The younger wolf was getting increasingly agitated in the seat beside him. Theo could tell from the way he was picking at his fingers and bouncing his knee to a nonexistent rhythm. Liam's nervous habits, his brain supplied him.
They were on their way to the school in Theo's truck – Mason and Corey close behind in a second car – after receiving collective texts from Stiles that the rest of the war was being fought there. Of course it would be Beacon Hills High, where anything but actual education happened.
At the hospital Melissa had made quick work of removing their bullets and patching them up before she sent them off with a grim but firm, "Be safe, kids." He hadn't missed the way she pointedly looked at each of them when she said that, himself included.
The drive was swift and uninterrupted; there wasn't even a real need keep his eyes on the road considering the current traffic (or rather lack thereof). Had he not known better, Theo would've thought Beacon Hills was a deserted ghost town. But no, upon closer inspection, dim lights could just be spotted in the clusters of houses they passed. People were here, they were just hiding. Either from supernatural creatures apparently prowling the streets or from self-proclaimed hunters actually prowling the streets, it was probably for the best. If Theo were to be very honest, it was entirely unnerving how much the town had changed practically overnight.
Speaking of unnerving experiences, the awkwardness of this ride was about to hit a spot in his top three soon. Theo scrubbed at his face and shot another sideways glance at Liam, who was once again trying to discreetly stare at Theo. Keyword being trying. For the fifth time.
He tried to shrug it off and reached a hand to fiddle around the collar of what had been his newly washed, favourite black T-shirt. It was now a sad thing with creases, bloodstains and a fashionable ripped hole in the back. What was the point of picking favourite clothing as a werewolf, seriously? Except you're not a werewolf, not really. That little voice in his head that appeared in the most inopportune times reminded him, as always. Theo didn't have the time to figure out who it sounded like today, so as always, he told it to go fuck itself. His skin crawled with the sensation of being watched and he glanced to his right again. At least Liam had the decency to avert his eyes this time. Theo's eyebrows furrowed.
"Did you wanna say something or…?" Was Liam hurt elsewhere that he hadn't noticed? He couldn't detect any fresh blood or concealed pain, but he gave the fidgety beta a careful once-over just in case.
"I…uh…I…" Liam looked very put on the spot, like Theo was the one who'd been acting weird since they'd gotten in the car.
What was it…anger? Anxiety? No Liam actually felt relatively calm and from his chemo-signals all Theo could glean was a bit of…restlessness mixed with a touch of confusion. Huh?
If anything, Theo was the one who should've been restless. He'd let a moment of weakness show in front of too many people he had yet to fully trust, and it had taken longer than he would've liked to rein his emotions back in check. That, combined with how he'd obviously given everyone back there a free ticket to the 'Liam working his anchor magic on Theo' show, was enough to make Theo consider shifting into his wolf form right there and running off into the woods to never return.
Okay, nothing that dramatic. Maybe. But truthfully, the foreign feeling of revealing so much about himself perplexed him. Set him on edge. And Liam making a 180-degree turn to a shy, stuttering middle-school girl was not helping.
He fiddled with his shirt again, trying to think what Liam could be confused about and how he might be able to help before they entered what could very well be the last fight of their lives.
No. He corrected himself immediately. Not the last fight, not for Liam. He wouldn't let that be the case.
The steely resolve made a hard edge flash over his eyes, accidently causing Liam to shrink back from whatever he'd finally mustered the courage to lean over and say.
Theo didn't have the energy to push him again so he experimentally rolled his shoulders instead, a huff of irritation escaping when he accidentally jostled his still healing left side.
Liam's gaze followed his movements, "are…are you okay?" he asked.
"Peachy." Theo replied without real vehemence.
Liam pursed his lips. He stared some more. It made Theo want to start fidgeting again because it never happened like this, it was always the other way round, with Liam at the end of the staring.
Suddenly, a tentative hand reached over and slender fingers wrapped between Theo' shoulder blade and neck in a gentle but firm grip. Liam squeezed a few times with equal force, then ran his knuckles over the tense muscle in soothing circles, as though trying to iron out the stiffness, before settling back into his seat in silence.
Um.
Theo decidedly spent the next few moments impersonating a block of ice. He had no idea what to make of that little impromptu massage. Could it even be classified as a massage if it made him even tenser than before?
It had felt far too friendly – intimate almost, but he wasn't going to go there – and therefore really out of place. Sure, they'd had plenty of shared experiences as of late and sure, they might've even formed some twisted sort of easy camaraderie out of circumstance, but…what was that? That wasn't something you did to someone who once betrayed and manipulated you and all your friends, who you loathed while you had no choice but to work together, against your better judgment. That wasn't even something you did to someone you barely half-tolerated and still threw insults at with every second sentence.
…Just like comforting someone, telling them it was okay to cry, while you stood bleeding from a bullet in your leg, wasn't.
It was a dangerous thought that Theo, by all means, should not have nurtured; a seedling he should've tamped into the dirt before it blossomed. But Theo couldn't help himself. His brain buzzed with the fact that Liam could, potentially, just maybe, trust him to some degree. Liam may even consider him somewhat a worthy ally, an almost-friend. An entirely unwise decision on Liam's behalf no doubt, but the idea of it made Theo's heart soar.
"Thanks," Theo said as sincerely as he could, "and… thank you for earlier by the way. At the hospital."
Liam's eyes rounded before he sputtered, "No, no, I…I've actually been the one wanting to say that–"
"Liam, don't. Please." Theo cut him off tersely, voice raspy and sounding pathetic even to his own ears. But it had suddenly clicked to him what Liam was struggling to express all this time and he couldn't bring himself to hear it. They locked eyes, baby blue orbs shimmering with surprise, hazel-grey ones pleading.
Atonement doesn't deserve gratitude. Especially not from you.
I don't have the right–
I will never do enough-
Please.
By some miracle Liam seemed to get it. At least, he understood enough to kindly let it go, no insistence for clarification. It was an act out of thoughtfulness and consideration for him and Theo was once again struck by the thought that he didn't deserve Liam. He didn't deserve anything to do with this boy sitting beside him, didn't deserve to even be in his presence. His throat dried as he tapped a steady, inconspicuous rhythm on the side of the steering wheel, matching his heartbeat to the pace. Not the time and place Theo. Not now. Focus.
Fortunately, he was saved from his thoughts as they turned into a drive just one block from the school. Both wolves instinctively went still, picking up though smell before sight that the vicinity was crawling with hunters. To make things worse, the Anuk-ite was clearly at large, judging from the tight constricting that had begun to grip inside their chests. If it was striking a range as broad as this, it had definitely been feeding well. Liam visibly paled.
Theo purposefully cleared his throat and said in an unnecessarily loud volume, "Remember, no looking the Anuk-ite in the eye, yeah?" Liam nodded quickly, evidently agreeing he was ready to focus on the task at hand.
The closer he drove them, the more palpable the fear became, to the point that Theo had to consciously remind himself to keep his foot on the accelerator. Tendrils of dread lapped at them through the air, snaking into their senses unbidden and when every muscle in Liam's body began to curl in on itself, Theo quickly added for the sake of normalcy, "I can't drag your sorry ass behind elevator doors again if you're a piece of rock."
At least that finally got some sort of weak smile back on Liam's face, despite it falling as briefly as it came. "The school doesn't have any elevators, dumbass."
Then he peered hesitantly at Theo, voice soft with genuine worry, "Do you think the others are okay?" The look in his eyes withered away any dry humour Theo had been planning to inject into his reply.
"Hey." He kept his voice uncharacteristically low and serious, so as to not betray the doubt swirling in his mind. "I'm sure Scott's capable of handling himself. Malia too. And Lydia. They'll be fine, worry about yourself so they won't have to." So I won't have to.
If Theo was being realistic, he would admit he had no idea if the others were even alive at this point. There was no guarantee something hadn't happened between the hospital and now and consequently no one was available to warn the newcomers of an imminent death. The state of the school at the moment only increased the probability of that being the case. Theo hastily shoved away the pragmatist inside him, keeping his eyes sharp as Liam studied his face, pretending he believed his own words. It worked.
"Yeah, yeah you're right." Liam agreed, his fists unfolding.
"Upside is, you're allowed to get angry tonight?" Theo continued, "But not too angry. If I'm beside you, I don't have time to be collateral damage to another one of your were-Hulk rampages."
Liam rolled his eyes with a soft snort, puffing a stray piece of hair away from his forehead, making Theo realise he'd been itching to push it back himself for quite some time now.
"Fine. I don't wanna be knocked out five times again."
"Damn straight."
Ignoring the throbbing pain in his eye sockets, Scott honed all the rest of his senses on using everything Deucalion had taught him during their brief Sleep-shade training.
He knew the Anuk-ite had grown impatient the moment it resorted to physically attacking him, but what surprised him was how he parried it blow for blow. With each strike his confidence surged.
Echolocation.
Light steps echoed on the library floor. Faint crackling rebounded from the shelves behind him.
Thermoception.
Thrumming energy heated his back, approaching fast.
Equilibrioception.
Scott spun on his left heel, maintaining his stance.
Proprioception.
He ducked under the swish of movement to his left and punched hard, fist connecting with something heavy and solid. The satisfying crunch and sound of collapsing furniture that followed was practically music to his ears.
The Anuk-ite may be able to turn people to stone with its eyes, but in physical combat, it was no match for an Alpha werewolf.
"You can't beat me." Scott growled with conviction. "I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore." And had the Anuk-ite possessed enough super-hearing to detect lies, it would've known that Scott's heart hadn't missed a beat.
Now Scott's only concern was the faint heartbeats and scents of his friends scattered around the campus that were growing weaker by the second. Their locations were unmoving and he didn't need his sight or training to know what that meant. Scott could only pray Stiles would get here in time and prove his theory right. Could only pray his theory would be right.
As soon as they parked, Corey and Mason pulled up behind them, followed closely by Roscoe.
"Alright, so Scott had a look at the stoned statues and in a moment of unprecedented genius thought we could do tit for tat and try trapping the thing in Mountain Ash, since it's now, y'know, technically half werewolf or something." Stiles' familiar babbling filled their ears as they hurriedly exited their respective vehicles and met in a tight circle. He waved the gigantic jar of black ash in his hands for emphasis.
Liam instinctively shrunk away and Theo quickly pushed Stiles' hand down. "Sounds almost legit, but not going to work if you spill our entire supply of Mountain Ash right here." Stiles narrowed his eyes at Theo but hugged the jar to his chest protectively.
"Okay, so anyone but Liam just has to throw this jar at it and we should be good, right?" Corey looked around the group.
Theo flicked out his claws with a pointed look to indicate he was going down fighting. Mason held up his trustworthy baseball bat and shrugged, "I got a weapon." He turned to Stiles, whose narrowed eyes were now trained on the deformed, lumpy metal in his hands. "Stiles, you cool to do it? You're kinda the one with experience with the stuff. Corey can make us invisible and we can get you to the Anuk-ite together."
"What in Medusa's name did you do to my bat–"
"Let's do it." Liam cut in, cracking his neck, to which Mason and Corey gave affirmative nods after sharing a soulful gaze. Stiles licked his lips, "Alright hands in everyone. For our friends in there, for Beacon Hills, for everyone we love, everything we stand for and– "
Theo abruptly turned and stalked towards the school. "Fucking get this over with."
"Does anyone even like that guy?" Stiles chased after him, voice progressively lowering into an aggressive, hushed whisper as they neared the gates. "Nope, not one hand raised Theo. Not one!"
Two strong and steady heartbeats filtered into his hearing, one comfortingly familiar and bringing an ache of protectiveness, the other instinctively spiking a puzzling mix of both wariness and relief. He knew who they were instantly. Liam and Theo. They were okay, they were here and they were fighting back.
Now there were four new heartbeats. Five. Scott squared his shoulders with renewed strength and the grin that spread across his face was brighter than any he'd graced for far too long. The distinct sounds of hunters yelling and guns firing, of vicious growls and metal cracking on bone grew increasingly louder, painting him a descriptive picture of the fight happening outside. He needed to give them just that little bit more time. He turned to face the Anuk-ite.
"You wanted enough power so that you could never be trapped again."
Louder still. They'd breached the main doors.
"You wanted the power of a Shapeshifter like me."
Thundering footsteps of more hunters running to the action. The sharp tang of blood filled his nostrils. Werewolf blood. Theo let out a howl of anguish that made his hairs stand on end. Scott gritted his teeth and pressed on.
"But that comes with all the rules of being a Shapeshifter."
He could hear Stiles raging. Mason shouting. But they were close, so close…
"We have weaknesses."
Something must have happened to Liam and he swallowed back the panic edging into his system. The gunshots and yells were relentless. For a split second Scott could no longer differentiate friend from enemy.
"We have lines we can't cross."
He couldn't let this happen. They needed him. His pack needed him. Scott had to let them know he was here for them. He had to let them know they could do this, they had been through so much, they wouldn't get beaten down now.
"And we have rules to obey."
He lifted his face to the arched ceiling - at the luminous moon that shone above – and he roared. Fire surged through his veins, fuelled by his resolve and desperation. It coursed to his bloodied eyes as they glowed and healed, replaced by blazing red irises brighter than ever before, burning through the darkness of the library like beacons. The roar reverberated down the halls with raw power – the power of a True Alpha. It was animalistic, it was commanding, it was lethal.
Weapons clattered to the linoleum floor as the hunters covered their ears, knees bending from the impact.
Liam's radiant yellows intensified, the pained expression he had been sporting faded away as he instinctively howled in response.
One by one the suffocating, stony exteriors of their confined pack members began to crack and deteriorate, crumbling to the ground in broken pieces. And out burst five very alive and very angry werewolves, irises livid with their respective gold and blues, setting the shadowy school ablaze with responding beacons signalling pack.
Signalling war.