Losing her entire family was hard enough on Josephine Cohen, but to lose them, upend her life in Boston to live in Beacon Hills, and move in with her infamous cousin Lydia Martin all within a month's time didn't make it any easier.
To make matters w...
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"So...the supernatural, huh?"
Beacon Hills Preserve wasn't somewhere that Josie had visited yet in her time living in Beacon Hills, but she had been there once or twice over the years when visiting Lydia during the summer. Wesley had come with them one summer, taking Eleanor and Josie out to the lookout point that overlooked all of Beacon Hills one night when there was a meteor shower happening.
The red head hadn't been back since, and she didn't think that the next time she sat on of of the large rocks in the grass overlooking Beacon Hills would be sitting with Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski in the dead of night to discuss the existence of supernatural beings.
Stiles rubbed the back of his neck, sharing an awkward look with Scott as the boys sat in the grass on either side of the rock Josie had perched herself on.
"Yeah, we...don't really know where to start,"
"How about the beginning?" Josie offered up, looking down at the boys. "You vaguely mentioned something about...getting bitten?"
"That's how you get turned, unless you're born a werewolf," Scott began to explain, gesturing back toward the woods behind them. "Stiles and I were out here in these woods the night before school started back up, looking for that dead body. We ended up separated and I ended up finding one half of the body...before the alpha managed to find me."
"By the next morning, basically moments before you had walked up to us, Scott showed me where he was bitten and it was already healed. Meaning...he was a werewolf," Stiles finished off, shaking his hands in the air as if they were jazz hands.
Josie nodded along, pursing her lips as she stared out at the town before them.
"So what comes along with this whole werewolf thing, besides the glowing eyes?"
"Fangs and claws," Scott explained, looking down at his own hands. "Enhanced hearing and smell, even enhanced speed and strength. I heal insanely fast, I actually had terrible asthma that getting bitten fixed. There's probably a thousand other things that have yet to be explained to me that I don't know about, too."
"He's not in total control of it all yet, though," Stiles added in quickly, bringing Josie's glance to him. "Yeah, we've had a fun time with that one. That's why I rushed after him from Allison's party, he was having a hard time controlling it. There was also the attack on the bus- Scott didn't do that! The alpha did, but Scott tried to stop it even though he barely remembers doing that. I also pelted him with lacrosse balls to try and teach him control-"
"Okay, let's go one at a time," Josie cut in with a small smile, getting overwhelmed at the amount of information she was learning all at once. "So Derek, how does he factor into all of this?"
Scott launched into the long winded explanation of Derek Hale. Born a werewolf, family killed in the house fire years ago that Josie remembered being in town for, and had been off an on helpful to Scott over the course of the last few weeks learning how to deal with his new abilities among other things.
"And your boss, the veterinarian?" Josie questioned, referring back to when it had been theorized at some point in the night that he was the alpha.
"Deaton is fine," Scott said with a shake of his head. "Escaped from the back of Derek's car, as Derek is the one who thought he was the alpha."
"There's also the...Allison thing," Stiles tacked on as Scott picked up for him.
"Her family are kind of...werewolf hunters,"
A silence fell over the preserve for a moment before Josie wholeheartedly laughed, having to grab her stomach from laughing so hard. Stiles and Scott paused for a moment, looking at one another wondering if they should be concerned.
"That is...damn, Scott, that's actually kind of hilarious! Only one of you dumbasses would manage to get turned into a werewolf AND fall for someone who's family wants you dead,"
It was Stiles who couldn't help but join in on the laughter, looking over at Scott with a teasing grin as he gestured toward Josie.
"You know, she's got a great point there-"
"It doesn't matter," Scott interjected, shaking his head as he looked down at the dirt. "She broke up with me after all this tonight anyways so."
"As sad as I think that is, because I think you two are adorable together, I think you have more pressing issues to deal with," the red head told him honestly, wrapping her arms around her knees as she was thankful for Stiles jacket blocking some of the cold night air. "What the hell did the alpha want tonight? What happened when you were out there?"
Scott took a deep breath, leaning back on his elbows against the grass as the three stared out over the city.
"The alpha walked right past us when we got to that chemistry room," he began to explain. "It had to have heard us, to have known exactly where we were. But it let us live because...it wants me as part of it's pack, but to do that I have to get rid of my own pack."
"But you aren't an alpha," Stiles questioned with a raise of his brow.
"No...but I have all of you. Everyone that was in that room with me; the two of you, Allison, Lydia, even Jackson,"
"So the alpha wants to kill all of us, is what I'm hearing," Josie added on, stating it rather than questioning it as she was sure she already knew the answer.
"He doesn't want to, he wants me to do it," Scott told her as he looked between Josie and Stiles. "And the worst part? He made me transform with his howl, and when he did...I wanted to do it. I wanted to kill all of you. That's why I locked you in there instead."
Silence fell over the three teens again as they each processed the information in their own heads. It was Josie who spoke up first, sitting up straighter and clearing her throat as she looked between the two boys.
"Alright, so, what's the plan? What's our next move?"
Scott and Stiles instantly looked to one another, eyes wide as they both fumbled over their words, looking over to her.
"We- we just told you the supernatural exist-"
"And you want to get involved?" Stiles cut in, eyes wide and mouth almost completely dropped open. "You want to help?"
There was a pause before Josephine spoke up.
"I watched them die. I lost my entire family in a matter of moments," she found herself tracing those lines on her palm again. "Lydia...she's all I have left. Seeing her in that school tonight, seeing the terrified look in her eye, I just can't lose anyone else. I can't lose the smallest bit of family I've got left. Plus...I consider you two my friends, and I don't have many of those to go around either so I'd prefer not to lose either of you."
There were small smiles on both of the boys' faces, looks of pure shock and almost wonder in their eyes as they look at her.
"Jo-"
"I'm with you two," she promised the boys, giving them both a smile of her own. "And you can't tell me no, I'll weasel my way in. It's better that I do, it's just a better chance for me to protect Lydia...and you two dumbasses."
It was another second before all three of the teens shared a laughed collectively, and Stiles couldn't help the look of utter adoration that he had on his face as he looked at the girl.
"Alright," Scott nodded his head, glancing at Stiles with a wide grin. "Guess our little group here has officially grown by one."
Josie hopped off the rock she sat on, reaching out her hands and helping both boys up to their feet with a grin.
"But we can begin our work as a trio after a much needed few days off of school, I need to sleep after tonight...and take some damn anxiety meds before I do end up panicking,"
