"Scott!" Liam Dunbar called out. He was in the hallway of Beacon Hills high school when he saw him. Scott was talking to his best friend Stiles about who knows what. Scott seemed to hear Liam because when he turned around and saw him, he waved his arm to tell him to come over.

"Hey, Liam. Your arm feeling better?" Scott asked as Liam made his way.

"Yeah, it healed fine."

"Great. So what's up?" Scott asked him.

"I wanted to ask you who that was yesterday, in the locker room."

"Who was in the locker room?" Stiles asked.

"It was Derek." Scott answered more to Stiles than Liam.

"Who?" Liam asked.

"Derek Hale. He's like us." Scott told him.

"You mean a…" Liam trailed off, not wanting to draw suspicion in the crowded hall.

"Yeah, he is." Scott told him. The bell for lunch rang just then and Liam had to cover his ears because of the volume. It died down soon enough. Liam looked up to see Scott smirking a little.

"Yeah, that happened to me too when I was first learning. C'mon, let's head to lunch." Scott told him as they started walking.

"How did you keep it all in check?" Liam asked, still having the ringing in his head.

"You find control. That's why I asked Derek to come yesterday. I wanted to see if he could help."

"You asked Derek for help on learning control? Really?" Stiles asked.

"He's been doing this longer than I have, ok? I figured since he's had Beta's of his own he'd know how to help me with Liam." Scott explained.

"And? Did he say anything that could help me?" Liam asked. Scott turned to him with a slightly sad expression.

"Not exactly. He said that your anger would help make you strong, which is great, but it would also make you dangerous." Scott told him truthfully.

"Well that's just great, a literal explosive case of rage induced supernatural strength on a freshly turned lycanthrope that's having trouble staying in control of himself. Fan-tastic." Stiles said sarcastically. "Well I'll see you two later, I have to go help Lydia with a few things in the library." Stiles continued.

"Alright man, see you later." Scott told him as he walked off. Scott also heard Liam growling next to him. "Liam. What's wrong?" Scott asked, flashing his eyes red for the briefest of moments to calm down his Beta.

"I don't like him." Liam answered.

"Who? Stiles?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. He makes fun of me whenever he talks about me, it gets aggravating real quick." Liam said. He looked to Scott, expecting an answer. At the very least he expected him to defend his best friend, but he didn't do either of those. Scott just looked at Liam for a few second before answering.

"C'mon, let's eat outside. It's a good day out." Scott said as he made his way out. Liam just followed him to a bench and sat down.

"God, I'm starving. I haven't had anything to eat since last night." Scott said as he took out a bag from his backpack. "You hungry?" Scott asked Liam.

"Yeah, a little." He answered. He was still waiting for Scott to get back to his earlier statement.

"You want some?" Scott asked Liam as he took out what seemed to be a sandwich.

"No thanks." Liam said. Though as he said so, he could smell the sandwich and he got hungry. He could smell some kind of meat, beef? Chicken? Scott noticed and grinned.

"You can smell it, cant you?"

"Yeah, I can."

"What do you think it is?"

"Is this really important?" Liam asked.

"Yes. Now guess." Scott replied.

"Fine. I think it's beef? Maybe chicken." Liam guessed.

"Nope. Close though. It's actually rabbit." Scott said as he took a bite.

"What?!" Liam was more than a little taken back at the statement.

"Yeah, hunted it down last week. Tricky little thing, but it was worth it." Scott said smugly as he took another bite.

"Are you serious?" Liam was about to be sick.

"Oh yeah. I had the same reaction you did but then I tried some. Little piece of advice, they taste better when you hunt it yourself." Scott informed.

"Oh my god. Please tell me you're joking." Liam asked and Scott just laughed.

"Yeah, I am." Scott said, grinning like an idiot as he just kept eating.

"What?" Liam asked flatly.

"It's a joke. This is just a normal pulled pork sandwich." Scott told him as he finished off the sandwich.

"Then why would you tell me it was rabbit?" Liam demanded.

"Cause it was a joke, you know, wolves and rabbits." Scott prompted.

"It's not funny."

"Yeah, I didn't think so when Stiles told me it either." Scott admitted to his new Beta.

"Wait. Stiles told you that?"

"Yeah."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Because that's just how Stiles is. He's a sarcastic little shit. It's his defense, his way of dealing with things." Scott started to explain.

"What do you mean dealing with things?" Liam asked

"Well, what were your thoughts when you realized that werewolves and other supernatural creatures are actually real?" Scott asked.

"I kinda freaked out a little. I'm still freaking out a little to be honest." Liam said.

"Exactly. But Stiles is different. He's actually the one who figured out I was a werewolf, even before I did. He did all this research and helped me control it. So he doesn't freak out. Well not noticeably. He hides it by helping others and making jokes about it all. You remember how a few days ago you came to the lake house-"
"You mean you tricked me into going to the lake house" Liam corrected.

"Right, heh. Yeah sorry we had to trick you, but you wouldn't come if we didn't. And it was the full moon. We didn't want you to hurt people. Or yourself."

"Yeah, I get that now. Still having a hard time believing I'm actually a… a werewolf." Liam admitted.

"I did too. That actually goes back to what I was saying earlier. When we were all saying what we really were." Scott reminded.

"Yeah you guys were all trying to convince me it was all real." Liam remembered.

"Yeah, that part. Remember what Stiles said?" Scott asked. Truthfully, Liam didn't really remember right away, but it came to him after a little bit.

"He said he was possessed by an evil spirit."

"A very evil spirit, yeah. For a long while he had that thing inside of him. It made him do terrible things and he remembers all of it." Scott told him.

"Oh my god." That was all Liam could say. He didn't know what else he could say, in fact.

"Yeah. We got it out of him but he still hasn't got over it completely. That's why he's a little more… insensitive lately with his sarcasm. He doesn't really mean to offend. It's just his way of defense. He doesn't have claws or fangs or super senses like we do. He has his brain, his bat, and his jeep." Scott explained to him.

"I, uh, I didn't know, honest." Liam explained. He didn't want to make Scott upset. He was a little surprised when Scott just smiled a bit.

"Yeah I know. People who don't know Stiles tend to not really get him. I just wanted you to know that he really isn't as bad as he seems at first glance." Scott tried to tell him.

"I get it. I'll try to understand but still…" Liam trailed off.

"Yeah I know. I'll ask him to lay off on you. I get that some things shouldn't be joked about, Stiles actually understands that more than you think." Scott informed.

"Really? How come?"

"Well it isn't really my place to tell you. I'm sure he'll tell you if you ask, just not right now. But trust me when I say he knows what it's like to have something. I do too, actually. Well, I guess not to your extent." Scott admitted.

"You do?" Liam asked.

"Yeah. I used to have a severe case of asthma." Scott informed.

"Used to? What happened, you grew out of it or something?"

"Not exactly. The Bite healed me of it, getting turned into a werewolf can actually cure lots of different things, even cancer." Scott explained.

"Really? Then how come it didn't get rid of my I.E.D.?" Liam asked, upset that it didn't work.

"I actually got curious about that too. I asked Derek and he said The Bite can't cure everything. It changes your body but not your mind or behavior. So basically it can heal physical things, even things with the brain. But mental and behavioural things, like schizophrenia and, well, your I.E.D, The Bite can't heal." Scott tried to explain to him gently. But Liam was downcast.

"So it changes what I am, but not who I am?" Liam said, hanging his head in sadness.

"Yeah, basically." Scott confirmed.

"So who I am is messed up in the head." Liam admonished himself.

"What?! No you're not!" Scott instantly defended.

"The Bite didn't cure me! That proves it's who I am!" Liam yelled out, eyes turning yellow.

"Liam!" Scott called out. His own eyes turning red. Scott tried to reign back Liam's growing emotions. "You need to calm down. Breathe, get your heart rate steady." Scott instructed, but it wasn't working, Liam began to shift further, Scott could see claws beginning to form.

"Liam!" This time Scott called out more forcefully, the same way he did with Isaac. He grabbed Liam's shoulders and forced his distraught Beta to look him in the eyes. "Listen to me, ok? Breathe, just breathe and try to calm down. Listen to your heart, you hear how fast it's going? You need to calm down, ok? Listen to my heart now, listen to my breathing. Focus, I need you to focus now, Liam. Focus on my breathing, listen to how it's calm. Match that. I need you to match that, ok? Just breathe." Scott insisted. He tried to breathe louder so Liam could hear him. To his utter surprise, it worked. He could hear Liam try to control his breathing, and he could hear his heart beat begin to slow down. Scott kept it up until Liam was back to normal.

"You ok?" Scott asked.

"Yeah." Liam said weakly. He looked like he was on the verge of tears but he was trying to keep it together.

"Are you sure?" Scott asked him.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Liam said, a bit more forcefully this time. Scott didn't want to push his luck.

"Alright. I'll take your word on that."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to freak out like that." Liam apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I did that a lot when I was learning how to control it. It's normal." Scott assured him.

"How did you learn to control it?" Liam asked, not wanting to go through what he just did again.

"A lot of it has to do with keeping my heart beat calm. Like we just did. Shifting is pretty closely tied to our heart beat, the faster it gets, the faster we shift." Scott explained.

"like the Incredible Hulk?" Liam asked. Scott couldn't help but laugh when he asked that.

"What? What's so funny!?" Liam demanded.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just, that was the exact same thing I said when I learned about that." Scott explained.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Stiles started to do a yowda thing after."

"What the hell is 'yowda'?" Liam asked, confused.

"Something from Star Wars I think." Scott told him.

"So you mean Yoda?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, that sounds right. I've never seen Star Wars so I wouldn't know." Scott admitted.

"You've never seen Star Wars? Seriously?"

"Oh man. You sound like Stiles, he's always getting on me for that." Scott complained.

"I'm like Stiles? I don't know how I feel about that." Liam admitted. Scott chuckled.

"I guess only about Star Wars, you two are similar. But back to the point. Controlling the shift." Scott said.

"You said something about your heart beat." Liam remembered.

"Yeah. Our heart beat is closely tied to our transforming. Have you gotten the hang of your hearing yet?" Scott asked.

"Kinda. If I really concentrate I can hear things, but it's harder than stuff like weights. That's easier, I just have to push a little harder and I get stronger." Liam informed.

"Yeah, that is a lot easier. But try to listen to my heart beat."

"You're gonna change here? In the high school? Where everyone can see?" Liam asked. Scott seemed to think about that for a moment.

"Lucky for us, we're outside during the time where everyone just wants to be inside. You see anyone out here besides us?" Scott asked. Liam looked around and saw that Scott was right.

"Huh, ok then."

"Right, now try to listen, ok?" Scott requested. Liam nodded and closed his eyes to focus.

"Can you hear it?"

"Yeah, I can. It's steady."

"Alright, try to open your eyes and keep listening." Scott instructed. Liam did as he was asked and saw Scott's face change. Turning from a normal teenager to a supernatural creature. Scott closed his eyes for a second before opening them again, revealing glowing red eyes. Scott then quickly shifted back to normal, not wanting to take the risk that someone might see.

"Did you hear it?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. It got faster when you changed, and when you changed back too. But it was calm when you were transformed. Why is that?" Liam asked.

"After a while, when you get the hang of it and can hold being transformed, your heart beat speeds up when you're either changing in or out of it."

"Will I be able to?"

"Definitely. You're actually doing better than I was. Every time I would play lacrosse, I would shift a little. Sometimes my eyes would glow, others my fangs would grow. I can tell you I ruined more than a couple pair of gloves when my claws came out." Scott told him. Liam seemed to cheer up knowing that he was doing good.

"So I can do this?"

"Yeah. Look, Liam, I get that you think that you might not be able to do this with your I.E.D. But I think that might actually be a good thing." Scott said. Liam got real interested at that.

"How in the hell does me having intermittent explosive disorder be a good thing when I'm a werewolf?" Liam asked.

"Because they both have to deal with learning control. Learning to control yourself now that you're a wolf, it has a lot to do with controlling your anger, and I think that could help you with your I.E.D." Scott explained.

"I think I understand. But there's got be more to control than just your pulse. I don't think that's gonna be a permanent fix." Liam asked of Scott.

"You're right. Listen closely because this is very important. Keeping your pulse calm is one thing, ok? It helps. But what you need to find is an anchor." Scott told him.

"What's an anchor?"

"It's… how do I explain this?" Scott asked himself. "It's something that keeps you grounded to your human self. Something meaningful to you that keeps the human part of you in control." Scott explained. Liam tried to understand.

"So that helps you stay in control? You just think about your anchor and you're fine?" Liam asked.

"Kind of. It's more than just thinking about it. Your anchor has to be important to you, otherwise it won't do anything to keep you in control." Scott said.

"What's your anchor?" Liam asked.

"Me."

"You? How does that work?"

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that. A few months ago, soon after I became an Alpha, I started to have trouble controlling my shifts. Sometimes it wouldn't be too bad, it would just be my eyes turning red. But others I would almost shift completely, and lose control. I almost did that in front of my dad, who doesn't know about the supernatural. He was just making me so angry. My mom saw and took me away from the situation. I told her I had lost my anchor, so I couldn't completely control it. She told me to be my own anchor until I find a new one." Scott told him.

"Be your own anchor?" Liam repeated thoughtfully.

"Yeah. In fact, until you find one yourself, you should do that. Be your own anchor." Scott told his Beta.

"How do I do that?"

"Focus on you. Focus on what makes you who you are, what you're proud of, what you need, your strengths, your goals. Anything and everything that makes you Liam Dunbar. And then let that ground you, let all of that keep you anchored to your humanity." Scott told him.

"What makes me Liam Dunbar. Yeah, yeah I think I can do that. Your mom came up with this?"

"Yeah."

"She sounds cool. Is she a werewolf too?" Liam asked.

"No. But she knows I'm one. She's been really cool with it, helping me when I need it. I'll tell you who knows about us, cause there's a lot more than you might think." Scott informed.

"Ok then. I'll keep that in mind. Do… do you think you could help me with my anchor?" Liam asked, nervous.

"Help you? You mean help you find one?"

"More like help me focus on it. I don't know. I just… if it try to control this and my anchor doesn't work… I don't want to do anything I'll regret." Liam tried to say.

"You mean you don't want to hurt anyone." Scott assumed. Liam nodded. "You got it. It's the least I can do since I'm the one who put you in this situation." Scott said.

"You bit me so that I wouldn't fall off a building and die. I don't think I can blame you for trying to save my life." Liam defended.

"Still, you wouldn't have even needed to go to the hospital if I didn't hit you so hard during try outs. I got jealous that you were doing so well and I just kind of let loose. I always try to hold it back during games so I wouldn't be cheating, but it just got to me too much. I'm sorry, Liam, I really am." Scott apologized. What he did to Liam had been weighing on him ever since he did it. In all honesty, Scott was waiting for Liam to get angry. He was surprised when that didn't happen.

"I guess I understand." Liam said quietly.

"Um, what?" Scott said.

"I said I guess I understand." Liam repeated. He saw Scott's face and cracked a grin. "You weren't expecting that, I guess." Liam stated.

"Honestly? Not really." Scott admitted.

"I wasn't expecting that either. Usually when I hear something like this, I would go off. But now… I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand what people can do when they're upset, more than most people. It's part of being human." Liam said.

"Funny, cause we're not exactly 100 percent human anymore. But that doesn't make what you just said any less meaningful." Scott said.

"Thanks." Liam was actually happy that Scott agreed with him. He sorta looked up to him.

"Ok, there's something I have to ask. You've been taking being a werewolf a lot better than I thought you would. Why is that?" Scott asked.

"Well, I was really upset at first. I mean, I'm not even completely human anymore! And I didn't really believe you in the beginning. But then the full moon happened and I changed. But then I saw you and how you were controlling it. You were in control and everything. I figured that if you can do it, then so can I. And now you're helping me control it too, so I'm not all that worried about it. I'm actually more concerned about the assassins that are coming to kill us all." Liam said.

"We don't know if you're on it yet." Scott said.

"But I could be on the third part."

"You're gonna be ok. No assassin is getting to you." Scott defended.

"How do you know that?"

"Because" Scott started as his eyes began to glow red "I'm gonna make sure of it. No one is going to hurt my pack." Scott stated with absolute conviction.

"Your 'pack'?" Liam asked, confused. Scott looked sheepish after he realized what he said.

"Yeah. I'm an Alpha now, so now I have a pack officially. I, uh, kinda just put you in there too without realizing it, you know, since I bit you. I get if you don't want to."

"No, no. It's fine. A pack is like a group of friends right?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, but its more than that. We look after each other, keep each other safe, help each other. I don't really know how else to explain it other than calling it 'pack'. It's almost instinctual. You'll see."

"Ok. But since you bit me, what does that make me to you?" Liam asked.

"You're my Beta, and I'm your Alpha."

"So you're like my boss?" Liam asked.

"I'm your friend." Scott corrected. "But I'm also responsible for you. It's my job to teach you how to control your new powers, and also help you out when you need it. In a pack, the Alpha is the leader."

"So it's like the pack is a team, and you're the captain?" Liam asked, using lacrosse jargon to explain.

"Yeah, it's almost exactly like that. Except with the supernatural." Scott agreed.

"Alright, I get it now. Kinda."

"Good timing too, cause lunch is almost over. If you have any more things you wanna talk about, you can come over to my house after school if you want." Scott offered.

"Alright, thanks, I'll probably take you up on that." Liam said as he got up to go to class.

"Right. And Liam?" Scott called after him. He wanted to say something to the kid, something he wanted to hear when he was going through all this when he got bitten.

"Yeah?" Liam asked. Scott walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking about yourself. You think since The Bite didn't cure you that you have a problem. But you don't. You're not 'messed up in the head', you just have some trouble with your anger. You're not a monster either. You're a werewolf. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'm your friend, and your Alpha, and I promise I'm gonna help you with both of those. So don't think like that about yourself. Some things about you are different now, sure, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still Liam Dunbar. And it doesn't change the fact that you're still a good person, and that is all that matters. Got it?" Scott told him. Scott wanted Liam to know that no matter what he thinks about himself, he isn't alone. And it seemed to have the intended effect. Liam was looking at Scott like he just told him he won the lottery. His posture changed, and it looked like a giant weight was lifted off his shoulders. He started to sniffle and Scott could see him fight back at least a tear or two. Scott just pulled his new Beta in for a hug and held him for a bit.

"Thanks, Scott."

"Anytime, Liam."

(A/N. Thanks for reading. If you liked it, leave a review if you can. I'm always looking for constructive criticism and the like.