Ariana gave herself the entire car ride home from Liam's to process the news, to process the fact that the boy she had been tentatively calling her boyfriend in her mind was actually a werewolf. It was almost too horrific to comprehend, but she forced her brain to mull it all over until Garrett finally pulled the car into their apartment complex.

It was hard to picture Liam as an actual werewolf despite having suspected it in the back of her mind since she had found his name on the list. He had put on such a good act, seeming so normal and sweet, never giving her any major clue that he was secretly hiding glowing eyes and claws. Had it all just been some kind of sick game? Reeling her in just to slaughter her later? The nausea had managed to settle itself somewhere in Ariana's stomach, a reminder that she had kissed the very kind of monster she had sworn to take down.

Still, part of Ariana had to admit that it made a lot of sense. Liam's poor excuses for standing her up were just false half hearted lies to cover up his supernatural activities. It made sense but that didn't mean Ariana was fine by any means, her eyes still prickling with unshed tears as she climbed out of the car. The shock was slowly wearing off, replaced by a sense of resolve instead.

The three orphans walked into their apartment in silence, Garrett and Violet apparently too hesitant to even talk to each other in case they set Ariana's temper off. But by the time she entered the apartment, swinging the door closed behind her, she was ready to talk.

"Okay, tell me everything," she said, turning to face Garrett and Violet, her expression as calm as she could make it.

"Everything?" Violet furrowed her brows at Ariana, as if she was waiting for Ariana to break.

"Yes. I need to know it all. I need to know who-what we're dealing with. I need to know what Liam is and how dangerous he is. And we need to start planning our next move," Ariana said practically, her voice void of any emotion as she followed Garrett who was already heading over to the couch to fetch his laptop. She sunk onto the couch beside him, folding her legs up as she flickered her gaze between the other two.

"Okay. I'll start from the top," Garrett said finally, his eyes flickering over her with a hint of concern. "So Scott is the true alpha, and we're not quite sure what that means for him but he's definitely a big threat and he'll put up a good fight. We're definitely not the first to come after him. Word is that there's already been a few other assassins in to claim their money from his death and…well he's still walking around isn't he?"

"So basically, watch out for the big bad wolf," Violet quipped, easing her body onto the floor in front of the couch, stretching her long legs out in front of her. "Also he's worth the most on the list. Twenty five million, so really he should be top priority."

"Vi, I already told you before, he's not going to be an easy kill." Garrett threw Violet a hard look that suggested they had probably spent most of the car ride before getting Ariana having this exact argument. "He went up against a whole pack of alphas and he was the only one standing at the end."

Violet let out an irritated huff, slumping against the couch, mumbling something about Garrett being afraid of a good challenge but Garrett pointedly ignored her, choosing to launch back into his spiel about the rest of the creatures he'd managed to get information on.


At some point in the evening Ariana had slid off the couch until she was lying spread out on the floor, her head resting in Violet's lap as Violet stroked Ariana's hair in attempt to sooth the pain of the overwhelming information.

The three of them sat in silence for a while, their brains all processing their new knowledge. It was a lot to process, knowing that there were so many monsters roaming their own school hallways. Garrett had managed to work out the types of creatures they were dealing with although their weaknesses were still mostly unknown. The werewolves would be easy but Ariana needed to process the existence of kitsunes and were-coyotes before she could start thinking about how to take them down.

"What do you think it would be like if we were just normal teenagers?" Garrett asked finally, breaking the silence. He had closed his laptop now and was staring at the wall with an uncharacteristic look of wistfulness.

"What, you mean if we weren't teenage assassins kicking ass and earning big money?" Violet asked, glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, exactly. Can you imagine if we just had normal lives?" Garrett shrugged, sinking off the couch to join the two girls on the floor. He shifted around for a moment until he was lying next to the coffee table just beside Ariana. Violet pursed her lips in thought as she began braiding Ariana's long hair, her mind sifting through the long list of what-ifs.

Ariana bit her lip as she briefly pondered the possibility of a normal life without the stress of being an assassin alongside homework. They hadn't planned to become assassins of course. It wasn't exactly a childhood goal, but they'd been three orphaned preteens desperate for money and determined to survive. Garrett had come across someone who knew someone who needed a job done and they'd been the only people willing to try and unsuspecting enough to get away with it. Now they'd earned enough money to live comfortably and they continued because they were good at it. Normal lives seemed like a far off fantasy, although that was the case whether Ariana was killing or not. Normal lives were for kids who weren't shuffled between foster homes and families.

"Well even if we weren't doing this I'd still be an orphan. Violet and I would still be holed up at the Evans' house living in misery and afraid of showering for longer than four minutes," Ariana finally quipped, her mind flashing back to the last foster home she'd had to put up with before Garrett had rocked up with a plan and an exit strategy. "And you would still be stuck at the Danvers house. We all know how much you loved that hellhole," she added, stretching her neck up to give Garrett a smirk.

Garrett let out a groan in response, lifting his arms to cover his face. "Don't even remind me of that house. Those nightmares are never going to go away." It wasn't like the Danvers had been abusive to Garrett in the same way that Violet and Ariana had suffered; rather the Danvers had just been a little too strict and pristine for the messy pre-teen boy at the time. Still it was bad enough for Garrett to be permanently anxious about bringing dirt into their apartment.

"But that's not just what I meant. I mean what if we were just normal kids, with parents and everything," he said finally, his voice slightly muffled by his arms still resting over his face.

It was an odd thing though, to imagine a normal life. Ariana thought about her parents a lot of course. She thought about all of the reports about the night they were killed. She thought about what they must have been like, and what they would have been like if they were here today. But unlike Garrett and Violet, Ariana had never actually known her parents. She didn't remember the sound of their voices, or what it felt like to be held by her own mother. She'd been too young when they were taken from her. Instead she was left with bleak memories of foster parents who were too overworked and overrun with foster children to pay her any proper attention.

"I guess it would be nice to be normal," Ariana mused softly, letting her brain wander. "I mean I don't mind what we do. We get paid and if we didn't do this I don't know where we'd be. But it would be nice to have a clearer conscience."

"Says the girl with the clean hands," Violet said, a snarky expression on her face as she glanced down at Ariana.

"Clean hands but not a clean conscience, Vi," Ariana shot back drily, sticking her tongue out at Violet.

Violet just hummed in response, resting her head against the couch and letting her eyes drift shut.

"Maybe we can have a normal life once this is all done. Once we cross off as much of the list as we can. Maybe we can get out of Beacon Hills and try a normal life. For real," Garrett mused from beside Ariana, his hands resting under his head as he stared at the ceiling.

They'd always planned to get out eventually but if the plan all went right they'd definitely have enough money to get out without any problems. A fresh start. Ariana's mind briefly flickered over an image of Liam, now tarnished with the knowledge of his hidden claws and sharp teeth hiding under a deceitful sweet smile.

Ariana let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, I like the sound of that," she said finally after a quiet pause. The three of them sat in another comfortable silence, the possibility of actually getting out creating a whole new set of what-ifs.


Ariana made her way down the crowded corridor on Monday morning, navigating her way around the other students with Mason clearing a path in front of her. He'd been oddly quiet on the bus ride which was surprising as Ariana had fully expected him to interrogate her about her disaster of a date with Liam on Friday. She'd ignored Liam's phone calls and texts over the weekend and she was sure Liam had reached out to Mason. After all, he'd rung Garrett too which had led to Garrett spending ten minutes on the phone convincing Liam that he was sure Ariana was fine.

But instead of another bus ride full of questions, Mason had spent the ride talking all about his favourite video game and his new top score, allowing Ariana to sit in a comfortable silence as she nodded and pretended she was following along as she wondered just how long she would be able to put off the inevitable confrontation with Liam.

Unfortunately the inevitable was a little closer than she had hoped for. Ariana halted at her locker as she spotted Liam standing at the other end of the corridor talking to his alpha. Narrowing her eyes, Ariana turned her gaze to Mason who was now standing behind her, essentially blocking her escape path. "What are you doing?" she hissed at him, eyes widening slightly as she noticed Liam's gaze locking onto her.

"Me? Nothing!" Mason's eyes widened but he was already edging away from her, giving a small nod towards Liam. He mumbled something about 'your own good' before ducking back around the corner with an apologetic shrug, leaving her to face Liam alone.

"Hi."

Ariana stared back at him, her mind suddenly blank as she forgot all about Garrett's list of suggested excuses to use. She knew she was supposed to feel awfully repulsed and terrified now that she knew the truth. She was supposed to be cold and distant to protect herself. But instead all she could think about was how blue his eyes were today. Were they normally this shade of bright blue? Realising that she needed to say something back, Ariana quickly shook off that last train of thought and arranged her face into a neutral expression. "Hi," she said simply.

"So…um, you left this at my place on Friday," Liam said as he held her backpack up towards her. "You know, after you um, well you kind of ran out during our study date."

Ariana took a deep breath as she accepted the backpack, hugging it to her chest as she looked up at Liam. There was an odd look in his eyes, a mixture of hurt and confusion. Even more odd was the lump suddenly forming in Ariana's throat as she took in Liam's expression.

"Oh my gosh, Okay, I'm really sorry about that. I just…panicked." Ariana was talking before her brain was even aware of it, the words forming themselves and slipping out of her mouth in a stream before she could even process what was happening. "I just…look, I haven't had many boyfriends before and you and I were studying but then we weren't studying," Ariana ducked her head away, turning to her locker to quickly twist the lock open so she could pull a few books out before continuing, "And I guess I just panicked and I got nervous and then I ran out. And then I was just really embarrassed over the whole thing…"

Liam watched her, his eyes narrowing slightly as Ariana spoke. She trailed off, her brain finally kicking in and forcing her to shut up before she humiliated herself any further. A small part of herself inwardly cheered at her on the spot improvisation, surprised at how real and genuine she had managed to sound. She watched anxiously as Liam frowned slightly, taking in her small speech.

Finally a small smile slipped up onto his lips as he looked shyly back at her. "Huh, so I'm your boyfriend then?"

It was a weird conclusion to come to out of her weird unplanned monologue but Liam's shy smile was oddly contagious. Ariana felt a blush burning up onto her cheeks as she glanced down, hugging her books closer to her chest. "What? Oh…um, right…"

Liam's eyes widened slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean…it's just you said boyfriend and we haven't really labeled it yet and…"

"No, it's okay." Ariana cut Liam off before he could ramble any further. A small part of her mind was pointing frantically to the imaginary warning sign above his head that said WEREWOLF, a reminder that she should probably just make up another excuse and walk away. But something deeper was willing her to stay, to smile back at him. "I mean, is that what you want?" she asked finally, looking up through her eyelashes at him.

"Yeah of course! I mean yeah, that'd be cool," Liam quickly corrected himself, leaning against the locker beside Ariana with an awkward smile.

"Great." Ariana bit her lip as she looked up at him, the fear and uncertainty in her mind suddenly fading into white noise. The two of them stood still for a moment before they were rudely interrupted by the loud abrasive sound of the school bell, causing them to both jolt a little in surprise.

"Oh shoot, I'm gonna be late for English. I'll see you later?" Ariana cocked her head to the side, giving what she hoped was a genuine and convincing smile. Liam seemed convinced, bobbing his head as he returned her smile. Then, without putting too much thought into it, Ariana leaned up slightly and pressed a kiss to his cheek, her stomach swooping slightly as she watched his cheeks reddening. Before he could react any further, she swung her locker door shut, flashed him a smile and hurried off towards her English class.

That confrontation hadn't exactly gone to plan, but judging on Mason's face when he saw her walking into the classroom, it had gone exactly as he had hoped. That boy was far more cunning than she gave him credit for. Now she just needed a convincing argument to give to Violet and Garrett. She wasn't quite sure how she could explain the fact that she was suddenly officially dating someone on their hit list.


"You alright?" Garrett glanced over at Violet who was fiddling with the collar of her denim jacket in attempt to cover up the lingering scar from Carrie Hudson. It had been over a week and the scar still looked pretty nasty, despite Violet spending twenty minutes this morning using various concealers to try and cover it up. Ariana had spent two periods of class convincing Violet that it was barely visible unless you were looking for it.

"It doesn't hurt, it's just showing up more than it should. I'm fine," Violet said, rolling her eyes at Ariana who just shook her head in response. Ariana knew Garrett was just being a little overprotective but she had to admit she was still a little nervous too, especially since that scratch could definitely lead to questions if anyone noticed it. Violet already seemed unfazed by it though, her mind clearly focusing on other priorities. "I can handle a scratch or two if I know we're eventually going for the real money."

Garrett rolled his eyes at Violet's impatience. "We are."

"When?"

"Tonight." The wicked gleam was back in Garrett's eyes and Ariana narrowed her eyes as she followed his gaze to the large poster on the wall several feet away reminding students the lacrosse scrimmage tonight.

Ariana's eyes flickered between the other two, watching their expressions. "I still think this is dangerous. It's too open. We've never attempted something like this. It's a big risk."

Violet's lips were pursed in thought, and she took a deep breath before leaning closer towards Ariana to speak. "I still think we should use the match to take down all three wolves."

"No. Not Liam." Ariana shook her head defiantly, giving Violet a look that dared her to disagree. She had briefly mentioned her early morning conversation with Liam to the other two, but she may have left out certain details. Like the fact that she had willingly agreed to make things official with a werewolf. If they could withhold information from her she figured she was entitled to do the same. And anyway, Ariana had a feeling Violet and Garrett wouldn't react too well to that information. Still, Ariana couldn't pretend that she was okay with taking Liam down.

"Oh come on Ari, he's been lying to you all this time. And he's a werewolf. Don't you want to get some revenge? Take him down? This game is the perfect chance." Violet lowered her voice as she looked at Ariana, eyebrows raised.

"Look," Ariana said slowly as her brain whirled into action, "I think it would be better for us if we leave Liam for now. I think I'm back on his good side now so maybe I can keep pretending things are fine and we can use him to get more information on McCall's pack."

Violet's eyes widened slightly. "Wait, you want to fake date him to get info? Damn Ari, that's cruel."

"Now I'm cruel? We're literally planning a murder here," Ariana hissed, lowering her voice slightly as a group of students walked a little too close past her. Honestly, did the students of Beacon Hills have no sense of boundaries?

Garrett and Violet were eyeing each other doubtfully though, clearly uncertain of Ariana's ability to pull off this ruse. After all, she wasn't the actor of their little group. That role generally went to Garrett, ever the king of dramatics, or Violet when they needed someone to lure a target somewhere. Ariana was the one with the clean hands, almost always keeping out of the action itself. This ruse would possibly put her straight into the action, but Ariana could see that Garrett was already considering it. He looked back at Ariana, his brow furrowed as he ignored Violet's hushed protests.

"Come on, Garrett. You know I can do it. If I can get close to Liam I can get close to the whole pack and get dirt on them all. Trust me, give me a week and I'll find McCall's weakness." The words fell from her lips easily as she pleaded with Garrett but she could also feel her own curiosity burning already. She liked Liam, but she did like the idea of a little research project.

"Fine. Okay, you'll pretend to date Liam. But be careful. Don't forget what he really is. He's dangerous and for all we know he's using you too," Garrett warned carefully as he began to usher the two girls forwards again. They made their way towards the cafeteria, Ariana's eyes already darting around to find Liam's face. He was sitting at their usual table with Mason beside him, the two of them engaged in what looked like a heated discussion but what was probably just about that video game they were obsessed with.

"Okay, so we're doing this? We're actually letting her do this?" Violet interrupted Ariana's observations to hiss at Garrett. "This is insane."

Garrett glanced over at Ariana as they walked to the end of the cafeteria line and shrugged his shoulders. "Ari has a point. This is our best chance to get the dirt on the rest of that pack. She can be our insider."

"Fine," Violet huffed finally, clearly more miffed about the fact that that she didn't get to play undercover for once rather than being actually concerned for Ariana. "But when this goes horribly wrong and Liam figures out you're just using him, don't come crying to me."

"Violet, we've been teenage assassins for a year. I think I've perfected my ability to lie pretty well by now. I'll be fine." Ariana didn't mention that it wouldn't be much of a lie. Sure, she was very aware of her ulterior motive, but she would be lying to herself if she didn't acknowledge the butterflies that had swooped into her stomach the moment she spotted Liam in the cafeteria. She'd be lying if she pretended the Benefactor's list was the only thing drawing her to Liam.

Not that she dared to actually admit that aloud. To admit that was to make it real, and as long as she let Garrett and Violet believe she was using Liam, she could pretend it was true. For now she could continue this act, deliberately ignorant of the possibility that she could actually be falling for a werewolf.


"Wolfsbane. That's wolfsbane?" Garrett frowned as he watched Ariana stirring the liquid around in the beaker. He had been silently watching her working on liquifying the yellow flower into a poison for a few minutes now while Violet sat scrolling through Garrett's deadpool creature notes on her phone. They'd managed to sneak into an unused Chemistry lab after school, easily shaking Liam off as he ducked away with Mason to get warmed up for the game. The three orphans were running on limited time now, keenly aware of the looming match and murder taking place only an hour away.

"Yes, I told you already." Ariana didn't bother to look up at Garrett as she answered his question. She knew he was a little on edge but his questions were getting a little irritating as she tried to work.

"I thought wolfsbane was purple."

"Not this species. Which is very rare and very expensive," Violet added, looking up from her phone to give Garrett a pointed look.

Garrett frowned back at her, waving a hand up in indignation. "What's that supposed to mean? Don't screw up?"

"She just means don't miss," Ariana said calmly, keeping her eyes focused on the liquid. She had been more than pleased to get her hands on this wolfsbane given its potent reputation. It hadn't been easy to get her hands on since it was so rare, but thanks to her handy connections with several corrupt chemists and florists around town, she'd tracked down enough to take down a wolf.

"Are you sure it's going to be enough?" Violet asked doubtfully, her eyes trained on the beaker as Ariana worked.

"Violet, have I ever let you down? Trust me, this will work," Ariana assured Violet, giving the liquid a stir and watching it swish around in the beaker. Surely Violet knew better than to doubt Ariana's poisons. "All you have to do is nick him, that's it."

"Even on an alpha…" Violet spoke carefully, moving closer to Ariana with a vaguely unnerving look of excitement in her eyes.

"Violet, come on, don't do this now," Ariana said with a sigh, glancing up at Garrett who had narrowed his eyes at Violet, clearly already preparing his argument yet again. "I don't want to listen to you and Garrett bickering about this again when I'm trying to focus."

Ariana understood Violet's desire to take down Scott, she really did. He was responsible for turning Liam into a monster and he was worth a lot of money. But Ariana was also sensible and she knew taking him down would take more than just a splash of wolfsbane.

"I'm just saying, I don't know why we're going after that beta when there's an alpha on the field. I get why we're leaving Liam. I do, and that's fine. Whatever, we can take him down the next time he pisses Ari off," Violet said, nodding her head at Ariana, "But this is our best chance to take down the alpha without getting caught."

Garrett dropped his head down in irritation as he let out a sigh. "An entire pack of alphas went after McCall and he was the one left standing," was all he said back.

"It's a lot of money."

"So's the beta. We go after him and only him tonight. It's a big public event and I don't want to draw suspicion to us so tonight we stick to the plan. After that we can start crossing off the McCall pack." Garrett threw Violet a stern look, waiting until she had dropped her head down in defeat before he relaxed.

"Fine, I guess that gives Ari some time to get closer to Liam so she can get more information," Violet admitted.

Ariana didn't add that she was also avoiding hurting Liam because of her own feelings for him. That information was better kept to herself until she worked out her feelings properly. "Alright, it's ready," she said finally, holding the liquified wolfsbane up to eye level with a satisfied smirk.

It was a relatively simple poison to make up since all she really needed was the wolfsbane, but she'd thrown in a bit of spare Pancuronium Bromide that she'd found in her chemical collection to help paralyse the wolf if the wolfsbane didn't work quick enough. This was definitely one of her favourite poisons so far. Simple but hopefully very effective.

Garrett lifted his lacrosse stick up, pulling the top section off to reveal the dagger within. Ariana carefully lowered a dropper into the beaker to get most of the poison before moving the dropper to hover over the dagger. With a steady hand she squeezed the dropper, letting the poison slowly drip down the dagger until the it was completely coated.

Sliding the dagger back into his lacrosse stick, Garret smirked at the other two orphans. "Alright ladies. Everybody good on the plan?"

Ariana exchanged a quick eye roll with Violet. They both knew he was asking a rhetorical question as he prepared himself to launch into another spiel, breaking down the plan into something a lot more complicated than it actually was. "Of course, but you're going to go through it all anyway," Ariana said, putting the dropper back into the beaker carefully and dusting her hands off as she waited for Garrett to launch into the plan.

"Alright, so as soon as I get eyes on the beta, I'll give you both the signal and point him out for you. I'll wait until I get a clear shot and then I'll nick him. He'll probably get carried off the field and back to the nursing office, so Violet you'll need to intervene and get rid of any other witnesses. Just be discreet if you can. We don't get paid for any extra bodies."

Violet let out a long suffering sigh, earning a pointed glare from Garrett who held her gaze until she nodded. "Fine, keep the casualties to a minimum. I get it. Continue."

"Right." Garrett smirked, satisfied as he launched back into it, "Now Ari, you'll have the extra wolfsbane with you so you stick near Violet and keep an eye out for anyone who might walk past."

"I'm the eyes then," Ariana confirmed, pleased that she hadn't just been delegated to the sidelines this time. It was still slightly out of the action but it was better than being told to stay on the bleachers.

Garrett nodded, a familiar cocky grin sliding onto his face. "Exactly. And be on alert for the beta's pack. We don't know if they'll be at the match but they might try to help him."

"Don't worry, I've got the ordinary wolfsbane with me as well, just in case," Ariana said with a smirk.

"Perfect. Hopefully we can make this as clean as possible. We've still got the McCall pack to go after so we really don't want to get caught or make anyone suspicious. We get the job done and then I finish the game."

Violet flashed her wicked grin at Ariana as they followed Garrett out of the lab and through the corridors towards the lacrosse field. "You ready to get a little richer?" she asked Ariana as they stepped outside.

Ariana let out a deep breath as she nodded her head, a dark expression briefly brushing over her face. "I'm ready. It's show time."


A/N: Thanks for reading another chapter! We're getting closer to the juicy stuff with the lacrosse scrimmage approaching so although we didn't have a lot of action in this chapter, I can promise you it's not far away now. As usual please leave a little review if you have a moment, however short! I always love hearing people's thoughts on each chapter! And feel free to check out my tumblr (fraysquake) for Ariana edits and chapter sneak peaks :)