( THIRTEEN )
codominance

Alex walked down the hallways of Beacon Hills High School, a confident smirk placed on her face as she walked next to Lydia Martin, the queen bee of the school and her best friend.

"Oh god, just look straight ahead." Lydia scoffed, Alex frowning at her in question.

"What, why?" Alex asked.

"Your loser friends are at their lockers." Lydia responded with a scowl, Alex rolling her eyes at Lydia's attitude towards her two best friends, Stiles Stilinski and Scott McCall.

Alex sarcastically gasped as she put a hand to her heart. "God forbid they actually use them."

Lydia sent her a pointed look, Alex continuing in a serious tone. "I need to get my books anyway."

"But your locker is, like, right next to theirs." Lydia whined, the girl not wanting to be seen anywhere near Scott and Stiles, the so called 'nerds' of the school.

"So? Suck it up, it's not the end of the world." Alex simply replied as the two approached her locker, Lydia huffing in annoyance as she reluctantly followed Alex.

The strawberry blonde stood next to Alex, facing away from Stiles and Scott as she began to twirl a piece of her strawberry blonde hair in her fingers, waiting for Alex to get her books out of her locker.

Alex sent a small smile towards her best friends, Scott sending her a small wave, while Stiles sent her a grin in return.

"You're lucky we're best friends, otherwise you'd be classified as a total loser for hanging out with them."  Lydia started, Alex huffing a chuckle at her words as she closed her locker door.

"I don't care about status, Lyds." Alex replied, Lydia raising her eyebrows.

"Well, you should." Lydia shrugged, Jackson approaching the two with a small smirk, his gaze set on Lydia.

"Hey, babe." Lydia grinned as Jackson snaked his arm around her waist, the boy leaning over and kissing Lydia, Alex rolling her eyes at the two.

During these times, Alex was super grateful she had Stiles and Scott to hang out with. She couldn't stand Jackson.

"Alex." Jackson spoke in an unamused tone as he pulled away from Lydia, Alex sighing as she responded, her tone laced with annoyance as she didn't look at him.

"Jackson."

Jackson glanced down at Lydia again, the boy whispering in her ear, Alex cringing as Lydia bit her lip.

"Alright, I'm done with...this...I'll see you later, Lyds." Alex spoke as she walked away from the two, approaching Stiles and Scott.

"Hey losers." She grinned and wrapped her arms around both Stiles and Scott's shoulders as she stood between the two.

"Okay, just 'cause you're friends with Lydia, doesn't mean you can call us losers and get away with it." Stiles responded with a frown as the three began to walk to their next class, Alex moving to stand next to Scott.

"Who's gonna stop me?" Alex raised her eyebrows. "Big scary Stiles Stilinski, the boy with the terrifying buzz cut?"

Scott laughed as Stiles' face heated up a little.

"No...Scott will." Stiles scoffed, lightly punching Scott in the shoulder, to which Scott frowned at Stiles and held his hand over his, now sore, shoulder.

"Ow, what the hell was that for?!"

"Yeah, now I'm most definitely scared of the two of you." Alex sarcastically responded. "Oh, I've been meaning to bring this up. I'm concerned for you Scott, how can you see anything under that fringe?"

Stiles laughed. "Yeah, exactly, it's like a freakin' jungle over there."

Scott sighed in annoyance. "We've gone over this a thousand times, guys, it's cool."

"Get a haircut and then we won't have to go over it again. Also it is most definitely not cool." Alex responded, glancing at Scott and ruffling his hair, Scott frowning as he began to brush it down with his hand. "That's probably why you get bullied so much."

"Whatever, my mom likes it and I like it, so..." Scott replied quietly, Alex and Stiles sharing a glance, the two trying not to laugh as they hid their smiles with their hands, the two clearing their throats.

"Woah, you guys had to cough at the same time...how weird." Scott frowned, Alex glancing at him with slightly narrowed eyes, Stiles shaking his head at Scott's obliviousness.

"Scotty, I don't understand how you don't fall and hit your head more often." Alex spoke, Scott frowning at her.

"Hey!"

Stiles chuckled. "If it makes you feel better, we both still hang out with you, so there's a big plus."

"Oh, how grateful I am to have such supportive best friends like you guys." Scott rolled his eyes as he began to walk ahead of the other two, Stiles and Alex chuckling.

"No, wait, Scott, we're sorry!" Stiles called between his chuckles.

"Scott, come back!" Alex laughed, the girl then glancing at Stiles as the two calmed down. "I think we pissed him off."

"Give him five minutes, he'll get over it." Stiles replied, Alex chuckling as the two followed Scott into the classroom.

Lucas walked into Alex's room, his gaze shifting between Alex, Stiles and Scott, Alex being snapped out of her thoughts, the girl remembering a time when life was simpler and Scott wasn't a werewolf.

"Hey, guys." Lucas frowned in confusion as he glanced at Alex. "What's up?"

"We need you." Alex started as she crossed her arms.

"The Dread Doctors are getting stronger as we speak, and we can't beat them without the rest of the pack." Scott added.

"Wait, 'the rest of the pack'?" Lucas furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced at Scott. "It's just you guys now?"

Stiles exhaled a breath. "Everyone's kinda busy...battling their own inner demons...or something..."

"We're working on it..." Scott added with a sigh, his voice trailing off.

"Lucas, we really need your help right now." Alex spoke, catching Lucas' attention.

Lucas nodded. "Count me in."

Alex smiled at her brother, Stiles and Scott releasing relieved breaths at his words.

••••

"You any close to being done yet?" Lucas blew out a breath as he crossed his arms, the boy leaning against the side of Roscoe as Stiles was fixing it, Alex holding the hood of the Jeep up.

"Lucas, your comments aren't making me go any faster." Stiles responded as he continued to fix his Jeep.

"We're waiting for Scott anyway, so..." Alex added as she glanced at Lucas, who nodded.

Stiles pulled out a few wires from the Jeep and threw them on the floor, Alex frowning at the boy as her eyes followed his movements. "Don't you need those?"

Stiles glanced at her, the boy thinking about it for a second before responding. "No..."

Alex raised her eyebrows as she continued to hold the hood up, Stiles going back to his Jeep and grabbing a wrench.

Scott walked out of his house to join the group, Lucas and Alex's attention shifting to him, Alex sending him a small smile.

"So, what did he want?" Stiles glanced at Scott, the boy referring to Liam.

"To help." Scott replied.

"And why aren't you letting him?" Lucas furrowed his eyebrows as he crossed his arms.

"He's not ready." Scott glanced at Lucas.

"When will he be?" Alex questioned, Scott's gaze shifting to her.

"Eventually...I guess..." Scott sighed. "Just not now."

"Okay, but shouldn't he be a little higher on your priority list right now?" Stiles frowned, the boy glancing at Scott. "I mean, since he's your only actual Beta."

Stiles glanced at Alex, who raised her eyebrows, the boy continuing at her glance and looking at Scott again. "A Beta that you actually turned."

"None of you saw the way he came at me." Scott glanced between the group. "You didn't see the look in his eyes."

"Well, I've been with you and Alex on a full moon, so I've seen that look." Stiles replied.

"If you wanna get the band back together, dude, you don't leave out the drummer." Lucas chimed in, Scott sighing at his words.

Stiles backed away from the hood of the Jeep, Alex closing it gently as Stiles started the engine and went back to the hood of the Jeep, the car roaring as it turned on.

"Success!" Stiles exclaimed with a smile, the boy running to the front seat. "Yes!"

Alex huffed a chuckle as she sat in the passenger side and tied up her hair, Scott and Lucas sitting in the back.

Scott and Lucas frowned at the various bottles of gasoline that was shoved in the middle, Alex glancing at Stiles with a small frown.

"Minor leak." Stiles responded as he met her gaze. "Very minor."

"Mhm, sure." Alex glanced away, the girl raising her eyebrows briefly.

"Road trip!" Lucas laughed as Stiles started the car, Scott huffing a chuckle at Lucas' words.

••••

"Man, I think the Jeep's overheating again." Scott exhaled a breath, Lucas wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Yeah, it is." Alex replied, the girl opening the window for fresh air.

"Stiles, we should probably put more antifreeze in it." Lucas started as he glanced at the temperature tank at the front.

Stiles sighed. "No, it's fine, just put the windows down."

Lucas groaned as he rolled down the window and glanced out of it.

"You find anything yet, Scotty?" Alex turned to glance at Scott from her position.

"Mostly the same stuff you already knew." Scott responded as he read from the Dread Doctors book. "Damnatio Memoriae was a Roman practice. A government decree to destroy the images of the damned. And they would scratch off their names from inscriptions, chisel their face off statues."

"Weird." Lucas frowned.

"The Romans believed it was a punishment worse than death." Scott continued, Alex raising her eyebrows at the words.

"Being forgotten." Stiles furrowed his eyebrows.

"Listen to this." Scott started again, the group listening to his words intently. "Damnatio Memoriae was later used on a serial killer in 1598, known as the Demon Tailor. He lured children into his shop in Paris where he would kill them and boil the flesh off their bones to eat."

"Not my first choice for a snack, but each to their own." Alex spoke sarcastically, a frown appearing on her face as Scott continued.

"The courts believed the crimes so horrible, they ordered all the documents destroyed. To this day, no one knows his real name." Scott finished.

"How much do you wanna bet the Dread Doctors resurrected this guy?" Lucas scoffed.

"If that's true, they resurrected a killer so bad that he had to literally be erased from history." Stiles raised his eyebrows.

"A killer that became a werewolf." Scott glanced between the group from his seat.

"Which definitely made him a better killer." Alex finished, the girl exhaling a breath.

"That's great." Stiles sarcastically spoke.

••••

"Hey, is Malia talking to any of you guys?" Lucas started, Alex and Scott glancing at him, Stiles briefly glancing at him in the mirror before focusing on the road ahead.

"Nope." Scott shook his head.

"Not me." Alex responded.

Stiles shook his head. "Dude, she hasn't been talking to any one of us."

"Didn't you break up with her?" Alex frowned as she turned to face her brother from the passenger seat.

"Yeah, but I still wanna know if she's okay." Lucas replied as he glanced outside the window.

"I think I know why she's not talking to anyone." Scott spoke after a moment. "I think she found her mother."

"Her mother, as in The Desert Wolf?!" Stiles exclaimed, Alex widening her eyes.

"Yeah." Scott nodded.

"Wait, who?" Lucas frowned.

"A werewolf assassin." Alex answered him, the girl briefly glancing at the boy before glancing back at Scott.

Lucas' eyes widened.

"I knew she was still looking." Alex spoke up. "She was acting so different, I should've known."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault." Stiles responded, the boy glancing at Alex, who returned his gaze.

"When I was at her house...I'm pretty sure Braeden was there too." Scott caught the group's attention, Stiles' gaze shifting from the group to the road again.

"Braeden?" Stiles frowned.

"Who?" Lucas sighed.

"Another assassin." Alex answered, Lucas scoffing as he slumped down in his seat.

"Of course..."

"What, did you catch her scent?" Stiles questioned.

"Actually it was her motorcycle." Scott replied with a frown. "I smelled her exhaust."

Alex blew out a breath. "What are they gonna do?"

"Something Malia doesn't wanna tell us about, so probably something bad." Scott responded with a sigh, the boy glancing at her.

Alex frowned at his words, the girl then turning to glance at Scott. "You already know, don't you?"

"It's like the chemosignals, right?" Stiles added with a frown, Lucas furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

Scott sighed. "Aggression."

"How much?" Lucas frowned at Scott.

"I think she's gonna kill her." Scott blew out a breath. "She's gonna kill her mother."

"Well, if her mom is a homicidal killer, it's justified." Lucas replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, but not if she's risking her life." Alex frowned at her brother. "The Desert Wolf is super strong, I mean, killing is literally her profession."

Suddenly, the engine sputtered and the Jeep came to a slow stop, the group all frowning in confusion.

"What's happening?" Scott questioned.

"Um..." Stiles started as he glanced at the gas meter. "We're out of gas. Yeah, it's out of gas."

"It says we have half a tank." Alex frowned as she glanced at the meter.

"Yeah, not necessarily." Stiles sighed as he glanced at Alex.

"Oh my god, you didn't fix the gas gauge, did you?" Alex glanced at Stiles, her gaze flickering between his eyes.

"Not necessarily..." Stiles responded as he glanced away.

"Stiles, I've told you a thousand times to fix it." Alex replied, irritation lacing her tone as she held her gaze on the boy.

"I know, I know." Stiles sighed as he glanced at Alex again, the Jeep coming to a full stop at the side of the road. "Sorry..."

Alex sighed as she rested her head against the seat, a moment of silence passing between the group.

Lucas and Scott glanced between the two from the back seats, the boys sharing a glance as they observed the two acting like a married couple.

"It's okay. We'll just fix it later." Alex added, the girl then opening the door and getting out of the Jeep.

"Where are you going?" Stiles frowned as his gaze was set on her. "Don't tell me you're gonna run off like last time."

"No." Alex scoffed. "I see a gas station, come on."

••••

"Locked." Stiles sighed as he tried opening the gas station door, the door not budging.

Alex blew out a breath, the girl putting her hands on her hips as she glanced at Scott, who had ripped the heavy chains around a gas pump, Lucas squinting due to the sunlight.

"Any of you got a twenty?" Stiles called out to the group, Lucas reaching into his pocket and handing Stiles a twenty dollar bill.

Stiles nodded a 'thank you' to Lucas as he slipped the money through the door.

Alex helped Scott with the gas, the girl putting the gas pump into the tank and filling it up.

After a moment, the gas tank was full, Alex putting the pump away and putting the lid on the gas tank.

"Need help?" Lucas raised his eyebrows at Alex, who shook her head.

"I'm good." Alex responded simply.

A moment of silence passed through the group, Stiles speaking up and catching the group's attention.

"There was a pin."

"What?" Scott frowned in confusion.

"There was one little metal pin attached to the scaffolding." Stiles continued, Alex immediately realising that he was talking about Donovan.

"He was trying to pull me down." Stiles added, the boy glancing between the group as he spoke.

"He was trying to kill you." Alex frowned.

"Yes, and then I pulled the pin." Stiles replied as he glanced at her. "And then, all these metal braces came down. And one of them...just...just went right through him."

"Why didn't you think you could tell us?" Scott furrowed his eyebrows.

Stiles sighed as he glanced at Alex. "It's just...I didn't wanna ruin anything between us, Lex."

Alex frowned at the words. "What?"

"I figured...if I told you, you would hate me. And I didn't wanna lose you." Stiles replied, the boy meeting Alex's gaze. "I can't lose you."

"Stiles, you'll never lose me." Alex spoke, her voice soft. "It was self-defence, I know you didn't do it on purpose. Scott and your dad do, too."

Stiles released a breath, the boy relieved at how she understood.

He glanced at Scott as he continued. "And Scott, the way you were looking at me that night. Just...holding the wrench in your hand and looking at me like I had bashed your head in with it. You know, like I had broken your sacred rule, and...that's it. There's no going back."

"Like Alex said, there's a difference between murder and self-defence." Scott responded.

Stiles nodded, the boy glancing down at the ground.

"We should get going." Lucas quietly spoke after a moment, catching the group's attention.

••••

"Hey, guys." Stiles started as he gently shook Alex's shoulder, the girl waking up.

"Hm?" Alex mumbled as she glanced at the road, the girl widening her eyes at the sight.

"What the hell is that?" Lucas frowned, Scott furrowing his eyebrows at the sight.

A towering structure, supposedly a cave, of sorts, was a few meters in front of them.

"What the hell do you think is happening to her out there?" Lucas asked, the boy concerned for Kira.

••••

The group glanced at the towering structure where Kira was trapped in.

Scott and Stiles were talking about how Scott believed Theo and didn't take time to hear Stiles' side of the story, Lucas and Alex talking about Lydia.

"I'm so worried for her." Lucas started.

"Malia?" Alex glanced at him, Lucas sighing.

"Lydia. But yeah, Malia too." Lucas responded with a nod. "God, I feel like such an asshole."

Alex frowned, the girl still glancing at Lucas. "Why?"

"Maybe if I didn't break up with her, she might've rethought her decision to go after her mother." Lucas exhaled a breath.

"Lucas, that wasn't your fault." Alex replied, Lucas glancing at her.

Scott's voice caught their attention. "I knew one of us would get too much blood on our hands. I thought that was gonna be Malia."

Alex and Lucas approached Scott and Stiles, the two joining their conversation.

"Well, she definitely seems like she's working on it." Stiles replied sarcastically.

"I just always thought that...if it were to happen, then it should be me." Scott added quietly, Alex frowning at him, Stiles and Lucas furrowing their eyebrows as they glanced at him. "I'm the one who's constantly putting you guys in danger, risking your lives for people you don't even know. It should've been me."

"Scott, stop." Alex responded, Scott meeting her gaze as she spoke. "We risk our lives because you encourage us to save people who need saving. And if that puts us in danger, so be it. Scott, you literally make us all better people."

Scott huffed a small smile at her words as Alex continued. "I guarantee you, every single one of us has thought about giving up and forgetting about those people, but like I said, you convince us to keep fighting for them. And if you ask any one of us, we'll tell you it's made us all better versions of ourselves."

Stiles and Lucas nodded, smirks on their faces.

A grateful smile appeared on Scott's face as he wrapped his arm around Alex's shoulders. "Thanks, Alex."

Alex smiled at the boy as she then glanced between the group again. "That being said, we all need to stop blaming ourselves for shit we can't control."

"And she's back." Stiles huffed a chuckle.

"Come on, we've only got a few hours until sunrise." Lucas chuckled, the group walking towards the Jeep again.

••••

Stiles quickly stopped the car just behind Kira and her mother with their katanas drawn, the two about to fight the Skinwalkers.

Scott jumped out, the boy in his alpha form. He growled at the Skinwalkers, Kira smiling at the boy.

"Get in!" Stiles yelled, Scott and Kira running towards the Jeep and jumping into the back seats, Lucas already sitting on the other side and making room for them, Alex and Stiles sitting at the front.

"Come on!" Alex yelled at Kira's mother, who quickly ran in just in time, the woman squeezing in the back with Kira, Scott, and Lucas.

As Alex closed the door, Stiles hit the gas pedal, the Jeep immediately starting and Stiles driving.

"Everyone okay?" Stiles questioned as he glanced between the group and the road ahead.

"Yeah." Kira's mother nodded as she caught her breath.

Lucas cringed as he glanced next to him, Scott and Kira making out passionately.

Kira's mother widened her eyes at her daughter and Scott next to her.

Stiles and Alex raised their eyebrows in surprise as they shared a brief glance.

"You came back for me." Kira exhaled a relieved breath.

Scott nodded, his admiring gaze flickering between Kira's eyes as his thumb stroked her cheek.

"I love you." Kira breathed. "I love you so much."

Lucas' eyes widened at the confession, the boy feeling uncomfortable, as he felt he shouldn't have been there in that moment.

Kira pulled Scott back into a passionate kiss, Lucas shuffling further over to the edge of the Jeep as he glanced outside the window again, trying to give the two some form of privacy.

Kira's mother glanced outside the window too, the woman smiling at how her daughter found love.

Stiles and Alex shared a glance, smiles appearing on their faces as they knew exactly how Scott and Kira felt.

As Stiles glanced back at the road again Alex leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek, Stiles smiling at the action.

••••

AUTHOR'S NOTE

hey!

sorry I haven't been updating, i've been super busy with assignments and essays so I haven't had time to work on this book ( literally the last time I updated it, not counting earlier today, was in november 2020 ).

also i'm sorry these chapters have been a bit boring, i've been trying to make them as interesting as I can, but ( in my opinion ), s5 wasn't the best, so...

hopefully the rest of this book will get more entertaining as it goes on, but I can't promise anything.

i've already got plans for s6 so i'm hoping that book will be better than this one when I get to it.

anyway, I hope you liked the chapter regardless, and thanks for reading!