ch

I knew that I couldn't sit on the new information I had about Stiles and the nogitsune. I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it to myself, but I didn't want to let the pack know about it with Stiles around, either. I'd have to wait for him to leave the house.

"I don't know what you're planning, but I do know that you're planning something. You and your pack of gangly teenagers aren't nearly as sneaky as you think you are. I'm sure that Bonnie will tell you what she discovered the second I'm out of the door. While Bonnie may survive our bond breaking, that doesn't mean that it wouldn't create lasting damage. Her magic would be left in shambles.

That's not even taking poor, young Stiles into consideration. He wouldn't survive it. His soul has been through too much. He is as dependent on me, as I am of him. If you bite Stiles and put his body through that change and expel me, he wouldn't survive that. He wouldn't just be losing his bond with Bonnie. She bonded with both of us.

You can't take one of us out of the equation without ruining the bond. People have died from losing their mates or having their mate bonds broken. Do you really want to take that chance? Ask my queen if I'm lying, she'll be able to tell. I'll leave you to chat. Just food for thought, maybe you should burn some sage, while you discuss your plans next time, so I won't be able to hear you." Void Stiles dropped the truth bomb, before sauntering over to me to give me a kiss, before leaving.

I gaped at the door, after he left. He was telling the truth. Dread filled my stomach. There isn't a way out of this. This is our new reality.

"He was telling the truth, sweetheart. Wasn't he?" Peter asked. I nodded, swiftly.

"What news was he talking about?" Scott asked me.

"Stiles is still in there. I talked to him for a few seconds last night. He asked me to let you know that he was still here. He – he apologized to me for everything the nogitsune has done while he's been in control of his body." I admitted.

"What else happened?" Lydia pressed.

"He – the nogitsune – explained that they can coexist in the same vessel. He explained it like how multiple personalities coexist. Only one can be in control at one time and right now, the nogitsune is the more dominant one. I don't understand it completely. But the bond made both of them stronger. He can't expel Stiles, either. Honestly, this is our best case scenario." I added.

Everyone was quiet, trying to soak up the information. No one really looked happy about that, but no one looked upset, either. It was a lot to process.

"If Stiles grew strong enough, he would be able to take control?" Derek asked. I nodded.

"In theory, yeah," I agreed.

"We have to let them be. We just need to figure out a way to keep Void Stiles on our side." Chris decided.

"We have that, Mr. Argent. As long as Bonnie is with us, he will follow. They're bonded. If we have Bonnie, we have him." Deucalion spoke up.

"You have me. I'm not going to abandon my pack."

I stripped out of my clothes and pulled on a sports bra and a pair of yoga shorts. Derek was going to work with me on hand to hand combat. I felt self-conscious about putting my bruises on display, but ultimately this will help me be better equipped to defend myself, while we sparred.

"You don't have werewolf strength, so I asked Lydia's friend, Jordan to help, too." Derek told me. I just nodded, as I followed him out of my room.

I knew right away that Jordan was something supernatural. I also knew that I had never met anything like him before.

As we sparred, I got visions of him self-igniting. He was the fiery being I saw before. The word came to me, before I understood what it meant.

"Hellhound," I breathed, as I landed a kick against his chest. Both Lydia and Derek paused.

"Why didn't I realize?" She mused. I didn't realize she and Jordan were close. But there hasn't been a lot of time to talk about things that weren't Stiles related.

"What did you call me?" He asked me.

"Maybe we should finish up, so we can talk?" Derek suggested.

"Because she called me a dog?" Jordan guessed.

"A hellhound," I corrected.