Chapter 7

Mason pulls out his phone again double-checking the time and that he hasn't missed a message from Liam. Nope definitely not late and no new messages, God he was as nervous as though he was going on a first date for goodness sake! Mason chuckled to himself; with the wacky pile of weirdness that his life had become lately it was meeting his friend at a coffee shop that was making him go all jittery? He really needed to sort out his priorities and work on those survival instincts that were a must have for all Beacon Hills High School students interested in staying alive till graduation.

He had pretty much run out of places to look for Liam when he got the cryptic text from his best friend earlier asking him to meet here. Honestly he had started to get a bit worried, what with everything that Liam must be trying to deal with and him not being the most level headed of individuals … Mason was just glad that he had reached out and the message had seemed really chill and normal, so that was a good sign, right?

The coffee shop was full of the usual crowds enjoying a slow Sunday afternoon relaxing in the sun. All so very normal and clueless Mason thought as he scanned the gathered people for a sign of his friend, maybe he should get himself a coffee while he waited?

"Mace!"

Mason looks towards the sound of his name to see a smiling Liam heading towards him, his hand raised in greeting. Wait, smiling? What? "Liam?"

As soon as he is close enough Liam pulls Mason into a big hug. "Hey man thanks for coming to meet me here."

"No worries. You look, good … are you okay? Where have you been?"

Dropping his arms from around Mason, Liam scans the crowd as if searching for someone and seems satisfied with what he finds, "Hey you want a coffee or something, my treat?"

"Sure, caffeinate me! And by all means please keep things as cryptic as possible."

Liam just smiles at him and heads inside the coffee shop throwing back a cheeky wink.

"So I'll just stay here then? Find us a seat?" Mason calls out to Liam's back as he walks away and getting no response he sits down at an empty outside table shaking his head and muttering quietly to himself, "Kid's cracking up." While he waits his knee won't stop bobbing up and down as though possessed by a very nervous ghost, he has no idea exactly what he had expected but it was absolutely nothing in the vicinity of what was currently playing out and it was kinda weirding him out. Oh yea caffeine was totally the best solution to dealing with his situation right now.

When Liam returns he is carrying two giant sugary cream covered coffees drowning in syrup and chocolate powder. He takes a seat at the table passing one of the coffees over to Mason and nervously takes a pull on his own super sweet creation. Unable to stand the lack of information Mason can't sit in this painful silence any longer, "Sooo what's up with the Bond-like coffee shop rendezvous?" Looking at Liam with his chocolaty creamy moustache he chuckles, "Well maybe more Cody Banks than Bond …"

Liam grins and ducks his head wiping his moustache off with the back of his hand, "Yea I guess it is a bit. I just wanted to meet up somewhere we weren't gonna run into anyone you know."

"Anyone like Scott you mean?"

Liam keeps his gaze focused on his coffee as his fingers fiddle with the edges of the takeaway cup, "Yeah, I just, I'm not ready to see him and deal with that all yet you know."

"He's looking for you, Liam." Liam looks up to meet Mason's earnest eyes. "He's worried about you, you should talk to him."

Liam sighs, "I know, but not yet okay, I have to sort some things out first and then, maybe …"

"Maybe? Really Liam? I get that you're angry and I can't imagine what you are going through with Hayden … but you aren't exactly Mr. Innocent here either, at least let him know you're alive."

Liam reaches a hand up and rubs it over his face, a pained sigh escaping through his fingers, "God this is all such a mess Mace, I really screwed up, so big, I don't know how I'm gonna face him after… "

"Liam it wasn't all your fault, I mean not great life choices! But he'll understand. What with losing Hayden … and the super moon and that snake Theo!"

"Yeah I guess, but it's not that simple Mace, you don't know everything." Liam sets his cup down on the table in front of him, "Look I've got something to tell you and it's really big, it's why I wanted you to meet me."

Mason could feel his eyebrows shooting into his hairline, more news? Man what else could there possibly be? "You mean there's more?"

Liam leaned in closer, "So you've been doing a bit of reading up on werewolves and stuff right, since you found out?"

"Ye-ah…" Where on Earth could he be going with this?

"So how much do you know about how a pack works? You know like with Alphas and Betas and being connected and stuff?"

"Um, well just the basics so far I guess, like only an Alpha can make a werewolf and then they become a Beta and have a connection to the Alpha that made them. But I don't know a lot about packs especially like with Lydia and Stiles and Kira and those guys how they aren't even wolves but are kinda all in a pack, sort of, I think?"

Liam chews on his bottom lip, his brow slightly furrowed in thought, "How about wolves switching packs and becoming part of new packs?"

Really, where the heck was Liam going with this? "Well I know they can but I don't know how, I'd have to do more research on that one …"

Liam takes a long drink of his coffee and seems to be weighing up his words before asking his next question, "How about Alphas? Can a Beta swap Alphas?"

Mason exhales as he sits back in his seat, "Liam what is this about? Why would you want to know about swapping Alphas dude? Is this about the library? Do you still blame Scott for Hayden?"

"No it's not that, not really, well kind of. I mean it is about Hayden but it's not what you think." Liam could hear himself rambling and the sugar-injected caffeine was really not helping get his nervous tongue under control. He looked over at Mason and could see utter confusion written across his features mixed with concern, the poor guy probably thinks I'm losing it, God why was he so nervous to tell his best friend this amazing news? Because what if it isn't real? What if … No Liam stop, now you ARE being crazy, you are a fricken werewolf, you know a banshee and a kitsune and chimera and that's only the tip of the Beacon Hills iceberg, so of course Hayden is back and she is perfect and wonderful and "Hayden is back!"

Liam wouldn't have been totally sure that he had blurted that out loud if it wasn't for the look of complete surprise on Mason's face followed quickly by concern.

"I don't know how he did it but somehow Theo saved her and she's back!" and Liam just couldn't stop the goofy grin from spreading across his face.

Mason just sits there and lets out a quiet breath before rubbing his hand across his forehead and crossing his arms over his chest, concern still coating his features. It felt like an eternity before he finally spoke, his voice calm and gentle, "Liam, you can't believe anything Theo says, as much as you want to, and trust me I get how much you would want to believe this I do, but the guy is a lying snake and he's dangerous man he'll say anything to get what he wants. He's just using you and I'm sorry to be the one to burst this beautiful bubble, hell I want to jump onboard the Hayden's back train too but it's just another one of his cruel manipulations."

"No Mace, it's true!"

"I get you want it to be but/"

"/No you don't understand, I've seen her!"

One of Mason's eyebrows raises, his classic tell that he was being confronted with crazy and his mind was trying to make sense of it, "What do you mean, you've seen her?"

"That's where I've been for the last couple of days, with Hayden, at Theo's place."

And looking at Liam's face Mason can tell that his friend is telling the truth; the crazy just keeps on coming I guess, "You're right Liam, I don't understand, how is this even possible, I mean I was there, I saw her die man."

"I don't know, all I know is that I have her back and I can't lose her again. But somehow bringing her back made her part of Theo's pack and since it doesn't look like he'll be joining forces with Scott anytime soon I have to figure out how I can become a part of his pack so that we can stay together. The best bit is that you can come with me too man, Theo likes you and he wants you to join us."

"Now you're an 'US'? What about Scott and the others, are you just going to abandon them for Theo after what he's done to them, to all of us?"

The smile that had been plastered on Liam's face as he spoke of Hayden falters and his eyes drop back down to his hands, his voice losing the excited edge, "I almost killed him, Scott, and I would have if you hadn't been there. They won't even want me after what I've done and I don't blame them, this way it makes it easier for everyone, I can be with Hayden and they don't have to feel bad about not wanting me around and we can still be family.

Look I don't trust Theo, not anymore, I know there is stuff that he is hiding, but he brought Hayden back and that's not nothing …" Liam looks up and directly into Mason's eyes, "Think of it this way, if you and I join Theo's pack we can keep tabs on them, we'll be able to find out what he's up to and make sure that Scott and the others are safe and in the loop," The corners of his mouth tug upwards shyly into a lopsided smile, "Like a couple of regular double O agents."

Mason does not like the way this is going but one look at Liam's face shows him there is no getting him to veer off this course right now; but who knows maybe it's a moot point, he just doesn't have nearly enough information to help make any kind of decision about such big stuff, "Look slow down there Jason Bourne, let's not make any rash decisions okay, this is all so far above my pay grade. Last year life was all so painfully average and now, talk about a learning curve! We need to talk to someone who knows more about all of this stuff and no one knows more about anything than Stiles, he's always the man with the plan and he's been living in wolf world way longer than either of us."

Liam doesn't exactly look thrilled at this suggestion and his response confirms Masons' suspicions, "I don't know Mace, I mean I agree if anyone will know anything it'll be Stiles but I don't really want to involve Scott just yet, not until we've wrapped our heads around things a bit more."

"Oh I don't think you'll have to worry about that, not after what went down at school yesterday. Let's just say there is no way that Scott and Stiles are sitting down for coffee and chats with each other any time soon. Definite trauma in paradise situation."

As though that has decided everything, Liam stands up pushing his chair back from the table. "If you're sure then, why don't you come with me to Theo's and you can see Hayden for yourself, then we can get in touch with Stiles and see if he has any answers for us. And on the way you can fill me in on the story that goes with that crazyarse headline!"

As the two friends walk away from the coffee shop Mason launches into a blow-by-blow recount of the previous days Stiles vs Theo vs Scott excitement complete with actions, voices and side commentary.