over his hair before letting them fall back to his sides.

 "Is every month going to be like this?" the Sheriff asked with raised eyebrows.

 "It should get easier. Eventually." Stiles shrugged.

 "All right. I'm going in early. You call or you have Hale call if anything happens."

 "Will do. Love you."

 "Love you too, kid."

 After the Sheriff left, Stiles tried to focus on his homework, but he found himself struggling with his focus even more than usual. He almost took some Adderall before remembering that it wouldn't help. He closed his English textbook, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything else done there and let himself follow the scattered thoughts in his mind. He found himself flicking through werewolf mythologies from around the world. As the sun set, his phone went off.