I do not own MTV's show or the original movie, Teen Wolf. Any and all plot relations not directly suited to Sage Connelly's character are rightfully owned by Jeff Davis and MTV. All scenes and/or storylines that involve Sage's life are reserved to my jurisdiction, and legal offenses can be taken if my character is seen anywhere that is not this book, the sequel 'Still', or the edited version of Sage (2019).

Please be mindful that this story was started in 2012 when I was thirteen years old. I had a lot of grammatical issues (i.e. loose and lose, furrowed and furred) so just be kind about things. If you see a mistake, please comment and let me know so that I can change it in my edited version of this book (2019) also available on my profile. Without further introduction, thank you so much for reading. Check marks on the story chapters means that it has been edited. Enjoy!

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

SAGE, BOOK ONE

. In the trees, in the collapsing windows, underneath the shudders, in her throat. The smoke and ash was just starting to reach her, two hundred feet away from the burning house and still close enough to feel the heat. Any thought or rationale was long gone, and the ten-year-old blonde girl stood frozen in place as she watched the Hale family home burn down. Her family inside. Friends inside. Everyone inside. The backpack on her shoulder hung limply, teetering on the edge of falling off as she blinked in confusion.

The laughter coming from behind her was the only thing that sucked her back into that moment, blinking through stinging eyes. She glanced over her shoulder quickly, panic spreading through her bones when she noticed her family friends walking up the small path to the house. Derek and Laura had not yet seen their house or the smoke, hidden behind the large mass of trees. Too distracted, too happy, too unaware. The backpack on her shoulder finally hit the ground, and she was running in the opposite direction of the burning home.

"We have to go," she cried, grabbing a hold of Derek's wrist in a failed attempt to pull him away.

By then, she knew that there was no use. Her friends both craned their necks at the same time, eyes widening with the familiar horror that she felt, and they were off, taking her with them. Derek skidded to a stop, right next to her forgotten backpack, and the bloodcurdling sob that escaped his mouth sent a shiver down her spine. Just like her, he recognized what was happening. The red flames danced around the Hale house, mocking the safe haven for supernatural creatures and taking two families along with it.

The hold that she had on Derek's wrist was tugged harshly, and she realized with wide eyes what the sixteen-year-old boy was trying to do. He wanted to run in, to save everyone. To die with them. Laura understood, too. Just when he jerked free of her small hand, Laura snarled loudly and reached to grab a hold of her younger brother around the waist. She watched, unable to do anything, as Derek cried out against his sister's restraints and clawed at her hands. But she refused to lose him just like the others, and Laura ground her heels into the dirt to keep him from fighting.

"Derek!" she shouted, the cracking of the flames caught in her throat. "We have to go! We can't do anything now! You'll just get yourself killed going in there!"

A growl rippled through the warm air. "No!"

"Stop it! We have to protect her now, you idiot! We have Sage!"

Laura's words rattled through Derek Hale's body like a current of electricity, stopping him in place at the reminder. His glowing, blue eyes calmed until they were a dark green that fell on the blonde standing a bit away. Small, fragile, and face already coated in ash, his heart fell into the dirt at his feet. Laura's arms tightened around him, ignoring the wounds that were already starting to heal on her skin. They were nothing compared to the ones starting in her heart.

Sage Connelly stared up at them, her innocent green eyes widening with tears. Derek sucked in a deep breath of poisoned air before rushing forward, quickly grabbing a hold of the girl so that he could lift her up in his arms. Laura was not far behind, skidding down the path that they were once laughing up. They did not look back, ignoring the sounds of the foundation behind them falling apart and burning. Just as the sound of police sirens rang in the air, Sage's hand stretched out, grabbing a tight hold of Laura's as Derek squeezed her tighter.

From that moment on, it was just the three of them. Together, and orphaned, and alone in a world they were barely ready to accept. The only thing they had was each other—to protect, to defend, and to carry from everything and everyone. .

"Well, this is depressing."

Sage Connelly stepped over the display of suitcases and bags, her feet hitting the old, wooden porch. Not only was that slowly falling to pieces, but it seemed like the entire structure had slowly decayed over the last six years. The part of the house above the overhang was charred, the dark night doing its best to show the damage the fire did. Ivy grew along the beams and gaping holes littered the front of the house. Anyone who saw the state it was in would run at first sight. She decided not to mention the left side of the house. That had been where the fire started—where everyone had been trapped.

Like she said, depressing.

"Very sympathetic, Sage," Derek said, lugging his own bags with one hand and hers with the other.

His words came in and out of frequency as he passed by, but even then, she could tell that he had as much sympathy for the circumstances as she did. Neither of them wanted to be back in this place. More specifically, this house. They thought they could escape their past when they ran away, and in doing so, never have to return. Now, they were back to find the only other person they had left to consider family. Three became two, and that was a number Derek and Sage couldn't manage losing.

Sage snorted at his statement and walked into the house with him. The mixed emotions that hit her head-on were pushed back, deciding for the better part of herself to breathe through her mouth instead of her nose. Sometimes, it was easy to hide how desperately she tried to cope with her past. Other times, like now, she had to remember that crying didn't really help anything. That didn't mean she was alright. It still hurt, and she lived every day with the memory of the burning house behind her eyelids.

"You know me," she replied, finally, grinning at him as he passed. "I like to believe the death of our families brought us closer together."

He rolled his eyes, but no matter how much he tried to deny it, she was right. After the fire, she was raised into a teenager by Derek and Laura, still teenagers themselves. The Connelly and Hale families had always been close, but that didn't mean Derek was prepared to look after a stubborn ten-year-old who wore sarcasm like it was a backpack at only sixteen himself.

They bickered the whole way back to their hometown, mostly over what song they wanted to play in Derek's black Camaro (she was very adamant on stealing it before her junior year) and her persistent "Are we there yet?" questions. Beacon Hills was a small section of California that would go unnoticed on a map, especially with better options like Los Angeles and San Fransisco just a few hours away. Not to mention, the place was not exactly a tourist stop with one movie rental store and a few restaurants here and there. Sage and Derek had both gone quiet when they passed the sign with ' written in dark writing.

"Do you think the second floor is sturdy enough?" he asked, pausing as he looked at the stairs she was standing close to in the foyer.

She peered to look at the stairs in hesitation. "I mean..."

"You're lighter than me. You go first."

"And you heal in a matter of seconds," she scowled at him, "so if you think I'm going to be taking a trip down to the living room through the floorboards while I'm sleeping, you'll be staying here by yourself, bud. You're lucky I haven't booked a hotel room yet...really, why did we think selling my old house was a good idea? At least it had four walls—and a working air conditioner...and, you know, the basic necessities that account for a home. Like walls."

Derek grumbled as he glided past her to walk up the stairs to the unholy (or was it hole-y?) second floor. The look of hesitation on his face was enough to make her snicker, avoiding the sharp look that he sent her way. However, he made it up to the second floor without any accidents. Sage wasn't sure if it had to do with the (semi) sturdy structure, or simply because he knew that she would never let him live it down if he actually did fall through the floorboards.

By the time she got a majority of her other bags in, Derek was trying to get rid of all the left-over debris that the fire graciously left behind. Most of it was woodwork from the ceiling, whereas the walls were completely burned beyond belief. Caution tape lingered in corners, bringing a grunt from the young man as he pushed it away with the side of his foot. Just as her boots hit the porch, ready to finish her last trip to the Camaro, she saw something deep in the woods that made her heart stop in her chest. Instinctively, she gripped tightly onto the ivy-covered beam to keep her upright.

"Derek!"

Even she could hear the panic in her voice as her joints started to freeze up. She couldn't move, no matter how desperately she wanted to run. A pair of hands were on her shoulders in seconds, shaking her so that she would look in his direction. Derek's face was twisted in concern, scanning her up and down to make sure she was alright. She still refused to look his way, attention trained on the lining of the forest as an array of flashing lights caught her eye.

Derek squeezed her arms tighter. "Sage, what happened?"

Sage finally looked at him for the first time, green eyes stinging with tears. Slowly, she nodded her head outwards in the direction of the lights. He turned quickly, trying to figure out what was going on, and his hands fell to his side immediately. When he finally saw the lights as well, he did nothing but watch. They could have been there for hours, minutes, seconds. None of it mattered. Both of them could only stare as the Beacon County deputies walked around the forest a distance ahead of them, flashlights searching everywhere. Although it was not certain what they were looking for or what they found, Sage and Derek knew. That was why they came back. For answers—answers to what happened, answers to what they left behind.

"Tell me that I'm not right."

The sudden hand intertwining with hers proved her wrong. "They found a body. Female."

The answer that they got was nothing that they came back expecting to accept. The remnants of the fire were behind them, and everything had suddenly changed. Derek and Sage held onto one another so desperately, so similarly to six years ago, except this time they were missing someone. Three truly had become two.

"Laura's dead."

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂