Two

"YOU'RE JUST LETTING US GO?"

Sierra could not hide the surprise in her voice as she followed Araya through a door, Scott trailing behind her as he shrugged back on his jacket. The sunlight made her squint, the rays hitting the beautiful buildings of the city.

"I sent four men out to where Kate was rumored to have been seen," Araya started, turning on her heel to face the teenagers once more. "None of them came back." Her eyes glanced over them. "Let's see if you can do better."

"Why didn't you just tell us she was alive?" Scott questioned from beside Sierra. "Instead of making us go through all of...that."

"You wouldn't have believed me," Araya replied honestly and then focused on Sierra. "I knew your parents, mija. They were good people, especially your mother. Her gifts were well respected, as are yours and your sister's."

Sierra offered her a small smile, nodding, "Thank you."

"Testing you and Scott showed me what kind of leaders you are and how strong your bond, between a True Alpha and an Empath, can be," Araya explained. "But you children need to remember that you aren't always going to be together."

Her narrowed eyes drifted back to Scott, who fidgeted under her stare. "Your next step, lobito, won't happen with Sierra by your side."

"What next step?"

"When you take the bite of an innocent," Araya stated, her voice hard as stone. "When you make a wolf of your own? When you do that? Then I will cross your border and come knocking at your door. ¿Entiendes lo que te estoy diciendo?"

"Sí, le entendemos," Sierra replied, resting a hand on Scott's arm as he quickly nodded in agreement.

Without another word, Araya turned on her heel and walked back inside her large home, leaving Scott and Sierra to face their friends.

They had gathered in front of the jeep, mumbling to each other while they waited, but as they saw the two make their way back over, Stiles stepped forward. His hand reached out towards Sierra as she approached his side, resting it on the curve of her hip once she leaned into him for a side hug.

"So what now?"

Scott let out a deep breath, but answered, "She thinks she knows where we can find Derek."

"Is she going to tell us where?" Malia questioned, standing with her arms crossed between Lydia and Kira.

"Actually, she said she was giving us a guide," Sierra told her with a shrug. Araya didn't say who.

Fortunately, they did not have to wait long. Just down the road, a sleek black motorcycle revved its engine and came to a easy stop right behind the jeep. The teenagers glanced at one another, their curiosity growing at who was underneath the helmet.

Recognizing the wavy black hair and familiar focused eyes, a small smirk quirked up the corners of Sierra's lips. "Braeden," she greeted her in a nod, while Stiles, Malia and Kira looked on in confusion.

"I'm sorry, who?" Stiles questioned, concerned with how the girl had three jagged scratches scarred across her neck.

"The mercenary."

Braeden spoke up for herself, "Sierra, good to see you like always." Her head turned to the others, who looked unsure. "And right now, I'm the only one who is going to take you to la iglesia."

"The church?" Lydia asked.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Stiles was still puzzled on how Sierra and Braeden acted like they've known each other for a while. But, he only asked for clarification for what the church was.

"Not a place where you'll find God."

*^*^*^*

Soon, the Mexican city blurred into desert plants and far-off canyons. The dirt road made the ride in the jeep bumpy as Stiles followed close behind Braeden's motorcycle. Malia sat in the back, in between Lydia and Kira, while Sierra shared the front passenger seat with Scott. One of her legs rested on top of his, and their hands stayed locked together for comfort.

At first, the jeep stayed quiet, allowing the original four to process everything they discovered since crossing the border. Hence why the pair was holding onto one another. Malia, on the other hand, was getting impatient. While locked in the room with Stiles and Kira, she kept them informed with her hearing. Not knowing who Kate Argent was, she wanted to find out.

She smelt the sadness looming over Lydia and Stiles, though it grew stronger when she turned to Scott and Sierra. What weren't they telling her?

"Okay, I can't take it anymore," Malia announced, raising her arms up. Then, leaning forward, she turned her curious eyes to Sierra. "Who's Kate Argent?"

Kira slowly raised her hand. "Uh, I'd like to know too."

"Well, we were at her funeral," Stiles started off, motioning to his best friends, "so I'd like to know how she got out of a casket that was buried six feet underground."

His mind still elsewhere, Scott mumbled in a daze, "She was never in it."

That didn't help Kira and Malia.

Lydia finally turned her head away from where she'd been staring out the window, informing the girls, "Kate was Allison's aunt...and a total sociopath."

Scott felt his breath hitch at the mention of his first love, fluttering his eyes closed from a pang in his chest. Feeling someone squeeze his hand, he opened his eyes back up to see Sierra offering him a small smile of assurance.

Grateful, he returned the gesture and after she laid her head on his shoulder, rested his own on top.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Kira said, noticing how raw the subject of Allison still was for them.

Malia disagreed, "Uh, yeah, they do."

"Malia," Sierra called her name sternly, but quietly, "Remember what we talked about?"

The lesson hitting her right then and there, Malia sighed from the disappointment she felt for herself. "Right. Don't push people's boundaries because respect is everything."

"Sierra, they need to know," Scott told her under his breath. "It's okay."

Stiles glanced at Kira and Malia through the rearview mirror and said, "Alright, Kate was the one who set the fire that killed most of Derek's family."

"Some of them survived," Scott continued, staring straight towards the horizon, "like Cora and Peter."

"A very angry Peter," Lydia added accurately, making Sierra scoff.

"That's an understatement," she shook her head. "Peter was the one who bit and turned Scott. He also caught up to Kate and killed her, scratching me across the neck and biting Lydia the same night."

"So he's to blame for all of you guys being supernatural?"

"Pretty much," Sierra agreed. "He's a life ruiner, that's for sure."

"We saw Kate get buried," Stiles got them back on track.

The wheels in Scott's brain had turned too many times for him to agree with Stiles. "No, we saw a casket, remember? She wasn't in it. The Calaveras heard that Kate had been killed by an alpha's claws, so they needed to make sure she was really dead."

"Her body was healing," Sierra caught on and finished for him. "More and more the closer she got to the full moon. They switched out the bodies because she was coming back. And when a hunter is bit, they have to take their own life before they change; it's the code the Calaveras treat like law and enforce it."

"But Kate didn't kill herself," Stiles confirmed. "She only pretended to."

"Good for her," Malia declared her opinion. "I wouldn't do it either."

Scott raised his head and slightly turned to face her, Sierra staying silent beside him. "But would you kill half a dozen people to get out? 'Cause that's what she did."

The werecoyote fell quiet, letting Scott know his point had been made.

"So if Peter scratched Sierra and turned her into an empath, what is Kate?" Kira asked. "Is she a werewolf?"

"That we're not sure about," Sierra replied honestly. "I turned into an empath because it runs in my family; Peter just activated my powers sooner than I was supposed to get them. Figuring out what Kate is...let me put it this way: sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are."

"What kind of shape is a sociopathic bitch?" Lydia muttered under her breath.

Even though Stiles had been watching the road carefully, the jeep then completely jolted them all upright. He had no other choice but to pull over in order to make sure his car hadn't completely broken down.

The teenagers stumbled out of the blue jeep, just as Braeden circled back around to find out what happened. "It felt like we hit something," Stiles stated, glancing around the front to see if maybe they had run over a dead animal or a sharp stone. All of the tires were intact, causing Stiles to pray that the battery and engine were still working.

"Sierra, we have to get their by night," Braeden informed her seriously. "It's too dangerous otherwise."

The girl looked at Scott, a plan formulating in her mind. Already knowing what she as thinking, Scott started to shake his head.

"Nope, Sierra, absolutely not," Scott said before she even opened her mouth. "I'm not leaving you here."

"You are going to the church," Sierra told him, despite his protests. "I'm staying here with them."

"But remember our deal?" he recalled. "We don't leave each other's side."

"We don't really have a choice, Scott," Sierra told him, glancing back at Braeden, who was waiting impatiently.

"Why can't you go?"

"Mostly because I feel like if I leave Lydia and Stiles, they will sass one another to death," Sierra joked, but then at his glare she sighed. "I need to be here for Malia, Scott. You know that. There's also only one seat on Braeden's motorcycle, alright? You're going."

"But-"

"We'll be okay," she addressed his doubts, pulling him into a quick hug. "And if you get scared, Braeden is known to kick some ass every once and a while. Go find Derek."

Scott felt weary leaving his best friends behind, but knew he couldn't change Sierra's mind. If she believed in him to find Derek solo, then he would listen to her.

Kira caught him before he joined Braeden, being her normal jittery self. "I can't think of anything else to say," she rambled, "except for be careful. And, And I know 'be careful' sounds kind of lame and I'm totally sure the second you're gone I'm gonna think of something much better, but I-"

"'Be careful' works for me," he replied, a soft smile brightening his face.

Kira's eyes lit up and she couldn't stop herself from wrapping her arms around his neck for a tight hug, feeling his hands curl around her waist.

Braeden rolled her eyes from where she sat on her bike, and called out, "Scott, the sun's going down!"

"I gotta go," Scott told Kira, pulling back in order to give her one last grin before he stepped away to climb on Braeden's motorcycle.

From beside the jeep, Sierra watched the way Kira stared after her best friend longingly, aware of the crush Kira held for Scott. Lydia, who was on Sierra's left, gently nudged her side. "You saw that too, right?"

"I did."

Lydia titled her head, both of them watching Kira while Stiles and Malia searched the jeep for what they hit. "You think Scott likes her?" Lydia asked Sierra, in a mumble so Kira wouldn't hear.

Sierra pursed her lips as if to show her disagreement before she finally nodded. "Yeah, I do. I think before the whole incident with...well you know, I think he was ready to date someone else."

"But now?"

"I think he's still hurting," Sierra stated honestly. "And he doesn't want Kira to feel like a rebound; that's why he didn't kiss her."

Before Lydia could continue their conversation, their focus turned towards Malia, who called out to them from where she was crouched near a tire. "Guys? I don't think we hit something." Malia raised to her feet, holding up what she had found pierced behind the right tire. "I think something hit us."

Sierra's short but quick strides placed her by Malia within seconds, her fingers taking the sharp object from the girl's hands. "This is a bone," she observed, twisting it in her palm. Some kind of twine was wrapped tightly around the bottom, creating a handle for the dagger.

Joining Sierra's side, Stiles tilted his head in confusion. "What could've thrown that?"

"I don't know, but whatever it was, wanted us to split up."

Half an hour later, Stiles struggled to get the jeep up and running. Sierra and Lydia stayed near him while he worked, leaning against the side of the hood, while Malia and Kira stood guard. "You know, maybe we should just walk," Lydia commented to Stiles as another breeze blew past, pulling her jacket closer to her torso. "We need to get to Scott at some point."

"Hey," Stiles spoke up, taking the screwdriver out of his mouth so he could talk properly. "I will never abandon this jeep. You understand me? Ever."

He grumbled out a few more phrases, but since he was too focused on tightening a bolt, the girls didn't pay much attention.

"The jeep was the last gift he got from his mom," Sierra explained to Lydia, turning her body away from her boyfriend so he couldn't hear her words. She smiled softly to herself, remembering how excited he had been even though he was only six or seven. Claudia always promised him that he could drive her jeep when he was older. And Noah had kept her promise to their son. "It's his most prized possession."

Guilt eating at her insides, Lydia apologized and cast a glance back towards him, "I'm sorry, Si. I didn't know."

"Don't say that, Lyd," Sierra shook her head. "A lot of people don't know. It's not your fault."

"Work faster, Stiles," Malia's concerned tone caught Sierra's ear.

"Malia, what's wrong?" Sierra stood straight up, her body tensing.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that there is something out here with us."

*^*^*^*

By nightfall, Braeden and Scott had arrived safely to the church. However, Scott learned some interesting information about the location; a city's ruins, destroyed by an earthquake, surrounded the church, which still stood tall. Braeden informed him the locals believed it was because the church had been built on top of an Aztec temple. This temple was where the Nagual, or shapeshifters, worshipped to the werejaguar god.

La Iglesia is where Derek and Kate were rumored to be, but it didn't sit well with Scott as no one had even made it this far before -- not even Braeden.

His flashlight only illuminated what was right in front of him, not having a wide range, while Braeden held a tight grip on her shotgun. Eyeing the weapon as they paused in front of the front doors, Scott questioned, "If you find Kate in there, what are you going to do with her?"

"Bring her back to the Calaveras," Braeden replied vaguely, moving forward cautiously. "That's what they paid me for."

"What happens after that?"

Braeden shrugged, "Not my problem."

"You don't care?" Scott couldn't say he wasn't a little surprised by her answer.

"Do you?" Braeden turned the question around. "She's a mass murderer."

"And you're a mercenary," he reasoned.

Once again, Braeden shrugged her shoulders. "A girl's gotta eat."

One question circled Scott's mind and it slipped out before he thought it through. "If they paid you enough, would you kill her?"

"If the money was good," Braeden paused and looked him up and down, "I would kill you."

Scott blinked, wondering if he heard her correctly.

"Luckily for you, I'm good friends with Jemma, so I might let you slide," Braeden continued casually, as if she hadn't threatened his life.

"You know Jemma?"

"I know everybody," Braeden retorted wittily.

Walking inside the front doors, Braeden didn't mind knocking over a few pieces of molded wood to clear a path. Glancing back at the true alpha she asked, "Can you get Derek's scent?"

"Yeah, already on it," Scott nodded and went to go forward until a sound in the distance made him freeze. His hand jolted out, keeping Braeden from taking another step.

"What?" she demanded.

His nose scrunched at another distinct scent, one he didn't recognize. "There's something else in here."

"Something like what?"

"Something not human."

*^*^*^*

The chilly night air made everyone shiver, their only light sources being the jeep's headlights and the flashlight that shook in Lydia's hand. Stiles had asked her to hold it so he could work on the engine, but the girl's anxiety about what in the desert surrounded them made it impossible.

"Lydia, could you please hold the flashlight still for a second?" Stiles asked her, annoyance seeping in his tone. "It's really hard to see anything when you keep shaking it like that."

"I'm shaking it like this because we're in the middle of nowhere with your broken down jeep," Lydia snapped back without hesitation. "And we're being attacked by yet another razor-clawed monster!" A nervous breath escaped her lips, visible in the cold. "And I'm terrified."

"Well, just be slightly less terrified!" Stiles retaliated, his focus on the engine, pulling out a huge chunk and handing it to her. "And hold this."

"What's this?"

"I don't know, I'm hoping it's not important."

Lydia huffed, "Stiles, I swear-"

"Both of you zip it," Sierra called out over her shoulder, from where she stood next to Malia. "Bickering won't get us anywhere and the sooner we get the jeep fixed, the sooner we get back to Scott. Just stay focused and stay positive."

Sierra turned her eyeline back on the desert that surrounded them, her hands folded over her stomach. "And Scott glared at me when I joked about being a referee," Sierra grumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"Do you guys see anything?" Kira asked her and Malia, since she had circled around the jeep to grab her katana for extra protection.

Malia pursed her lips, but shook her head. "It's too hard to see anything."

"Which is another reason why we have to be on guard," Sierra reminded them. "Though we have limited views, we still have our other senses, like our hearing and Malia's sense of smell."

"Another flashlight would be nice though," Malia commented, sparking an idea in Kira's brain.

The kitsune stepped back towards the headlights, placing her katana in front of the left one. Absorbing the energy from the light, Kira's sword turned into a manuverable flashlight that she used to check the rock figures in front of them.

However, one rock moved.

Sierra caught sight of it instantly, ordering Kira to go back to that spot to make sure her eyes hadn't been playing tricks.

Afraid, Kira asked, "Did you guys see that?"

Going into her natural attack mode, Malia let out a fierce roar, her eyes flickering bright blue.

Then, she took off -- not even waiting for Sierra or the others.

"Malia, wait!" Sierra yelled after her, Stiles's head shooting up from the noise.

He didn't know what was happening. All he saw was Malia running away with Sierra hot on her heels. "Sierra, no!" he shouted, scrambling to get off the roof of the jeep. "Malia!"

"Stiles, don't," Lydia caught his arm. "You need to finish the fixing the jeep."

"But-"

"Now," Lydia narrowed her eyes, her voice unwavering.

He grunted, but did as he was told, but his eyes continuously glanced back to where he had seen his girlfriend, anxiously praying that she'd be alright.

"Kira?" The kitsune looked lost without instruction, but listened to Lydia. "Go get them and bring them back. Stiles will fix the jeep."

And just like that, Kira had run off as well, not even knowing who or what Malia had chased into the desert.

Kira kept her katana perfectly poised above her head as she stumbled along the dirt, ready to strike if need be. The only sound she could hear was her own panting and her eyes squinted in the darkness. "Malia?" she called out, her voice small. "Sierra, are you there?"

A twig snap made her whirl around twice, confusion from not seeing anything making her eyebrows furrow. Then, she heard footsteps from behind.

Not hesitating, she let out a yell and went to strike yet but the katana stayed in midair through Sierra's abilities, keeping herself from getting sliced.

"It's just us," Sierra assured Kira, out of breath as she motioned to Malia, who leaned on her for support. "It's us, it's us."

"What happened? What's out there?" Kira wanted to know, but neither Sierra nor Malia got a good look at the creature.

"Whatever it is, it's big and it's fast," Sierra explained, glancing down at Malia's stomach. "And it cut her deep."

All three girls jumped at an indistinct thud in the distance, but Sierra then perked her ears. "That's Stiles," she told them. "He fixed the jeep!"

"Then why are we standing around here? Let's go!"

*^*^*^*

Scott held no clue as to where he was; all he knew is that Braeden and himself had ventured deep inside the church, but had yet to find Derek anywhere.

Both of them stayed on guard as they approached a staircase that led downwards, Scott shining the flashlight from behind her. "So how come you didn't kiss her?" Braeden asked him, making small talk. Though she wouldn't admit it was to keep her mind at ease.

"What?"

Braeden rolled her eyes and then reworded her question. "How come you didn't kiss your girlfriend?"

"You mean, Kira?" he asked, unsure.

"Whatever her name is." Braeden couldn't care less about the details.

"Well, she's not really, uh..." Scott struggled to find the appropriate response. "I mean, we've never actually...She's not my girlfriend."

"Why not?"

Scott didn't know why his love life was the topic of discussion in the middle of an ancient Aztec ruin, but still felt the need to be honest. "It's too soon...to date, I mean. I don't wanna move too fast."

"So if you die down here, are you gonna regret not kissing her?" Braeden asked him. She watched his expression change and rolled her eyes again, muttering, "You should've kissed your girlfriend."

The two came to a narrow strip, making them even more uneasy than before. They could feel a draft, causing the hairs on the back of Scott's neck to rise as he moved the flashlight carefully in front of their path. A feeling of apprehensiveness washed over him, and he quickly turned to shine the light behind him.

Wondering why he stopped, Braeden whispered sharply, "What?"

His breaths were shaky as he looked at her with wide eyes. "Just had a feeling like something was behind us."

His words made Braeden hold her shotgun closer to her chest, her fingers gripping the trigger as they began to move forward once more. But that was when they heard the growls.

Braeden's head whipped around on high alert, raising her voice, "You here that?"

"Is this why you never get that far?" Scott demanded, his body tense from the sounds increasing.

"Get ready!"

Braeden didn't even wait to see what turned around the corner. All she knew is that it was big and that it was a monster. So she fired her gun, bullet after bullet while her and Scott backed up. "Where is it?! Do you see it?"

"No, I can't see anything!" Scott shouted in a panic.

Getting aggravated, Braeden cocked her shotgun and glanced around. "God, where is this thing?"

Scott kept his eyes trained forward the path they walked down, hearing the heavy footsteps and the snarls. "It's coming back," he realized, curling his hands into fists. "It's coming back!"

Braeden yelled for Scott to get behind her at the sound of heavy growl, but instead he took a deep breath and roared like a true alpha.

His red eyes narrowed angrily towards the darkness as his voice echoed off the church's crumbling walls, shaking the whole foundation on which they stood.

When he stopped, and straightened his back, he couldn't see anything. Glancing back at Braeden, he said, "I think I scared it."

Wide-eyed she retorted wittily, "Yeah, I think you scared everything."

The rocks from behind them crashed into pieces, whether it from being unstable or from Scott's roar.

"What is that?" he asked in amazement. Realizing his flashlight was on the ground, he picked it up and shone it towards the carving on the wall. Braeden walked ahead of him in interest, but he was right behind her.

Rrecognizing the ancient image it displayed, Braeden whispered, "Tezcatlipoca. The Nagual jaguar god." Brushing off the center, she then turned to Scott.

"I think we found Derek."

*^*^*^*

"One, two, three, four, five," Sierra counted everyone she saw in the jeep, relaxing in the passenger seat in relief. "We're all here."

After finding Kira, Sierra raced her and Malia back to where they had left Stiles and Lydia. Stiles didn't know how, but he had fixed the engine by some sort of miracle. They didn't wait to get back on the road, wanting to leave whatever creature had found them in the dust.

Even though he was glad they were all accounted for, Stiles couldn't calm his racing heart. "You..." he shook his finger in the air towards Malia, who was sitting in the back middle seat, by looking through the rearview mirror. "You, please don't do that ever again!"

"Do what?" Malia scrunched up her nose in confusion, looking at Sierra worriedly. "What did I do?"

"You just took off," Sierra turned in her seat to face her old friend. "In the middle of the desert. You just scared him, that's all."

"You scared me too!" he defended, glancing from the road towards his girlfriend with concern. "Sierra, how many times have we talked about that? I hate when you don't tell me what your plan is before you do it! We're a team, remember? Teams communicate!"

"There wasn't any time," Sierra reasoned calmly. "Malia needed help to get that....well, whatever it was, to go away!"

"I feel like I had a heart attack," he claimed, holding his right hand over his heart with his left on the steering wheel.

Rolling her eyes, Sierra leaned over and grabbed his hand to hold securely in hers. She teased, "You and your dramatics."

"I'm being serious!"

"Well, I am too," Sierra told him, pressing her lips to the back of his hand. "You know I would never leave you behind, Stiles. Unfortunately, I think you're stuck with me."

Fighting back a smile, Stiles glanced back at Malia, who watched the couple with interested eyes. "What about you, Mal? You gonna take off from me and Sierra?"

"I'd never leave without you," she piped up, her protective nature over the boy evident. Her eyes flickered over to Sierra, and she even smiled. "Either of you."

It was a sweet moment, until Malia glanced at Kira and Lydia, who were on the opposit sides of her. "Them, I'd leave."

Widening her eyes, Sierra forced a chuckle and looked at her friends. "Oh, you guys know she's teasing!"

"Believe it or not, it's progress," Stiles shrugged, making Kira and Lydia chuckle Malia's comment off.

They didn't fully understand the struggle the werecoyote was going through, but realized she had a hard heart. It would be a while before she became trusting with everyone; it was easier for her with Stiles and Sierra.

"Looks like we arrived just in time," Lydia observed, looking out her window as the jeep rolled to a stop in front of La Iglesia.

Braeden and Scott were just exiting the ruins, both of them holding up a side of a person.

"Is that Derek?" Malia asked.

Sierra felt her jaw drop once the person lifted his head, recognizing that Kate had done the impossible.

"Um, sort of."

Derek Hale stared back at them through frightened eyes, the clothes around his body loose and at least a size and a half too big. The Derek they all knew was in his late twenties, scruff growing around his mouth and annoyance always in his voice.

But this Derek?

He was only seventeen.

*^*^*^*

In honor of my birthday, I wanted to gift you all the second chapter 😊

I'm so excited for you all to read this story!