It's a Werewolf Thing

The venom mixed with Kacey's blood as it flowed through her veins, eradicating the energy that wasn't needed and pushing the rest deep into her bones. As soon as it hit her heart it forced the energy to fade, alleviating it of the strain it had been under and causing it to restart with a jolt.

Coming to with a gasp, she found herself shrouded in complete darkness and slowly sat up with a grimace as a sharp pain shot through her wrist. Flipping on a light switch, she found that she was still in Deaton's veterinary clinic and pulled out her phone.

Frowning as she double checked the date, she realized that she had lost two days and that meant it was now the night of the full moon. In a situation like the one she currently found herself in, Kacey would normally be feeling fear, but not tonight... tonight she felt strong and she was ready for whatever awaited her outside the clinic's doors.

Heading over to the Hale house on foot, she heard the distant sound of fighting and quickened her pace. Knowing that she would need a plan, she ducked behind a tree as the house came into view and ran through her options in her head.

She knew that it wouldn't be long until one of the wolves picked up her scent, but she had hoped that she would have a little more time and that it would be one of her own pack. Twigs snapping caught her attention as a hand grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the clearing in front of the house, causing everyone to freeze on the spot.

"Look who decided to join us," the enemy alpha announced, "Better late than never and smelling as mouth-watering as ever."

Feeling the energy beneath her skin, Kacey could feel every tiny movement it made and knew that unlike last time she was in complete control. Concentrating on nothing but the feel of the alpha's hands holding her in place, she imagined that they were on fire and listened as the alpha yelped in pain.

At that moment, everyone seemed to snap back to reality and the fight continued as if it had never stopped. Joining Stiles on the porch, she ignored the fact that her hands were shaking and observed the fighting wolves.

Hearing the whistle of an arrow, she watched in horror as it ripped into Derek's chest and took him to the ground with a roar of pure agony. Without any hesitation, she made her way over to him and managed to get him inside the house with a little help from Stiles.

"Stiles, I need you to get the rest of the pack in here to cover me," Kacey shouted as she carefully lowered Derek to the ground, "I have to get this arrow out, okay?"

Waiting for Derek to show her that he was ready with a nod, she gripped the arrow and ripped it out causing Derek to cry out in pain.

"Is there wolfsbane on it?" Stiles asked as he returned to her side.

"Yeah," Derek mumbled through gritted teeth as he grabbed Kacey's hand.

"I can clear his blood of the wolfsbane and I can stop the bleeding, but I can't heal him completely," Kacey told the pack, "He's not going to be able to fight... at least not for a while."

"Do what you can for Derek, me and the pack will handle things outside," Scott said, but Kacey shook her head and grabbed his arm before he could move.

"No, I'm the one they want and nobody else is going to get hurt protecting me."

"Kacey..." Derek stated as she placed her hand over the wound.

Expelling the traces of Wolfsbane that the arrow had left behind, she turned her focus to the wounds that littered Derek's torso and closed them as much as she could.

"Isaac, take Derek up to his room with Jackson and make sure that no one gets to him. The rest of you spread out, take down as many hunters and wolves as you can without being noticed," Kacey ordered just loud enough for the wolves in the room to hear, "Stiles, Allison, let's go say hi to the neighbors..."

"What about me?" Lydia inquired.

"There's everything you need in the basement to make some of your homemade bombs, take Erica with you and throw together a few surprises."

To Kacey's surprise, everyone did as they were asked and took a deep breath, before heading back outside with Stiles and Allison hot on her heels.

"You must be stupid to stand before us with nothing more than two weak humans at your side," the alpha snarled as he stalked towards them.

"Why does everyone underestimate us just because we're the humans that run with wolves?" Kacey asked, "Have you ever stopped to think that perhaps it's the humans that bring the true power to their pack?"

"Wolves will always be superior within pack hierarchy," the alpha snapped, flashing his teeth and red eyes at her.

"Now that hurt my feelings dude," Stiles added, seeming to feed off of Kacey's sudden confidence and showing her his support.

"I know what you see when you look at us," Kacey said, "You see flesh and bone, fragility at its utmost best when it comes to easy prey... but you're wrong. We may be easy to break, but we still choose to stand and fight alongside our pack mates."

"Your presence makes no difference, you can't touch us and without your powers, you would be just as weak as them," the alpha argued, glaring at Lydia as she joined them and taking a step forward.

"We defend our pack like any beta would with the knowledge that broken bones will take time to heal and cuts won't be fixed on their own, but here we are anyway. We're not hiding in the shadows like the hunters, or trying to flank us like your betas, we're standing toe to toe with you and I know that deep down that sparks fear within you."

"Enough talk, Simon," one of the betas growled from behind the alpha, "It's time to finish this."

"Kill them," Simon ordered, stepping back to distance himself from the fight and frowning when nothing happened.

"I don't think your puppies are coming."

Just as Stiles spoke one of Lydia's bombs exploded behind the alpha and Allison released the bolt that she had loaded in her crossbow, hitting one of the alpha's betas in the stomach. The roar that came next had Kacey and Stiles grinning at one another as Derek leaped from the porch and landed directly on top of the dazed alpha.

Both alphas rolled, landing on their feet and snarling viciously as they circled one another. It was Simon who attacked first, launching himself at Derek with his claws aimed at his throat, but Derek was ready and twisted sharply to dodge as he sent a kick into Simon's stomach.

Kacey saw the crazed look in Simon's eyes as he moved in for another attack, clawing at Derek like a cat would at a scratch post and snapping his teeth. The murderous look in both alpha's eyes intensified as they again circled, but Derek didn't hang around this time and threw a punch at Simon's face. Using that as a distraction, he sliced the claws of his free hand through the flesh of Simon's throat and watched as the alpha's lifeless body fell to the ground at his feet.

A few minutes passed in silence, before Simon's betas were tossed unceremoniously beside him and the Hale pack turned to stare at Kacey as they all shifted back to human. She had just opened her mouth to speak, when Derek pulled her into his arms and nuzzled his face into her neck.

"As much as I love hugging you Sourwolf, I do actually need to breath... what the hell happened over the last two days?" Kacey inquired as they headed into the house, leaving Erica, Jackson, and Boyd to deal with the clean-up.

"What about the hunters?" Allison added.

"They've been dealt with for the time being," Scott replied.

"Kace, what's the last thing that you remember?" Derek asked as everyone fell silent around them.

"I remember watching Transformers with the pack for movie night and then nothing, until I woke up in the veterinary clinic a little while ago."

"So, you don't remember me having to bite you, or dying?"

"No," Kacey mumbled, noticing the distinctive bite mark on her wrist and looking up as Derek's words sunk in, "Wait, what do you mean dying?"

"You died, Kace..." Stiles told her, his voice cracking slightly as he continued, "Your heart stopped beating for two days... we all thought that we'd lost you for good."

Kacey stared at Stiles with wide eyes, before looking around and seeing everyone's eyes swimming with tears. She was dead... gone and now she was left wondering how the hell she was back.