"What happened?"

Satomi slowly loosened her grasp around Malia's wrists before letting go of them all together. The were coyote looked away from Theo towards her father, her eyes alone begging for answers. She then turned to Satomi right after Cory when the previous two didn't say anything. Her breathing quickened further when her sight had finally landed on Braeden, who still needed to rely heavily on Mason in order to move.

"You were driving and then all of the sudden you started acting weird. You said there was someone on the road and you swerved the car into the ditch. You acted even weirder after that," Theo volunteered to respond first.

"Weird how? What do you mean I was acting weird?" she questioned.

"Malia, you leaped out of the car and started behaving erratically. We were calling for you, but you weren't even acknowledging us. It's like you couldn't see us, at all. That was when Cory showed up and without a second thought you just jumped at his throat," Peter gave her the rest of story. Or at least, what it looked like from his perspective.

"No... No... No... That's not... It can't be," she protested, "That's not how it happened. It can't be possible. I saw her! Didn't you see her?" once again, she tried to find the answers to her questions in their eyes. Hoping to make sense out of the situation. But they all remained silent and stared back at her like she had completely lost her mind.

"See her? See who?" asked Peter.

"The desert wolf! She was here! I am telling you I saw her!" her tone shifted from confusion to anger throughout her sentence.

"Well, if she was here, we didn't see her," stated Mason as he neared them, Braeden's arm around his neck.

"It was an illusion," Satomi had finally decided to break her silence. She'd taken a moment to examine the area around them, and it seemed like, only when she'd found what she was looking for, did she come to share her thoughts.

Once everyone around Satomi had followed her gaze, they finally came to understand what she'd meant with her words. Because standing at several feet away from them and in the middle of the road was a young man that none of them, other than Satomi could recognize.

"And who the hell might that be?" quizzed Peter.

"Care to take a guess?" she replied with another question, her eyes following the young man's every move. Not that he was really moving. He just stood still, smiling like he'd just done the greatest thing he could ever achieve.

Peter slightly shifted to face the stranger's way, took a few seconds to brood on Satomi's words, before his facial features were repositioned in order to convey a totally different emotion, "Ah hell no!" he exclaimed with a clear lack of joy.

"What? Who is that guy?" demanded Malia.

"You mean to tell me, that you don't know who I am? I thought for sure that Stiles at least, would've brought me up in some of your conversations. I don't like to feel forgotten. C'mon Malia... You're better than that," by that point the young man had already moved closer to them. He didn't walk, he didn't run. He just appeared to be a lot nearer than he was before the moment he addressed Malia.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"It's the nogitsuné," said Peter as he was stepping back, his arm up gently pushing Theo and Malia backwards with him. Satomi was doing the same thing with the others.

"What do you want? The apprentice sent you to stop us, didn't he?" growled Malia.

"What do I want? Well... I don't know, Malia. Why don't you tell me?"

"Are you high on your own crap or something?" Malia spoke again.

"It appears there's some unfinished business between us. Go figure. But I am not one to leave unfinished business behind me," at those words, the nogitsuné had cut the distance between them even shorter.

"What unfinished business? I've never even met you!" she explained. Malia seemed out of the loop just as much as the others around her did.

"Are you sure about that? Because I, unlike you, am able to remember our meeting quite clearly. See? I had your life my hands. Well technically, I had a cranial drill but... You get the point, I am sure," his smile somehow grew more disturbing than it was before.

Malia kept on rejecting the idea that they'd met before. Up until he mentioned the cranial drill, that is. She could, although very vaguely, recall something about that. It dated back to when she was still locked up in Eichen house. The memories of it all were blurry but... She caught on to a few pieces of them, nonetheless. And then, just like the nogitsuné had mentioned it, she remembered that Stiles did in fact talk to her about their time together in Eichen, right before the nogitsuné took full control over his body, "It was you...," she muttered, "It was you back then. It wasn't Stiles. You were going to kill me," she finished.

"Yes, I was. So, the real question, is why didn't I kill you?"

"You threatened to kill me if Stiles didn't let you in. And he... Let you in. You had no reason to kill me," she said.

"Yes, but also no. You see, a nogitsuné isn't really in the business of keeping their word. My motto is strife, pain and chaos all the way, all night and all day. So, why? Oh why... Didn't I kill you?" he kept the smile on, but it looked somehow tainted. Unlike before, when he seemed to be asking questions he already had the answers to. This time around, it looked like he was expecting a genuine response and his displeasure about that fact was showing on him.

"Well, you answered your own question there, don't you think? You like to cause pain, strife and chaos. I think deep down you knew that my end would result in almost no pain to anyone. I didn't really have anybody to cry my death," said Malia with a lot of certitude.

"See, that's exactly what I thought at first but then... I wasn't so sure of it anymore...,"

"Cut the crap, will you? Are you here to finish the job or just to distract us," interfered Peter.

"Both actually. I am just trying to have some fun too, you know. Life can feel quite long and boring without a little bit of fun," the nogitsuné chuckled, "But yeah, distracting you is definitely at the top of my list. Kind of. Let's just say that an alpha without his pack isn't much of a threat. You would know something about that Satomi, wouldn't you?" he mocked her.

"You can keep us here for as long as you want. You'll never be able to kill Scott," stated Malia.

"Kill him? And what makes you think the apprentice is trying to kill Scott? No, no, no, he's going for the throat. I hate to admit it but he's far better than I've ever been at what I do. He's a very patient man. He... Stalks his prey, very closely, until he finds out what makes it tick... What makes it hurt the most, what hurts it even more than losing their own life. What do you recon would hurt Scott the most, Malia? What do you think would take the life out of Scott, the ture alpha, the warrior with no blood on his hands, without killing him?"

The grin he gave her sent shivers down her spine. But his words sent far more than that; they sent a clear message about what the apprentice was about to do to Scott. Before thinking twice about it, she pounced and landed a great distance away from all of them in her coyote form. After that, she took off in the direction of the mansion and she ran like there was no tomorrow, leaving her father and friends behind her, ignoring all of their attempts at reaching her.