Hello and thanks for dropping by. This story is set in the same continuity as my other Teen Wolf stories, all of which conform to the show's continuity. Reading my previous stories isn't necessary to understand this one, but I should note that Peter is an alpha again and the hunters have been defeated.

"Noah," Melissa called from the morgue's door.

"Hi. What have you got?"

Melissa led Noah into the morgue and uncovered two bodies on slabs, a young man and a young woman. The young woman had five deep and long cuts across her chest while the young man had two rows of five deep and long cuts running down his body.

"Doctor Sarlin and Doctor Jiran asked me to brief you," said Melissa. "They think the young woman was attacked first. Whoever did it punctured her back. When she turned around, the assailant slashed her front. A lot of her organs were damaged, but it was the injury to her heart that killed her. The young man must've gone on the offensive."

"Which gave the assailant the opportunity to kill him, too," Noah finished.

"It looks like he bled out more than he kept. We're still testing samples, but we know what this is."

"Yeah," Noah replied.

"What did you tell that sheriff?"

"Nothing, except that I'd help in any way I can. I don't think Rafe told him anything, either."

"He didn't. He called me. All he told the other sheriff was that they should transfer the bodies to us because we have better diagnostic equipment and experience with these types of animal attacks."

Noah noticed he received a text message.

"IDs came in. Shana Harmon and Helio Masalis," said Noah. "They're both from Oregon, and the investigators haven't found a link between the two of them, yet."

"We need to know why they were in the next county over," Melissa suggested. "This was too close to us."

"Yeah, I just hope the peace between supernaturals and normal humans is strong enough to withstand this. We can't go back to where Monroe was trying to lead us."

"We knew this would happen eventually. Do you need to tell people the truth?" Melissa asked

"If there's one thing Monroe and I agreed on, it's that I need to be more transparent now. I'm not going to suppress this. I will, however, hold off on sharing it until I get one of the Hales to take a look. They might provide some valuable information. Maybe this is isolated and will stay away from us. Maybe this will never have anything to do with Beacon Hills."

"That's a lot of uncertainty," Melissa remarked.

"You're telling me."

Peter and Derek soon arrived, each looking over a body and then switching while Noah and Melissa watched.

"Werewolves," Peter concluded out loud.

"We kind of figured that," said Noah.

"He means these two bodies. They were both werewolves," Derek explained.

"Well, as much as I'd hate to say it, werewolf-on-werewolf violence is a much better alternative right now than werewolf-on-human violence," Melissa commented.

"I don't disagree," Peter replied. "My pack's been working hard to make sure this peace lasts."

"And we appreciate it," Noah said. "When Scott left for college, we were concerned how the supernatural community could change with the true alpha gone. You helped fill what was essentially a power vacuum with the size of your pack."

"Don't forget your hellhound deputy," said Peter. "He's playing a big role in maintaining order and peace."

"You said this happened north of us?" asked Derek.

"Yeah, a few miles past the county line in some woods," Noah answered. "Can you track anything and see if we need to be worried? I'd rather this not spill into our county here."

"I'm picking up another scent," Derek shared. "I think it's the murderer."

"I can smell it on both bodies," said Peter.

"So can I. That's a lead we can follow. We'll let you know what we find out."

"Thanks," Noah replied.

Days later, Peter was trekking through woods with Derek and two betas he made when he turned to Derek.

"That's the smell," Peter remarked.

"We've been here before," Derek pointed out. "The murderer is here, in Beacon Hills, and on the move."

"This is fresh."

Peter and his betas spent nearly two hours tracking the scent. Someone suddenly appeared and flung a beta away.

"Kent, go limp!" Derek yelled as he tried to catch Kent.

Peter and the other beta, Maddie, engaged against the assailant, a werewolf standing nearly seven feet tall and resembling more wolf than man. Glowing red eyes revealed his alpha status. The alpha easily tossed Maddie aside and attacked Peter. Peter barely held up against the alpha before Derek launched himself into the fight. Peter and Derek managed to inflict deep cuts against the alpha, but the alpha was able to do likewise. The alpha quickly grabbed Derek and flung him in Peter's direction. He then noticed Kent steeling himself for another fight and the Hales recovering, and decided to run off.

"Is everyone okay?" Derek asked.

"I'm fine," Kent answered.

"Yeah, are you?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine. I just need a couple minutes. Maddie?"

Derek looked at Maddie, who had pinned someone to the ground.

"I'm good," said Maddie. "I'm already healing."

"Who's that?" asked Peter.

"I think it's that guy's beta. He came to help while you three were fighting."

"You have a name?" Derek asked the beta.

The beta glared at Derek. "Get off me," he told Maddie.

Derek rummaged through the beta's pockets and pulled out a wallet.

"Mark Solafi," Derek read. "Let's get you to Sheriff Stilinski."

At the station, Peter and Derek briefed Noah.

"That's Shana and Helio," Noah noticed. He was looking at a group picture with the alpha on Mark's phone. "It looks like a pack picture. Did this guy kill his own betas?"

"On our way over here, Mark said Shana and Helio betrayed the pack. They got what was coming to them," Derek explained.

"Are you two going to be okay?" Noah asked, referring to the Hales' injuries.

"We're fine," Peter assured. "We just need time."

"There are five other people in the picture. I'm emailing this to myself, then getting some facial recognition done. Scott's dad can get me results in no time."

Meanwhile, Kent and Maddie waited in different parts of the station.

"Hi, I'm Deputy Parrish," Jordan said while trying to get to his desk

"Oh, hi. Yes, I know who you are. I'm Maddie Cabrera."

"You're one of Peter's newer betas, right?"

"Yeah. He turned me into a werewolf about a month ago."

"Is it like what you were expecting?"

"More or less," Maddie answered. "It's easier than I expected. I wasn't convinced at first that the hunters were really gone. I thought I'd feel more ostracized by normal people. I was ready for it, but Beacon Hills seems welcoming."

"The Hale plan is probably helping with that," Jordan pointed out.

"How are you doing with that?"

"I agree with it, but I don't follow it when it interferes with my job. How are you handling your werewolf powers?"

"I'm doing what I can. It's taking a while to really get a hang of everything."

"I know a thing or two about that. Just give yourself time and grow at your own pace."

Peter and Derek finished talking with Noah. As they left his office, Derek signaled to Kent and Maddie and the four werewolves made their way out of the station.

"Nice meeting you," Jordan told Maddie.

"Same here," Maddie replied. "See you around."

"I heard about the beta they brought in," Jordan told Noah.

"He's not saying much. He thinks the alpha will come back for him, so we need to be prepared. Peter said he's the strongest werewolf he's ever met."

"Does the alpha have a name?" asked Jordan.

"The beta let the name Josh slip out."

Later that evening, Noah was tying up loose ends in the evidence room when he heard a series of crashes at the station and several gunshots. He ran out only to run into Josh.

Josh pushed Noah against a wall.

"I'm Mark's alpha. I presume you're the sheriff. I've heard about you and I assume you have specialized restraints for him. Do yourself a favor and make this easy and quick for me. Otherwise, I'll gut you."

"I have another idea. How about I arrest you for murdering those two betas?"

Josh let out a quick snicker. "I'll do this without you, then. You know you can't stop me."

"I know I can't," Noah answered, "but he can."

Noah looked to his left. Mark followed, and saw Jordan with glowing eyes.

"Let him go, right now," Jordan commanded.

"Orange eyes," Josh commented. He noticed Jordan wasn't pointing a weapon at him. "That's a new one. What are you?"

"This really isn't the time to become acquainted," Jordan responded as he approached. "Let him go."

"Fine," Josh quietly said. He let go of Noah and suddenly lunged towards Jordan. Jordan took a single step back to brace himself as Josh plunged his claws deep into Jordan's chest.

Josh's aggression turned to confusion as Jordan looked at him with simple annoyance. Jordan grabbed Josh's wrists and ignited. Josh began screaming in pain as he caught on fire. Jordan finally let go of Josh, then landed two punches to Josh's face to knock him out.

"Are you okay, sir?" Jordan asked as he put out the flames.

"Yeah, I am. Good job, Parrish. How's everyone else?"

"We're okay," a few voices said quietly.

"We're fine."

Mark and Josh later sat in adjacent cells.

"I've been trying to bust out," Mark explained. "They're prepared."

"We knew this was a possibility when we approached this place. Still, it's good to confirm the rumors of a sanctuary city."

Josh reached out of his cell, towards Mark's cell.

"Do you see my hand?" Josh asked.

"Yeah. What happened to it?"

"I got burned. Put your face on it. I want to feel your face. This will help me heal."

Mark obliged.

Josh ran his hand down Mark's face, then neck. Josh suddenly unsheathed his claws and grabbed Mark's neck. Despite resistance, Josh detached part of Mark's head from his body. Feeling a surge of power, Josh grabbed the bars of his cell and pulled them apart wide enough so he could fit through. Hearing no heartbeats near his vicinity, Josh found a path out of the station.

Later, Noah met with the Hales.

"IDs came back on four remaining pack members. Kara Clinet and Jason Cheng were found dead in central Oregon one month ago with lacerations similar to what Helio and Shana had. It's a cold case. Supriya Agarwal is considered missing. The other two don't have any records. What are the chances that Josh is making and killing betas to accumulate power? That's what an alpha can do, right?"

"Yeah, but it's a crazy notion," Peter explained. "Not even I would ever do that on this scale."

"Well, Josh could be crazy," Derek said. "It would explain his strength."

"Can you track him?" asked Noah.

"Yes, but it will take a while," Derek answered. "He's good at covering his tracks. That's why it took a while to find him the first time. Now, he knows we'll be looking for him."

"Keep me in the loop, will you? I'll update Parrish as you update me. He's ready to help out whenever you need him."

"When you showed us the security footage, I was impressed by how quickly he took care of Josh," said Derek.

"That's why I'm not pressuring him for the plan," Peter quietly commented.

"Your plan?" Noah asked. "Parrish mentioned it offhand last week. I hadn't had a chance to ask him about it."

"Aside from your deputy and this alpha, when's the last time you've seen a supernatural use powers or shapeshift in public?" Peter asked.

"Now that you mention it, I'm not sure."

"We've asked supernaturals to stop doing both. If we all comply, then Beacon Hills' next generation won't see any supernatural activity. All they'll know is what they've heard and what they see in pictures and videos. Eventually, the generations that have personally seen supernatural activity will die out. We'll go back to being myths and legends, folklore."

"And the physical proof?" Noah asked.

"I haven't figured that part out, yet," Peter replied. "Maybe they'll be discredited like the bigfoot and Loch Ness pictures. Don't underestimate the power of denial."

"And Parrish is onboard with this plan?"

"He is," Derek said. "But, he said if he needs his powers to help someone, he'll use them without hesitation."

"And you all are onboard with that?"

"It hasn't escaped our attention that the deputy has full access to and full control of the hellhound powers now. We're not going to tell him what to do," Peter answered. "Maybe having one guy on fire will be okay. Time will tell."

"We should go," Derek pointed out. "We need every time advantage we can get against this guy."

"I'll call for some betas to meet up with us and help."

Peter and Derek tracked what they could of Josh's scent with several members of the pack.

"It took so much willpower to not punch him for losing the alpha," Peter quietly told Derek.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't."

"That was irresponsible of him."

"He's doing the best he can. You said it yourself. This is a very strong werewolf."

"It's still his fault."

"If you did anything to Stilinski, Stiles would've been very unhappy with you. I assume you wouldn't want that."

"I smell blood," one of the betas said.

The pack followed the scent to a body.

"That's one of the betas that Sheriff Stilinski couldn't identify," Derek pointed out.

"Yeah, I assumed his betas were around somewhere," said Peter. "Come on. This'll help us get to Josh faster."

The pack continued tracking Josh under the assumption that the other two betas were nearby. They soon came across all three in a clearing.

"Ready yourselves," Josh told his betas.

"Hi, I'm Derek," Derek told the betas. "You must be Supriya. Who are you?"

The betas exchanged looks with each other and Josh.

"Come on, we're all werewolves, here," Derek said, trying to lighten his tone.

"He's Lincoln," Josh said. "We're on our way out of Beacon Hills. We're continuing south. If you don't give us trouble, we won't give you any. Our paths were never supposed to cross the way they did."

"Sure, that's agreeable," Peter replied. "What do you want to do about the corpses, though?"

"You know he killed the rest of his betas, right?" Derek asked Supriya and Lincoln.

"And he's going to kill you two, too," Peter added. "That's what he does. He makes betas and then kills them for power. He'll probably start over with a new pack soon."

"Come on," Josh told his betas. "You know the truth."

"Hey, listen to our heartbeats," Derek said. "We're the ones telling the truth. Have you ever bothered checking Josh's?"

"Why would we?" Supriya asked. "Josh's been a great alpha, so leave us alone."

"Can we just beat them up now?" one of Peter's betas asked.

Josh quickly unsheathed his claws and dug them into Supriya.

"Don't!" Lincoln yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Can't you see what they're about to do?" Josh replied.

"We warned you," Peter said.

Peter and his betas charged at Josh. Lincoln tried to help Supriya, but Josh grabbed Lincoln and broke his legs. Josh then grabbed Lincoln's arms and used him to swat his other opponents away.

Derek tackled Josh, who was forced to let Lincoln go.

Lincoln scurried away while Josh transformed into his werewolf form and knocked Derek unconscious. Kent checked on Derek while Peter and the other betas fought Josh.

Josh noticed that Lincoln was recovering enough to speed his retreat. Focusing on his beta allowed Josh to resist his attackers and push them off. Josh ran towards Lincoln to kill him, until a wall of fire suddenly appeared between them.

Peter noticed Josh was distracted by the sight of Jordan, so he leapt onto Josh's back, near the neck and quickly dug into Josh's throat with his claws. Peter held on while Josh thrashed around in pain, until Josh finally stopped and died after nearly two minutes.

Jordan put out the fire while the werewolves checked each other out.

"Are you okay?" Jordan asked Lincoln.

Lincoln nodded.

"I'm Deputy Jordan Parrish of The Sheriff's Department. Do I need to explain how your alpha misled you and is a really terrible guy?"

Lincoln shook his head.

"Then will you come back to the station with me so you can help us figure out what happened with your pack?"

"Yeah," Lincoln replied.

"Are the rest of you okay?" Jordan asked the Hales.

"We're fine," Derek answered. "I'd like to go with you and be there when Lincoln gives his statement."

"Sure," said Jordan. "I'm sure the sheriff would be fine with that."

At the Beacon County Sheriff Station, Noah interviewed Lincoln about Josh while Derek listened.

"He told me he had a pack before," Lincoln explained. "He said they grew up, so they went off on their own. I believed him."

"We could only guess what Josh was doing, but if we're right, then he probably did kill them. It'd mean Peter was right back there," said Derek.

"Josh wasn't claiming otherwise."

"The important thing now is that you made it," Noah said. "We have everyone's names and we can finish the case."

"What are you going to do?" asked Derek.

"I'm forwarding all this to Scott's father. I think he can put a spin on all this to close the case without anyone sniffing around too much. He'll claim jurisdiction. Lincoln, we need you to stick around here in case anyone else has questions for you."

"Okay."

"He can stay with us for a little while," said Derek. "Emphasis on 'little.'"

"Great," Noah replied.

Derek and Lincoln exited Noah's office and saw Jordan talking to Maddie.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Derek asked Maddie.

"Peter told me you'd need a ride, so here I am."

"Thanks. Let's go."

"Bye, Jordan."

"Bye, Maddie."

Derek quickly glanced at Jordan and smirked.

"Do you think werewolves can smell pheromones?" Noah asked Jordan with a slight smile.

Jordan shrugged. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing. Something going on with you and Maddie?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I'll find out after our date."

"Good going. I think she's a better fit for you than Lydia."

"I . . . Well . . ."

"Yeah, I knew about that."

"I don't think it was a real romantic thing I was feeling. I think it was just the hellhound surfacing and Lydia and I both having a connection to death and me still adjusting. Anyway, do you think things will be okay with the werewolves?"

"Yeah," said Noah. "I'll issue a statement soon and I think things will be fine. I think people will be reassured knowing that we don't have an alpha like Josh in Beacon Hills."

"When you first learned about werewolves, did you ever think anything would be reassuring where Peter Hale is concerned?"

Noah smiled. "No, but it's Beacon Hills. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything here anymore."