A/N: Hey! So this is a thing I came up with. I was getting into Teen Wolf recently and I just thought 'why not?' Anyway, this story is set at the end of 3a, so any characters or story arcs spanning from 3b will not be mentioned, for obvious reasons. This story does contain a few OC's, but then again, it kind of has to. I hope you will come to love them anyway! There'll be no slashes, just good old fashioned friendship unless I decide differently in oncoming chapters. I actually have this story planned out, so hopefully we'll be able to get through this little adventure together, I'd be overjoyed if you followed me on this little epic and of course, reviews are always appreciated. This is just a first chapter taster, tell me what you think of it, don't be shy! Anyway, without further ado, I present to you: Fear the Lionhead

Fear the Lionhead

Chapter 1

Ribbons

"For what you did to me and what I'll do to you, you get what everyone else gets.

You get a lifetime"

Scott McCall didn't know what he was getting himself into the day he decided to listen to Stiles. Admittedly, this was a trait that had gotten Scott into a lot of trouble in the past. One evening not that long ago had changed his life forever, after all. The night Stiles had turned up outside his bedroom window inviting him out into the woods to try and find a dead body, sorry, half a dead body. The night he had been bitten by Derek's psychotic uncle and forced into a world he had absolutely no intention of joining.

Now, Scott was an Alpha, a True Alpha, whatever the Hell that really entailed and, surprisingly, his judgement hadn't gotten any better. So, when Scott had received a text from Stiles that afternoon demanding he meet him in the woods as soon as possible, he had agreed without a second thought in the matter.

As Scott fought his way through broken twigs and a canopy of fallen leaves, he tried his best to keep his senses wide open. The nature of Stiles' text had been urgent; then again, half the time any text sent from Stiles was pretty much insistent. Still, Scott couldn't help but wonder what Stiles had been doing out in the woods on a Sunday afternoon and why he needed help in whatever it was he'd gotten himself into.

Just as Scott had trampled down a narrow slope in the foliage, he felt a sudden change in the atmosphere around him. His heightened senses prickled as he felt another presence move behind him.

With the reflexes of an Alpha on his side, Scott whirled around in a heartbeat, only to come face to face with his startled best friend.

"Ah!"

"AH!"

Both boys shot away from each other, momentarily confused with what had just happened. Scott regained his calm first. "Dude," he hissed. "What the Hell are you doing?"

"Sorry!" Stiles apologised automatically, hands raised in a half-surrender. "I didn't think you were gonna wolf out on me!"

"I didn't wolf out on you," Scott replied indignantly, fists clenched.

Stiles' lip twitched into a smirk as he raised his hand towards his face. "Uh, dude," he grinned, "your eyes."

Scott blinked his surprise. Sure enough, the moment Stiles had startled him, his eyes had responded with a fierce red glow. Now he had regained his senses, he also felt a dull throb in his palms where his claws had extended slightly. With a shake of the head, his eyes returned to their normal dull brown. "Sorry," Scott muttered, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I guess I'm not totally used to the whole Alpha thing yet."

"And we've gotta talk about that some time," Stiles insisted as he clapped an arm around Scott's shoulder. "But right now, I've got something to show you."

Scott frowned as he took his friend in for the first time since he had crept up on him. Stiles' hair was more ruffled than usual and his eyes glinted with a bright excitement that seemed borderline psychotic. "Um, is everything okay?" Scott asked slowly.

"Yes!" Stiles answered far too quickly before righting himself. "I mean, no… it's, it's kinda weird to be honest."

Scott snorted. "Since when is anything not weird in this town?"

Stiles pulled a face before reaching into one of his jacket pockets. After fiercely searching inside it for well over a minute, Scott watched Stiles check the other before pulling out something easily into his palm.

"Look," Stiles demanded and Scott complied.

Scott glanced down at the object that rested in Stiles' hand for a few moments, his expression slowly sinking into that of deep confusion. "Uh, dude… it's a… ribbon."

"Uh huh, a red one," Stiles spoke with conviction as he pushed his palm further under Scott's nose. "That's not what was weird though."

"Of course not," Scott said sarcastically, backing away from Stiles' intrusive hand.

Stiles frowned. "No, I mean, I found this tied to a tree. Nothing weird about that right? Probably just some kids messing around. But then, I saw another and another and then guess what? Another! There are dozens of these little bastards tied to every tree like some sort of freakin' trail into the unknown!"

Scott stared at his friend incredulously. "Did you follow it?"

"Of course I didn't follow it!" Stiles fumed. "I don't know what could be at the end of that trail, but after the year we've had I figured anything is possible." Stiles shoved Scott playfully in the chest. "That's why I texted you. You're my backup."

"Backup?"

"Yes Scott, I found the sinister trail of red ribbons, therefore you are my backup!"

Scott rolled his eyes as he snatched the ribbon from out of his friend's palm. Stiles looked at him suspiciously. "Are you getting anything from it?"

Scott shrugged. "It's just a ribbon, dude. I don't smell a scent on it."

Stiles seemed ruffled by his answer, but didn't respond. Instead he grabbed Scott by the arm and dragged him off towards the trail of ribbons that he had spotted earlier with nothing but a gruff "Come on" to hurry his friend forward.

Scott soon stood at Stiles' side, mouth slightly agape as he took in his surroundings. Just as Stiles had said, there was a red ribbon tied to the tree closest to him and the tree after that and the tree after that. Now he was standing there, he couldn't help but admit it did seem kind of ominous. Still, they were just ribbons.

"I dunno, man," Scott sighed, "this could just be someone's idea of a prank."

Stiles chewed on his lip a little forcefully as he nodded. "Yeah, I get it. But it's weird, right?"

Scott nodded. "Definitely."

"So we're gonna follow it?"

"Oh yeah, totally."

Neither of the boys had expected the trail to go on for quite as long as it did. After the first twenty minutes, the ribbons became more and more sporadic and harder to pin point. Luckily, with Scott's heightened sense of sight, he was still able to keep them going on what he considered the right path.

At some point during the trek, Stiles had picked up a fallen branch and had begun swiping it against the trees as they passed by almost absent-mindedly. "What if we find out this is someone's elaborate idea on being romantic and when we reach the end of the trail we find two people having-"

"Dude!" Scott interrupted, appalled.

"Well it's a valid point," Stiles argued. "How long have we been following this thing anyway? Half an hour? Seems like a pretty time consuming prank."

"That's the whole point of pranks," Scott answered warily.

Looking out for red ribbons didn't sound taxing when spoken aloud, but to Scott, he could feel the strain it was putting on his abilities. Ever since he'd become a True Alpha, his powers had gotten stronger and – with that – harder to control. He'd lost count how many things he'd broken whilst accidently harnessing in on his werewolf strength. Absently, he wished Derek was still around. Though Derek had left his number, Scott knew how unreliable that was. With all the Hales out of town and the twins going AWOL after what had happened with Deucalion, there was no one Scott could talk to about being an Alpha. He didn't know if what he was going through was normal, or something that only happened to True Alphas. Or maybe it was none of the above. With a deep sense of dread in his stomach, Scott wondered whether he just wasn't strong enough to be an Alpha. Maybe it didn't matter that he'd risen to it on his own, maybe when it came down to it his body just couldn't take it…

With those dark thoughts swimming through his mind, Scott very nearly missed the ribbons that were tied to two trees, each facing across from each other. As Scott surveyed the two ribbons, a scent came at him through the wind. The smell of rotting meat. With a sinking in his gut, Scott reached out and pulled Stiles back, who very nearly walked straight out into the clearing that now stood before them.

And, strewn directly in the centre of that clearing… was a carcass.

Scott's sense of smell had already determined that the body wasn't human, though from where they were standing he wasn't sure what Stiles had witnessed, though his best friend did look paler than he had done before.

"Relax," Scott said, trying his best to mean it. "It's just a deer."

Stiles nodded his comprehension, but didn't look at all soothed by the idea. "Yeah, but what killed it?"

It was the question they'd both been thinking, after all. The two friends shared a look before they both stepped out into the clearing together.

Scott couldn't sense anyone human or inhuman around the clearing aside from himself and Stiles, so he sped up a little on his pursuit towards the fallen animal. As they got closer, the smell got harder to manage. With a little force, Scott managed to control his sense of smell to something more bearable, though he couldn't help but note the added amount of strength it took.

The deer had been ripped open from the underside, large claw marks were still indented in the flesh and the deer's once-brown fur was now a massacre of different shades of red.

Both boys stood silently as they looked at the dead deer before them. They knew they were thinking the same thing. Of course they were thinking the same thing. The claw marks were too wide to be that of an animal's and, despite the spilled intestines, it was easy to pinpoint the five distinct claw marks that had dealt the killing strike. Scott sucked in a breath.

"Wait," Stiles said suddenly, startling Scott with his abruptness. With a little hesitation, Stiles drew closer to the deer, wrinkling his nose as he caught a whiff of the pungent odour the carcass was giving off. Scott could only envy what little Stiles could probably smell of the thing. Still, he watched closely as Stiles poked the deer with the tree branch he had collected, rolling it slightly further towards them. "I thought I saw something," Stiles muttered, pointing with his branch towards the dead deer's flank.

Scott's eyes narrowed as he honed in on the deer's side. There was a lot of dried blood clotting the fur, but no, Stiles had been right. There was something on the deer's flank. A marking of some kind that looked as though it had been carved into the flesh.

"What do you think it is?" Stiles asked absently.

Scott shrugged. To him, it looked a bit like an ore you'd find on a row boat with what looked like a line striking through it. Unconsciously, Scott turned his head to the side, trying to get a better look at it. Finally he answered, "I'm not sure." Fumbling in his pockets for a few moments, Scott managed to pull out his phone. He angled it towards the deer's flank and took a few pictures.

Stiles gave him a questioning look before Scott explained, "I think I know someone who might be able to figure this out."

The boys gave each other a look of understanding before they both chimed, "Deaton."