“They're drawing away my resources, I'm being put on probation.” Naomi cursed, kicking into the dashboard. “That... that man thinks I'm involved with Young! Thinks I helped with Emmett's murder!” She growled. “It's bull! Emmett was my friend, why would I help kill him?”

 

“So, we're all on lockdown, then, right?” Shawn asked, from the backseat.

 

She breathed out, the sound rumbling in Shawn's chest. “They're going to be keeping an eye on all of us. To make sure we don’t 'kill' any other Council members.”

 

They pulled in to Miles driveway, Naomi then perked up, reaching into a canvas bag she'd been carrying since they'd left the Council building. “Right, I forgot to tell you the team they'd sent to investigate Nikolas' hiding place found your belongings at the scene. They sent some people to retrieve your car for you, no charge.”

 

Naomi reached in the bag, pulling out Miles' keys, wallet, and a mangled tank top and joggers. Miles pouted at the tank top then took the rest of the items. “Good, because I didn't even think about the fact I wouldn't have my keys until now.”

 

“Oh, it wouldn't have been a problem.” Naomi smirked at him, holding up a set of keys from her own pocket. “I had a set made for myself.”

 

With that, Naomi was hopping out, and Shawn looked up to Miles. “Slightly creepy.”

 

Miles shrugged. “Slightly.” He turned and grinned at Shawn. “Since I have a way to pay again you want pizza?”

 

“Yes!” Naomi yelled as she walked into the house, and Shawn laughed, popping open his door.

 

“Sure, lemme grab my stuff from the back.”

 

 

An hour later the three of them were all piled on Miles' couch, four pizzas sitting on the coffee table and a movie loading up on the TV. It was... weird, if Shawn was being honest. After all the life-threatening shenanigans and emotional roller coasters, to be doing something so normal as a movie night.

 

They'd decided it after they all agreed they were too stressed out about everything to do anything else. Shawn had brought up a movie he happened to see when he was browsing along that looked so bad and was so ironic it was funny, Naomi mentioned a good laugh would probably help them all unwind a bit, and Miles agreed, as he placed an order for way too many large pizzas that he promised would be gone by the end of the night.

 

Shawn munched on his ham and green pepper pizza as the werewolves practically inhaled their all meat pies. Stereotypical werewolves. Shawn grinned to himself as the movie started and opened with a scene of a woman running down a dark alley, a bulky shadow of what looked like a badly constructed puppet following after her. Naomi snorted as the girl was killed, what looked like red streamers and ketchup flying at the screen.

 

It almost felt like Shawn was a teenager again, except now that he thought about it, he never really had sleep overs or movie nights or anything like that as a teenager. He never really fit in anywhere, not clicking with any group. He had friends growing up, yeah, but not anyone he would hang out with like this. He looked up at Miles, the werewolf rolling his eyes at the bad special effects on screen, sucking sauce off of his fingers because he wasn't going to waste it. He glanced over to Naomi then as she laughed, loud and sudden.

 

Shawn really felt like he belonged here, especially with the weird magic power he couldn't really control. He'd have to see if Naomi knew of a school nearby, maybe he could get some lessons on control in while they were on lockdown.

 

 

“I don't know if this is a good idea.” Shawn muttered, following after Naomi as she climbed up a steep hill to a grouping of trees. “I might hit one of you.”

 

Naomi shook her head. “We can heal. Just think of it like we're the cones you don't want to hit while doing that three-point turn thing.”

 

Shawn was going to obliterate them.

 

He knew this was a bad idea, but Naomi had insisted he didn't need a school. “You don't need it. They'll just ask you for a lot of money for something you can learn on your own. The schools for magic are a new invention. Mages and other magic casters have been getting along for centuries just firing away at trees.”

 

The trees in question were in a very secluded mountain area, about an hour-long drive from Miles' place. Shawn got to the top of the hill and stared. There were a lot of trees he could destroy. Then there was Naomi and Miles, the latter stretching and bouncing back and forth like he was getting ready to dodge. Did werewolves have a thrill seeker thing? Cause if nearly being hit by a giant wave of electricity that could make whatever it touches explode wasn't thrill seeking he did not know what was.

 

“It'll be good practice for Miles too.”

 

“Practice for what? Skipping in a lightning storm and not getting hit?”

 

Naomi grinned. “General practice.”

 

Shawn looked over to Miles, who was leaning against a tree, trying to use a higher limb to stretch his shoulders, his back arching. Shawn felt magic involuntarily pool in his palms, tingling and sparking across his skin as he swallowed and looked away. Whatever. They did heal, and he needed the practice, so...

 

“Here goes.” Shawn muttered, trying to concentrate the magic into something that would not just explode in all directions.

 

The first shot whizzed by the tree he was aiming at, Naomi dodging out of the way just in time as it exploded against a tree behind her, sending bark and dried sap all over. Naomi laughed, brushing the dust and twigs out of her hair and turning toward Shawn, clapping her hands together. “Alright, again, and try to actually hit what you're aiming for this time.”

 

Shawn rolled his eyes and drew his hands together, rolling the energy in his palms. He heard Miles make a snide remark about a 'spirit bomb' and he stumbled as he was throwing it, Miles' eyes widening and him leaping out of the way as the ball blasted the earth right where he was standing. “Crap! Sorry.”

 

Naomi shook her head. “I thought you did that on purpose, honestly. But that did seem better. Again!”

 

 

Three hours later, the sun was setting, turning the sky a dusky, pinkish-orange. The three of them were huddled by the trees, which were now thoroughly blown up. Shawn was sipping on his rejuvenating tea, not feeling as spent as he normally would have, especially spending so many hours casting and then resting.

 

“You did good.” Naomi muttered, sipping her own blackberry tea from a thermos. “I think your control is pretty decent now, at least for your power anyway.” She looked over to Miles. “We'll have to do some training with you, too. As soon as the sun's down if you're up for it.”

 

“If Shawn is.” Miles glanced over to Shawn. Shawn just shrugged, grinning.

 

“If you get your hairy butt too close I'll just singe some tail hair off of you.”

 

Miles grinned, nodding over to Naomi and falling back into the tree with a thump. “This is nice.” He looked over to the Alpha. “We should make this a thing. A movie and training night.”

 

Naomi sipped on her tea thoughtfully, watching the sun as it dipped fully underneath the mountain horizon. “Good idea.” She glanced over to Shawn. “At least until you can go back home.”

 

Huh. That was something he had to think about... “I might look into moving here.” Shawn muttered, downing the licorice tea.

 

“Really?” Miles nearly shouted, shifting closer, making Shawn almost choke. “I thought you never wanted to come to LA.”

 

That was before all of this. Before he discovered he had more of a Supernatural connection than just his best friend being a werewolf. It was nice to be surrounded by the world. Besides, back home it felt too... normal.

 

With the smell of electricity in the air, his skin still alive with the feeling of magic, and a werewolf on either side of him, Shawn's life was really not normal anymore.

 

“I think so.”

 

Naomi looked over him then, chewing her lip before she settled her gaze back on the horizon. It seemed like she wanted to ask him something.

 

“Something up, Naomi?”

 

“Hmm?” The Alpha hummed, glancing over like she'd been in a daze, then shook her head. “Oh, no, it's nothing.” She stood up, stretching. “Well, we should probably get some grub and get you some more tea, then head back here for training part two.” She grinned to Miles. “You've been shifting pretty decently so I think it's about time for us to spar. Just to get you use to holding your form and fighting.”

 

Miles gulped and Shawn laughed, letting Miles help him up to his feet and down the hill.

 

 

Am I ever going to get the hang of this? Miles groaned as he shifted back suddenly, his back hitting a tree and the rest of him hitting the ground. He felt like he'd been rung out, all energy sapped from him just trying to keep his form. It was a little easier to shift, with Shawn's scent nearby, but keeping it was another thing entirely, especially with Naomi rushing at him.

 

Naomi, he noticed, never shifted fully. He'd never seen Naomi fully shifted once. Even when they first encountered her in the alley, before they knew she was an ally, she was only partially shifted. It seemed like so long ago now...

 

“Are you done?” Naomi commented, nudging him with the toe of her boot. “We can go back home if you want.”

 

Miles nodded, glancing up at Shawn who was a couple feet back, long past interested in watching them train, tapping away on his phone with his eyes drooping.

 

Together, the three of them went back to Miles' house, all of them retreating to bed, Naomi in her own guest room while Shawn and Miles shared his room. Both of them were out within a couple of seconds of their heads hitting the pillow.

 

 

“She doesn't belong as an Alpha, you know. She stole her power.”

 

What? Who was that?

 

Miles lifted up, Shawn huffing a little in annoyance but otherwise not waking. Miles listened as the voice went on.

 

“Naomi's never had a pack, she doesn't know what she's doing.” A soft chuckle as the voice registered in the back of Miles head, his wolf stirring uneasily in his chest. “I could teach you properly. You could be great, if you left her behind. No need for your mage friend, just you, join my pack. We'll help you become the most powerful wolf our generation has seen.”

 

“The one thing we'll ask of you, kill Naomi, steal the power that was never hers.”

 

Miles shook his head, shifting back onto the bed, pinching his eyes closed and trying to block out the voice. This had to be a bad dream. He was just overly tired.

 

Nikolas' voice continued. “Kill Naomi, and we'll spare your friend. Naomi is not worth protecting, you don't know what she's done. She'll eventually kill the both of you.”

 

“No.” Miles whimpered, clapping his hands over his ears to try to block out the voice. “I won't.”

 

“Useless. You'll stay useless. Useless and weak, you'll die alongside her.”

 

“Shut up.” Miles muttered, his voice rising. “Shut up! I won't do it!”

 

“Miles!”

 

Miles' eyes snapped open to find him in his bedroom, moonlight providing the only source of light in the room, Shawn leaned over him, expression worried. Nikolas' voice was no longer there, urging him over and over to kill Naomi. He whined and Shawn hushed him. “Hey, no, you're okay. It was just a nightmare, Miles, you're fine.”

 

It was so real though... His wolf was still restless in his chest, pacing, needing to run. But Shawn was there, his calming scent washing over Miles, reassuring him over and over.

 

Still... Miles felt uneasy. He felt like... there was something bad that was going to happen.