While staring at the stranger in the loft, it was only Kennedy hammering into her own head the thought of Lydia and her mother, her anchors, that kept her from shifting and running to Nova fucking Scotia that very moment. This guy knew something. It wasn't curiosity that drove his question. It was a statement, letting her know that he knew something was off. His next comment confirmed her suspicions.

"A shame what happened to them."

She struggled but managed to maintain an air of indifference as she shrugged and avoided his comment when she replied, "Yeah, I've obviously heard of the McNeill pack. But the bracelets are all over the East Coast, not narrowed down to a single pack."

Derek didn't seem to remain overly concerned and thankfully didn't follow up on the man's comment, he just gestured to her hand and said, "Mind taking it off?"

Kennedy didn't really see the harm that it could do. It might even be better, catching the Alpha's scent and whoever it was standing behind him now so she could mentally catalogue it for whenever she wasn't wearing it later down the line.

"Sure, no problem."

However, the second the beaded bracelet left her skin it was very much a problem.

It hit her out of nowhere. She smelled something amazing. Just like how hot chocolate made her think of her mom and Chanel perfume made her think of Lydia, this triggered a strange feeling of association to something she hadn't encountered. It was just - she didn't know how to describe it - it was something she had to have.

She lifted her nose to the air and took a huge lungful, striding back into the center of the apartment on instinct and a desire to find it - whatever the source of that scent was. She whipped her head around, but the scent didn't seem to be emanating from any particular source, it was just in the air.

In an awestruck voice she heard herself asked unthinkingly, "What's that smell? Are you cooking something?"

Derek looked incredulous and the man behind him smiled widely and laughed suddenly, breaking her out of her daze as he loudly said, "Well this will be entertaining to see unfold."

In an instant she came back to herself. Shaking her head, she felt confused and a little bit scared. What had just happened? Was it a spell or something? She had never felt like that in her life. The smell was still around her but its intensity had faded, and was now something simply pleasant instead of something she was intoxicated by.

With a slightly wary voice she said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

The alpha raised an eyebrow and handed the bracelet back to her, giving her immense relief when it was once again secured around her wrist.

She nodded once more in a wordless goodbye as he motioned for the door. However, at the last second something made her hesitate. She turned back and eyed the man who had made her skin crawl more than anything else had for a while.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

He smiled charmingly and seemed to transition into another person as he said, "I didn't say it. I'm Peter Hale."

She didn't respond to him in any way, simply turned back to Derek and asked in a nonchalant voice, "Are you two close?"

Peter seemed amused by Derek's immediate flat response of, "No."

Kennedy walked evenly back into the center of the room as she said, "Oh, I remember. Stiles said you raised yourself from the dead, right? That's amazing, but it must be awful to be so weakened right now."

His charming smile vanished and he replied tightly, "Well, I won't be weak for much longer."

She strode up to him with her arms crossed behind her back, not allowing him to see that her claws were fully extended. Without warning she shoved him back against the wall easily, baring her fangs and pressing on his throat tightly.

Derek hadn't interceded yet, so she figured he probably wouldn't step in now.

In a quiet, even tone she leaned in and whispered, "I heard it took quite a bit of preparation to resurrect you. You used a girl and nearly drove her insane with the way you invaded her brain."

She released his throat and stepped back, before swiftly kneeing him hard in the crotch. As he wheezed and bent over, she crouched down to look him in the eyes so he would understand she was entirely serious when she said, "If you ever hurt or even look at my sister again, I will kill you. Chop you into pieces and burn each one in a different fire place. Do we understand each other?"

He nodded grudgingly, and she stepped back, standing before turning to Derek, who looked incredibly entertained and whose lips twitched as he seemed to try to repress a smile at the violence shown towards his uncle.

"Thank you again for allowing me to stay."

She nearly ran for the door, and just as she shut it she heard Peter say in a strangely appreciative tone, "Now that one is going to make things interesting."

"You WHAT!?"

Kennedy cringed but tried to look composed. Giving up quickly, she raised her arms and did weak jazz hands before saying in a small voice, "Surprise?"

Lydia glared at her before sighing in an exasperated fashion and reaching up to pick the bridge of her nose.

"Why is it that everyone I know is a fairytale creature."

Kennedy shrugged before walking over to Lydia's bed and hopping on top of it, crossing her legs and shifting around to get comfortable.

"I don't know about everyone else, but I got bitten by a guy with fangs and then wham. Howling at the moon once a month."

Lydia snorted and settled down next to Kennedy on the bed, already pulling out her phone while muttering, "And just when I thought I could have some portion of normality at home. Allison will-"

Kennedy squawked indignantly and slapped the phone out of her hand and on to the bedspread.

"You can't just tell everyone! I mean, a few people know but-"

"Scott will have told Allison about a second after he found out. She was probably waiting until you told me yourself."

Kennedy considered that, trying to figure out how she felt about that. Being a werewolf was something she had thought she could hide when she came back to Beacon Hills. Everyone around her knowing made her feel on edge. It was her secret, and it made her incredibly antsy and caught off guard that now it was apparently fucking public knowledge. Letting out a groan, Kennedy let herself fall back against Lydia's pillows, ignoring the small sound of dissatisfaction that her sister made in response.

Closing her eyes, Kennedy knew she sounded whiny when she said, "I didn't want this supernatural extravaganza. I was just going to do my own thing. And I'm not joining the stupid pack in town."

At that, Lydia nudged her leg, forcing Kennedy to look at her.

"Stiles is a part of that pack. And I'm... adjacent. You really wouldn't want to be involved?"

Kennedy tried to figure out the emotion she could hear in Lydia's tone of voice. Her bracelet meant that she couldn't smell very well, and she had never gotten a hang of the whole smelling-emotion thing anyway, so she had to rely on her knowledge regarding her twin. The best word she could assign to it was - nervous, or maybe worried.

"I can join up if you want me to. I mean, if its really what you want."

Lydia immediately shook her head, speaking a little bit frantically when she said, "No, no! I don't. Not that - ugh. Enough people are constantly in danger. It... I don't want to have to worry about you, too."

Kennedy softened at that, sitting back up and pulling Lydia into a rare hug. The two of them weren't really touchy-feely, but it was nice to know that Lydia didn't hate her for being a werewolf, which had been a real concern of hers after finding out that werewolves had hurt Lydia in the past.

Kennedy was going to keep Lydia safe. No matter what. And if that meant someday she would have to butt in to this stupid pack of teenagers, she'd make herself do it.