Out of Place

Jackson

The McCall-Hale Pack made their way through the dense forestry with Deaton, trying to find the nemeton. "I'm picking up some odd energy signals.", Deaton said. "Odd, how?", Lydia asked. "Odd like I'm picking up the presence of a golem in these woods. And the nemeton seems... stronger.", Deaton answered. "Is the golem's energy signature near the nemeton?", Scott shared a worried glance with Derek. "It's everywhere.", Deaton whispered. The pack was flooded with a feeling of panic and fear. They started looking all around them as they continued towards the nemeton.

Once they found it, they quickly realized the Mercury Pack had been there. "They carved their pack symbol into it?! And it's fully grown now?!", Scott growled. "Actually, Scott, you can't carve into a nemeton. This symbol is a result of magic. It appears the Mercury Pack has bonded with the tree's magic. We won't be able to use it.", Deaton said. "That's why it grew... they made it stronger.", Derek murmured. "Yes, they're most likely using its magic for something much like we were planning. Or they might've known we were going to break their spell.", Deaton told the pack.

"But how'd they know about the nemeton? How'd they even know where it was?", Allison asked. "One of them must be from Beacon Hills.", Aiden declared. "Then we'll figure out who it is. We'll search the public records until we find one of them.", Scott decided. "But that'll take ages!", Malia whined. "Do you have a better plan?", Derek growled. His eyes flashed red briefly. "No, alpha.", she whispered, looking down. Scott glanced at Derek with a puzzling look.

"You guys go ahead back to the cars, I need to speak with Derek for a moment.", Scott announced. The pack gave him confused looks but obeyed and followed Deaton back to the cars. "Be careful, and keep an eye out for that golem!", Kira called out as the pack went.

"Why'd you wanna talk?", Derek grunted. "What's up with you, man? You're all grumpy and sour-"

sourwolf 

"-, you keep snapping at other pack members, you're super suspicious of that new alpha and think he's like some great evil force-"

big bad wolf

"-you're all moody and anxious, it's like you're possessed!"

he is void

Scott huffed. "Are you even listening to me?!" "What?", Derek blinked. The younger alpha scoffed. "Of course. Y'know what? I don't even care. Be a... sourwolf.", Scott finished quietly before glancing at Derek and turning around to quickly walk back to the cars. Derek followed after a moment of sulking. He sped up even more when he heard a warning growl from a bush nearby.

The pack pulled back into the shared parking lot between the two lofts and immediately, Jackson noticed a figure crouching by the blue Jeep in the parking spot closest to Derek's loft. He clambered out of his Porsche as fast as he could. "Hey!", he called out.

The figure was startled but recovered quickly and slowly rose up to stand and face the arrogant lizard beta. "You.", Jackson seethed. "Why hello there.", Richie sneered. "What are you doing to my Jeep?", Jackson demanded. "Oh so it's yours. Well I certainly didn't expect Whittmore to own such a lovely vehicle.", Richie looked him over with a judgmental glare. "Step away from my car and answer my question you little freak!", the Jeep's owner growled. His eyes were glowing yellow now and he fought back against his claws poking at his skin, trying to burst through.

"What's going on?", Ethan asked as the rest of the pack gathered around. Even with an entire pack of strange supernatural creatures surrounding him, the creepy twin didn't seem threatened. "I was just looking at it. I wanted to see if if by chance had the same engraving as the Jeep I came across elsewhere: 'Claudia'. It appears I was wrong and you just happen to have a very similar Jeep. Don't mind me, I'll be leaving now.", Richie started for his loft with a smirk but Jackson roughly stopped him with a hand to his chest.

"Where did you see that Jeep?!", Jackson and Derek spat out the question at the same time. Richie smirked. "A friend of mine. He bought it off a junkyard lot.", Richie smiled, feigning innocence. He technically wasn't lying. Stiles accidentally left it in a no-parking zone and it got towed so he had to rebuy it from the junkyard. He also might've threatened the owner of said junkyard and cursed him a teensy bit but who cares.

"Where?", Derek demanded. "I don't know. Near the East Cost I think? Oh well. It doesn't really matter, it's not your Jeep anyways. I thought he might've sold that old piece of junk but I was wrong. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to my pack. Dinner's about to be served. We even ordered curly fries!", Richie smiled.

He shouldered Jackson on the way. What? He couldn't help it, that guy was a dick!

Once settled into the loft, the McCall-Hale Pack immediately started talking over one another at lightening speed. "Stiles sold his Jeep?" "Curly fries?" "How did it end up in a junkyard?" "Did he abandon it?" "Curly fries?" "Does he know Stiles?" "Why is that guy so creepy and where did his twin go?" "Is Stiles on the East Coast?" "Curly fries?" "Issac, we can get curly fries now stop it!" "Is he the one from Beacon Hills?" "Is his twin from here too then?"

"Guys!", Scott yelled. Suddenly they all stopped. "We need to stop freaking out and discuss this seriously.", the alpha stated. "Scott, do you think he knows Stiles? Is he playing some sort of mind game on us as revenge for kicking him out of the pack?", Kira asked. "No. He's just messing with us. He probably doesn't even know Stiles and he just honestly came across that Jeep and realized it was getting a rise out of us. He's just trying to antagonize us.", Scott said. "The chances of him knowing Stiles are slim, he's just an asshole."

"What about the curly fries comment?", Jackson added. "Coincidence. It has to be. There's no way...", Scott finished.

"Scott's probably right. I mean, if you think about it, Stiles was never great with cars and probably had to sell it to the junkyard to get by if he really moved to the East Coast. It's not unlikely. And that creepy twin's friend could've bought it. And now said creepy twin is just messing with us because he saw how we reacted to the engraving. Besides, who doesn't like curly fries? Issac, put your hand down, we know you want some.", Derek ranted.

"We can't let this pack keep getting into our heads like this.", Allison sighed. "You mean we can't keep letting Stiles get into our heads like this.", Jackson glared. "That's not what I meant and you know it!", the huntress snapped. "Of course it is! All you guys ever do is reprimand me about how I shouldn't have bought that Jeep! Like I can't be upset that he's gone?! You all forced him out of this pack and I'm not gonna pretend like I'm indifferent to it anymore!", Jackson protested. "Oh, so you've been pretending?! Cause to me it seems like you took every chance you could get to remind us of how 'awful' we were to him!", Ethan scolded. "You were awful to him! All of you! Scott, you kicked him out, all of you started harassing him the moment he displayed his spark, none of you even gave him a chance to explain, a chance to BREATHE, and Derek you were by FAR the worst. You stood by and you watched the whole thing! You're our alpha! You're the only one with enough say to keep him from getting kicked out and leaving but you just watched the scene unfold silently! I know I wasn't exactly innocent in all this but at least I'm not continuing to ignore his existence and pretending to be okay with the fact that STILES IS GONE!", Jackson shouted.

At this point his face was red and he looked ready to cry with anger and pain. It was a look none of them had ever seen on him before. Not even Danny, his closest friend, Lydia, his ex, or Ethan, his boyfriend. Jackson stormed off to his room and left the rest of the pack alone in the living room, speechless.

Suddenly Derek rushed for the front door, slamming it on his way out.