A short growl rippled from Theo as threw himself to ground, only just landing on his bed. The thin mattress topper wasn't much of an insulator against the floor, but it was something. He would have kept sleeping on the bare wood if Mason hadn't supplied the topper. Anything was better than the deputies waking him up every few hours in his truck. Staying with Mason was straightforward logic and necessity. Comfort never meant much compared to survival.
He shook himself, a crawling sensation scuttling over his skin yet again. For a moment he debated shredding his skin off, wondering if there was another spider beneath it. Three days of near-constant itching was driving him insane. The moon never drove him this crazy. Not even as a freshly made chimera had he felt so wrong in his skin.
Granted, a lot of things are harder than they should be at the moment, he thought to himself with a long sigh as he brought his hand up, fingertips grazing the chilly glass. His focus landed on his own streaky face, twisted in an expression he didn't recognize in his own features. With a brusk snort, he pushed his focus past the window.
According to Mason, everything would settle after they got Liam back. He stretched a hand to the window, a pit forming in his stomach, similar to when black tendrils snaked through his veins but colder. Part of him wanted to charge in regardless of the plan, to run straight at the idiots and let his wolf tear their throats out. Screw the pack. Let them scream all they wanted about murder being wrong. Liam would be safe.
He needed to keep it under control just a little longer, or else Stiles would shackle him in Lydia's lake-house basement. It would be a significant downgrade from Mason's attic, which aside from the dust and the squeaky floor, was nice. Beyond nice, actually, given Mason said it could be his space as long as he wanted. Being a guest at the Dunbar's was nice for a while, but the cheery warmth suffocated him at times.
His lack of permanent accommodations never bugged him. Why would it? His family moved a lot, and the Dread Doctors even more often. Nothing lasted forever, except him. He was the strongest chimera, the longest lasting experiment, the one that never bled silver. Somehow he would make the hand life dealt him work. Sure, it sometimes involved a little light thievery or going a way out of Beacon Hills to find some quick, quiet cash, but that was life. Survival of the fittest. Everything was about survival till he came back.
He wiped the pane again, brushing away the dull, moist coating. There was nothing new on the street. His wolf and coyote whined, almost pushing one out of his own throat. What did he expect? The chances of Liam stumbling up the rainy street after two weeks of being missing were slimmer than slim to none.
He should have seen this whole mess coming, should have stopped it before it got anywhere near this far. What was he good at besides hurting people? Lying, maybe. He nodded to himself, relaxing the death grip he had around his knees. Deception was a game he mastered too young and still played too well for his own good. He couldn't lie about this, though. Not even to himself anymore, thanks to Mason.
"I didn't mean for it to get this far," he said, sliding his hand down the glass, leaving a smeared streak through the condensation. "We both know I'm not built for falling. Not even a little." He pressed his forehead to the glass, scrunching his eyes closed. "Not really falling though, when you don't even realize it's happening, is it? More like violently crashing." A brief smile tugged at his lips. "What isn't violent between us? I still owe you for breaking my nose last year."
He reached to wipe at the fog, leaving streaky condensation marks. Six years seemed like a lifetime ago. It might as well have been. He wasn't even close to the same person as the kid sent to weasel into Liam's pack and take over. It still didn't feel like enough, though. The blood on his hands would never fully wash off.
"You should sleep," Mason sighed, stopping at the top of the steps.
Theo hid his face, tucking his chin to his chest away from Mason, unable to subdue the familiar tingle of his claws sliding from his nail beds in a defensive instinct before registering that it was only Mason behind him. How had he not noticed him coming upstairs? Not for the first time, he was happy Mason couldn't hear the way his heart sped up or smell how drastically the air just changed. The flinch telegraphed everything, though. Bizarrely, he was more apt to catch things than most of the supernaturals in the pack. Sometimes it was beyond helpful, other times it was more annoying than anything else.
Sleep had not been his friend the last few nights. Calling it his friend in general was a stretch. He huffed, silently shaking his head at the chill shooting through his body. On instinct, his knees and chin tucked tighter into his chest, semi-purposefully avoiding Mason's eyes, despite how much they burned a hole in his back.
He hated sleeping. Especially since… He shuddered.
Nightmares flocked to him, feeding off every crooked instinct and ceaselessly poking at the cracks in his good side no matter how he tried to patch them up. Regardless of their unhelpfulness, those were familiar by now. He could manage them, more or less. As much as anyone could manage watching their sister rip the heart from their chest, at least. These new nightmares though…
"I'm not human. I don't need sleep," Theo blurted.
"Bullshit. Corey sleeps like eleven hours a day," Mason said, laughter bubbling into his voice as he sat beside Theo. "And that's when I wake him up. He'd sleep the whole damn day if he could."
A feelings talk was not what he needed. Nothing was going to fix these nightmares. Talking fixed nothing. Words were too easy to twist into roundabout half-truths. He rubbed at his arms, trying to soothe prickling skin as the memory of being pulled into Hell jumped to the front of his mind. The movement turned from soothing to vicious as the goosebumps worsened, hoping they weren't visible in the moonlight to a normal person.
"He's always been a special case." Theo looked over his shoulder, half-smiling, before refocusing on the dim tree-line. After a moment he sighed, shoulders softening as he wrapped his arms around his knees again. "I'll sleep when Stiles does."
"So, when they're home?"
"Yeah," he said, voice small, even to his own ears.
What happened to the big, bad chimera that was searching for the strongest pack the world had ever known? One second he was inches away from being the most powerful supernatural creature to ever exist, the next he was curled up, torn and sniffling like he was nine again. This wasn't how things should be. Handling stressful situations, playing the game without breaking a sweat about its outcome was his trademark. So why was the gnawing at his bones and tingling in his gut turning to fear when he thought about tomorrow's plan?
He dropped his head forward, pressing his forehead on his knees. All he ever had on the line with the Doctors was his own life. If he screwed up either he could talk his way out or he'd be dead. Nothing too major.
An image of Liam, bloodied but not bleeding, roaring at him, but the roar was so distorted with anger it hardly sounded like him flashed into Theo's mind. He tightened his grip on his legs, all but shaking.
"Damn nightmares," he grumbled under his breath, muffling the words in his knees.
"Huh?"
Theo shook his head, forcing himself to slacken his grip and straighten one of his legs. "Nothing."
Everything was so different now. Others dying never mattered before. Just another day in the life. Now though, he had to consider others, had to play the games knowing that there were people he'd jump in front of a bullet for on the line.
A beat of silence stretched between them before Mason spoke again, placing a gentle hand on Theo's shoulder, "Seriously, get some sleep. You're no good if you're too tired to fight."
"I'm not part of the fighting, remember? Exterior support," he huffed, the air souring around him.
Logic dictated it was the best plan. No one could predict how he would react inside the factory. He could blow the entire plan before it started if his animals took over. Keeping him back was the safe play, but that didn't stop his teeth from grinding or his shoulders from tensing. He wanted to leave a message for any other enemies that at least someone in Beacon Hills spilled blood and wouldn't hesitate to crack a few eggs. It was the wrong instinct, and he knew it, but that didn't make it any easier to ignore. Nor did the coyote's salivation at the idea of letting loose, or the wolf's strangling desire to protect Liam and his friends.
"Aka, the back-up in case it all goes to hell, which mind you, it always does."
"Only because you're all idiots," Theo chuckled.
"Hey, I take offense to that," Mason grumped, playfully shoving Theo's shoulder as he stood. "Just try to sleep, okay? I've got a feeling you're going to need it."
Theo sighed, shifting to look over his shoulder as Mason walked to the ladder-stairs, "No guarantees."
—
"Okay, people, get your team's gear and split up. Make sure all radios are on frequency three," Chris ordered.
Theo had to admit, the man was pretty intimidating, standing in a room full of supernatural creatures and ordering them around. No one blinked an eye at it. Not even Peter, and that man's sole goal in life was to piss off Stiles by any means necessary. The way the eggheads planned the attack out seemed pretty foolproof, down to the distraction and setting up a communications spot outside the foundry.
With a curt nod to Argent, Theo turned and headed out the room with the others. The slowness from the last few weeks evaporating with the sense of mission electrifying the air. He stopped a few feet away, scanning the small crowd for Jordan. They were supposed to set up a final tracker along a perimeter around the old foundry, creating a perimeter monitoring system. Then they would go on the attack. Well, everyone else. He was the watchdog for the system, tracking down any renegades without butchering them, per Stiles' rules.
The moon might have passed and their little tiff in the woods may have been a couple weeks ago, but that hadn't made his animals any less prickled by Stiles' rebukes or jokes. For a moment he focused through the vague sounds of chatter, hearing Lydia's harsh whispered tone as he walked.
"Do you trust him?" She asked.
"Not one bit… His anger, though? That I trust," Stiles answered.
He smirked, slightly tilting his head as he kept moving, sliding his hands into his jacket pockets. Quiet, under-his-breath chuckles slipped out. The wolf preened under the praise, determinedly ignoring the first part. It was stupid and childish. He knew it, but that didn't matter as Mason's words from the tunnels rang in his ears, 'No one will ever forgive or trust you. Ever.' Having an iota of trust from anyone in the pack was miles from where he started fresh out of the ground.
For the moment Lydia seemed to trust him okay. She reserved her vaguely murderous energy for Peter. One day he would ask what the older wolf had done to earn her prolonged wrath. Parrish was a wildcard, neither trusting nor distrusting him, still unhappy about the beast fiasco awakening the hellhound. Theo maintained his only involvement with it was using Parrish to find the chimeras. As far as that period in his life went, that was one of the comparatively bloodless things he did, and ultimately worked out in their favor. Especially for Mason and Liam.
He barely stifled the growl his animals pushed through him, snapping viciously in unison at the images swarming him. Liam's open, gentle smiles that were never meant for him and the glow throughout his whole being that Theo knew would disappear if he drew the wolf's attention from Hayden. Even back then, Liam mattered more than he was willing to admit.
"You've got the plan, right? You're coming, but you're not coming inside." Stiles lifted his bat, pointing it at Theo's nose. "No matter what."
Thankfully Stiles couldn't smell the blood leaking from his palms where black claws broke through skin. No need to hand him yet another reason to rethink his place in the plan. Anyone could run the perimeter. They didn't need an unstable chimera for that.
Besides, even if Theo felt like arguing, the thick creases and tight-set line of his lips would have him thinking twice. It was downright steely, all frigid with not an ounce of give. Nothing like the Stiles he remembered from fourth grade.
Mason stopped beside them, slinging a second tranq gun over his shoulder. "Are we going, or what?"
—
Theo sighed as Mason tripped over another root, his arms flailing on instinct. He threw out a hand, intent on stopping him from falling all the way to the ground. It was almost smacked away, but Mason hastily grabbed on and flung himself back into an upright position.
"Thanks," Mason mumbled, straightening out the guns slung over his shoulders.
Theo shrugged, turning his head to Mason, though his senses stayed focused on Stiles and Parrish ahead of them, "Don't mention it."
They were beyond the Preserve's boundaries, closer to enemy territory than home. One wrong step now and the whole rescue was screwed. The other teams had split off not long ago, each getting into their positions, waiting for word from Stiles. Theo had tried to follow them with his ears, but he lost them quickly.
Everything about the spazz had turned cold when they left his basement, even the determination that leaked off him in droves. It concerned him more than he figured would be appropriate to voice. Who was he to question the brains of Pack McCall? Not that anyone other than Mason would listen, and even then he was likely to get asked if it was out of jealousy.
His footsteps were louder than he liked as he tromped ahead, following the obvious trail Parrish and Stiles left behind them. The hairs on the nape of his neck bristled, making his lip curl. They could be tracked too easily this way, and the coyote was railing against such an amateur move. It snapped at him mercilessly, howling about being followed, about how useless he was being by hiding in the shadows.
"You doing okay?" Mason asked, his voice silencing the coyote for a moment.
"I'm fine," Theo growled under his breath.
The wolf joined the coyote, snarling at him, hackles raised. Neither would abide by his attempts as stoicism, not when he so blatantly wasn't even in the same universe as okay. He pushed forward, moving faster through the trees than Mason could, taking advantage of his superior night vision. Just a little longer, he told himself, fighting to keep his own lip from twitching as the animals growled louder. Nothing soothed them anymore. His wolf's growl reverberated through his body, physically shaking him.
Stiles' groan pulled him back, stopping him in his tracks a few feet away. He took a steadying breath, forcing back his animals, ignoring how furious they both were. In that moment, they were distractions, drowning out the world, pulling him too far in. There was no way he could focus with them so close to the surface. This mission was too important.
By the time he had himself under tight enough control, Parrish had already set up the sonic motion detector and huddled with the other two. He guessed they were going over the timing one more time with the others over their radios, if the snippets he caught were any indication.
"Where is the idiot, anyway?"
"I'm right here," snorted Theo, walking closer and tossing his bag to the ground.
"Surprisingly enough," Stiles glanced up at him, "I'm not talking about you." He refocused on the radio, "Beta team, you have ears on Corey and Isaac?"
"No contact," Derek huffed.
"Give them another minute. They don't have a radio with them," Lydia said, her 'I told you so' expression audible.
Stiles glared at the device before dropping his hand exasperatedly to his side, looking to Theo. "It had to be one of you causing problems."
His wolf bristled at the remark, a low growl catching in Theo's throat. He cut it off with a huff, forcing himself back a step. Maybe he had been a tad overzealous in promising to not maul anyone tonight when he bargained to come.
Isaac's voice cut through the silence, yanking everyone's focus to the radio in Stiles' hand, "At beta team. Spark plug is a go."
A loud boom sounded from the southward side of the compound, rattling the leafless trees. It's orange glow lit up the trees that were scattered around the half-decrepit building as white streams flooded from the interior, stabbing into the woods. Theo couldn't help but smile and shake his head as Stiles started flapping his arms and stuttering beside him, looking for the radio still in his hand.
Any other situation and he might have sat back smiling to himself, leaving the spazz to figure it out on his own. The itching in his nail-beds and still-bristling hair on his neck did not let him enjoy the sight, instead forcing him forward. He grabbed Stiles' wrist firmly, careful not to let too much of his anger seep into the grip. Breaking the pack mother was not a good idea at the moment.
"Small fire! I said to set a small fire. This is not small!"
"Did you want it to be effective or not?" Isaac snorted.
"Effective," Stiles said reluctantly, scowling furiously at the radio in his hand, "but did it have to be so huge?"
"Yes! We're luring out hunters, not weekend firefighters or girl-scouts."
Another brief chuckle built in Theo's throat at the frustrated grumble that rolled out of Stiles, still not used to how thoroughly Isaac got under his skin. The wolf was a true master of the art form, almost better than he was. Almost.
"If you blow this place up before we're all out of here, I'm never letting you near fire again, young man," Stiles grumped.
The indignant smirk in Isaac's voice turned stiff. "I won't touch a match for a year so long as we get them out."
Theo's jaw clenched at the words, holding himself silently in place despite the howling agreement both his animals were letting off inside him. A snarl twitched across his face as he stepped away, beating back the wolf and coyote as they surged forward, howling to go on the offensive and attacking with the pack. His gums itched painfully as he ground his teeth, forcing his fangs to recede. The force of it had him shaking.
Didn't they understand he wanted to rip the hunters to shreds without them wearing at his self-control?
"Move out."
The firm command and press of the radio into his hand jerked Theo out of his head. He blinked quickly, taking in the shrinking shapes of Parrish and Mason before he zeroed in on Stiles, watching him, his stern face softening just an ounce. It was enough to make him smirk.
"I know. Stay here. No being the prince of collateral damage," he blurted, sighing in relief as he lifted his free hand and didn't see claws, placating Stiles before he got a word out.
"Right."
With that Stiles turned, disappearing after the other two. His chest ached as he strained his ears to follow their footsteps, yearning to run after them. Both his animals whined, adding their not-so-quiet opinions to his ache, worsening it. He wanted to scream at them, remind them who was in charge, who was in control.
He snarled, turning, lashing out at the nearest tree, slicing easily through the bark. It wasn't the target he wanted to rip apart, but it was the best he could get his claws into. The quiet forest dissolved, coyote howling, throwing its weight alongside the wolf, turning the blows from therapeutic into a frenzy he wouldn't have been able to stop even if he wanted to.
By the time the coyote surrendered the last vestiges of control back to him, he was sweating, shoulders heaving. Several young trees were scattered around him, blood spattering them from where the wood had its revenge on his hands. It was a small price to pay for at least a degree of quiet.
He could breathe.
The itching ache in his chest was still there, tugging him towards the foundry, but it was bearable. More of a nagging sensation than maddening, not unlike the pesky morals Liam was always griping at him about.
His eyes widened as he wrenched his left hand up, staring at it as his panic knocked the air out of him. Where had he put the radio?! He spun, eyes raking over the ground, hoping he hadn't shattered it in his rampage. Relief rushed through him as he spotted the antenna half-buried beneath debris and threw himself forward, snatching the radio from the ground. The sound of it would have pulled him back, he assured himself, swallowing around the shame bubbling in his gut.
"THEO!" Stiles' screech froze his blood.
"Stiles?"
"You know what I said about staying put?" Before Theo could answer Stiles continued, "Ignore it! Get your ass in here. Now!"
Theo took off, leaping through the sparse forest, abandoning the radio in favor of dropping forward onto all fours. Both animals fell in step, singularly focused on getting to the foundry, getting to the pack. His claws slid out, allowing him to grip the ground and push forward faster.
All of him was in sync as he moved effortlessly, picking up Stiles' scent trail without blinking, darting smoothly to follow its weaving path through the trees despite his lack of familiarity with the terrain. The white light streaming from the base helped guide him, backlighting the chain-link barrier that surrounded it. He hardly slowed his approach, racing steadily towards the fence, leaping easily to the top. His feet barely touched the metal for a fraction of a second before pushing off, putting him halfway to the building as he landed, already crouched, ready to spring.
Few hunters remained outside. The near-deafening popping of gunshots told him they were all occupied inside. His coyote grumped for a moment, salivating at the thought of delivering just a sliver of the payback these monsters deserved.
The thought was shoved aside as a familiar scream cut through the air, snapping his focus back to the others. He launched forward again, a roaring howl slipping from him this time, both as a warning to the hunters and a call to the pack. Several answered him, but not the one he wished would.
Strained human screams rose to his call. He couldn't pinpoint the source of the sounds. They were too hidden beneath the gunfire echoing throughout the steel-filled structure. A short growl rose in his chest. He shook his head, refocusing on the distinct chemical smell in Stiles' scent. Even among the blood, sulfur and acrid smoke overwhelming the air, he would be hard pressed to lose it.
He skidded around a corner, claws gouging the ground for purchase. Slowing down was nowhere near an option, even as he noticed the hunter down the hall taking aim. He smirked, pushing off the ground, pulling his legs into a half-tuck and angling himself to bounce off the wall. The surprise on the hunter's face had him chuckling as he sailed over the man's head, knee meeting his chin is a blow so forceful he winced at the cracking.
As his hands touched the ground, he was already pulling his legs underneath himself again, careening forward without a glance back. If he was dead, then at least he hadn't mauled him, so technically his promise was still unbroken. Stiles might not agree, but when did they ever agree on anything?
The scent nearly knocked him off balance as he burst through a door. Only his wolf's quick reflexes kept him from staggering too much as he threw himself back onto two feet, effectively jerking to a stop in a single step. Several hunters turned to face him, guns still pointed in the opposite direction. Their mistake, he chuckled inwardly, lowering into a half-crouch, lips peeling back in a warning snarl.
Before any had the chance to fully turn, he lunged.
He was on the first hunter in two strides, swiping the gun from his hands, unbalancing him. It would have been easy to bring his other hand swinging up and tear open his carotid artery. With a vicious roar, he brought his elbow down at the base of his skull. He didn't waste a second, shifting to focus to the next target.
She met him as he moved towards her, slashing his chest with her knife. A brief hiss was his only reaction to the searing pain. Physical pain meant nothing. He grabbed her wrist, twisting it. She contorted to the ground with a shriek. The sound cut off quickly as he kneed her, proceeding to toss her unconscious body into the hunter sprinting towards him.
A pink dart landed in the man's shoulder as he struggled to shift the woman off of him. Not a second later, he slumped to the ground. Theo looked around, finding no threats he relaxed his shoulders and lowered his arms.
"Anything else you need help with?" Theo asked, finally not faking the controlled smirk he was giving Stiles as he and Lydia came over.
"They others are in a mountain ash trap," Stiles replied, frowning at the unconscious bodies around them.
"Why didn't you guys stick to the quadrant break down?"
"They got lucky and took down Argent and Peter in one go, so our team came to reinforce and protect, which is when they got Jordan. Malia's team walked right into the ash room," Lydia answered, her voice hoarser than he had ever heard it.
"What do you want me to do?" Theo asked, looking to Stiles.
As much as Theo knew where he wanted to go, this wasn't his operation and the next move wasn't his to call. None of the decisions tonight were up to him. And more than that, he trusted the spazz to make the best choice. No one else played a better game of chess. He might consider Lydia the one exception when she was fed up with the pack's testosterone levels.
"Go get them," Stiles said, not a hint of flutter in his heartbeat as he doled out orders. "Lydia and I'll stay with these guys. Send Derek and Ethan to help get them out of here."
"Thought you didn't trust me?" Theo smirked as he turned, already heading to the door.
Lydia rolled her eyes, "Go! No snarking."
Theo gave her a flippant thumbs up over his shoulder, stepping back through the doors, already trying to pick up a trail. Sadly, concrete was not great at holding scents and too good at bouncing sound. Everything was chaos. The place was a jungle of steel and cement. It was enough to give him a headache. Smell was easier, clearer despite the foul tinge of gunpowder, but only just. If he was any less experienced a tracker, he might have a problem with his task and get himself lost following the harsh screams coming from his right.
A smirk crawled across his face as a thin tendril of the pack's scent swept through the corridor, carried by the barest breeze. He took off to the left, barreling down at top speed on two legs, prioritizing quick stops and easy turns over the flat running speed. Periodically he stopped, rescenting the air, assuring himself that he was in fact heading in the right direction as the sounds of fighting grew around him. It was getting close enough that he knew which screams and shouts belonged to who. So far he heard everyone except Mason and Corey.
He turned roughly, dropping his eyes onto the still hunter he dropped. There was far less resistance than there should have been. For how worried the older guys were, these hunters were barely putting up a fight. Only one of them had lasted longer than a minute. If they were keeping an alpha and beta as strong as Scott and Liam captives in a place like this, they should all have been armed to the teeth and on high alert after Isaac's explosion.
"Something's not right," he muttered, crouching next to the hunter.
Rifling through enemy pockets was a low bar of a caliber he never imagined sinking to, but in this situation, he made an exception to his high standards of warfare. There was barely enough ammunition on him to take down a single well-motivated wolf, let alone a pack.
"They had to know the entire pack was going to come for Scott," he said as he stood, regretting not taking a radio with him.
The nagging instinct that this was a trap grew louder as the halls continued to be relatively void. A snarl built in his throat, the coyote's frustration reaching a boiling point as a familiar sour musk hit him, snapping him back to his mission.
Corey's cloaking might make them invisible and nearly silent, but it didn't hide their scent trail whatsoever. It was somewhat unfortunate whenever Theo was sent to get them at school, and the two hid in the janitor's closet or boiler room. But in that moment, he was thankful for it.
Liam's roar ricochetted down the hall, rattling Theo's ribs as he slammed to a stop, shoes squeaking as they skidded over the ground.
It was coming from the opposite direction as the trail. He turned in a tight circle, a frustrated grumble leeching out as his animals growled and snapped at him. The only thing that mattered to the coyote was Liam, making sure he was safe, that he got out of this hell. The wolf itself was as torn as Theo, both yearning to chase down the idiotic duo and to run towards Liam.
This was why he hated emotions. Simple decisions became damn near impossible, other people's motivations overriding his own or shoving the spotlight on arguments he would otherwise ignore.
Another roaring howl burst down the hall.
The foundry was a blur around him as he moved, reaching a dead sprint before the roar began to echo. His own roar rose to meet it. Corey would have to protect Mason himself. In theory, the chameleon was capable enough nowadays. He was a far cry from the flighty kid Theo met six years ago. Hell, he managed to knock Theo on his ass the other day in training with his new human taser routine.
"They're going to be fine," he growled to himself, pivoting and launching into another hallway, nearly smacking into the solid metal door at the end of it.
He stepped back, animals seething under his skin as he inhaled and immediately sneezed. Mountain ash didn't stop him, but the fine particulates never ceased to irritate his nose. At least he knew he was in the right place. No supernatural would be able to even get close to the barrier, let alone get through it. Just like in the library, he thought, wincing as the moonlit room flashed into his mind, Scott laying nearly dead on the stairs, drenched in his own blood.
A snarl tore out of Theo as he shoved the memory away. That wasn't who he was anymore. He stumbled backwards, barely catching himself on a railing as his animals snapped at one another. As in control as he had been then, they were totally out of balance. The coyote was driving most of the time, with Theo calling shotgun, forcibly relegating the wolf to the trunk. Tearing himself apart wasn't easy, nor did it leave him particularly sane, but it was the only way to survive.
Snapping snarls and screams rattled the door, drawing him out of his head again. He sprang for the door, all but ripping it off its hinges in his haste to get it open. The downward stairs caught him by surprise. He skidded down a few before finally regaining his footing and moving as quickly and quietly as possible.
The fight grew louder the closer he got, drowning the brief flicker of hope that the group was holding their own with each step. He paused at the bottom landing, glancing around the corner, swallowing roughly as he surveyed the battleground.
Liam was at the center, a vicious snarl twisting his bloody wolfed-out face as his claws tore long gashes down Malia's side. At her shriek of pain, his coyote doubled down on its efforts to take control, wild and screaming for vengeance. The coyote might still want to murder him, but he would be lying if he said the feeling was mutual.
"Scott, please!" Isaac shouted.
Beside him, Scott was crouched over a struggling Isaac, though the alpha was barely recognizable. If not for the cloying honey undertone of the man's scent, he never would have known the too thin blackened skin stretched over the too thin, long-legged, more wolf-like than human frame was him. The rest of the pack were scattered around the room, either unconscious, very bloody and broken, or some combination of both.
Theo stepped around the corner, fangs and claws dropping as his lip twitched, caught between a defensive snarl and forcing an over-confident smirk.
"Liam!"
Theo's voice ricocheted off the concrete walls almost as loudly as the steel pipes around him reverberated from it. Both wolves turned towards him, equally terrifying expressions on their faces, despite Scott's being far more animalistic. His stomach sank as he met Liam's gaze.
Gone was the electric anger that seemed to simmer in the blue of his human eyes or the blind molten rage of his wolf ones. Instead, a glassy, dead white stared back at him. The longer he stared, the colder and deeper the pit in his stomach became. Liam was sunshine incarnate, deadly solar flares of his temper included. Cold and dark were the last words he ever would have associated with him. Yet, he had no better descriptors for the beta's eyes.
The coyote in him bristled as Scott pulled back his lips, hackles raised, directly challenging him with a growling bark that dug at his core. His own fangs slid out, an answering growl following as he stepped forward, walking slowly down the steps. No one did that and survived. No one. Not even an alpha.
He shook his head, forcefully breaking the stare down. It's still Scott, he growled to himself, teeth grinding together, undoubtedly near cracking as his jaw muscles protested. Animal-driven as the two were, they were still Scott and Liam, and hurting them wasn't an option.
The air was shoved out of his chest as Scott tackled him, dragging him off his feet. His claws cut thick lines along Theo's arms as the chimera spun, slipping the hold, but not soon enough to avoid his shoulder impacting the concrete. He rolled and twisted into a crouch, one hand scoring the ground as he skidded to a stop.
A roar bellowed from him as he launched forward, covering the small distance between them before the alpha could turn. He might be at a strength disadvantage, but for once he was happy Scott never took him up on any fight training. It was easy enough to fake him out, half-darting for the legs and rocketing up to his shoulders instead. His arm looped under his chin, cinching enough so he could pull Scott along with him, furthering the momentum with which the alpha slammed into the concrete.
Liam lunged at him from the side, claws slicing through the air not an inch from his nose. On instinct, Theo grabbed the other's wrist and pulled, flipping him over his shoulder. He winced at the crack behind him. Broken bones were better than death or slicing them open, right?
Guttural snarling to his right gave him barely a breath's warning as Scott launched at him, jaws snapping shut inches from him as he caught the wolf's shoulders. Claws dug into his sides as they hit the ground, easily slicing through skin and muscle as he fought to keep the alpha an arm's length away.
Isaac's distinctive roar shook the air, drawing Scott's attention. The alpha's claws pulled out. Theo sighed in relief, going limp for a second on the floor. He barely blinked when Scott was tackled off of him. Sharp growling snarls roared beside him. All he could do was breathe and hope his lungs were strong enough to keep the air in.
Not a single nerve was quiet as he forcibly took one ragged breath after another, damn near screaming as he tipped to the side. As long as he could breathe, he could fight. His arm shook under the added weight as he continued to shift. A fiery pain ripped through his abdomen as he crumbled to the floor, arm giving out. Air flew soundlessly from his constricting lungs. He had to get up. The job wasn't done yet. His fingers grasped for purchase on the concrete, his core burning as he struggled to push himself back up to his elbows.
A sharp pain tore across his sternum, wrenching a scream from him. The blow's force knocked him down, head cracking back on the concrete. Liam's claws gouged deep lines into his chest, blood spilling down in thick rivulets. He could feel each pump of his heart and the blood pulsing down his side. Of course life would be this cruel. He was about to die at the hands of the person he had barely acknowledged as important. It was what he deserved, karmically. But Liam didn't. This would kill him.
"It's okay, it's not your fault," he said, giving up on fighting back the tears as Liam raised his hand again, blood dripping off his claws, landing on Theo's cheek.
There was no recognition in the wolf's eyes, no hint of light anywhere behind the eerie white. Only the swirling fury of a rabid animal. It was too close to the void-like chill in Tara's eyes as she pinned him to floor and ripped the heart from his chest over and over again. He shuddered, biting back the whine that pushed into his throat, though he was unsuccessful.
"You don't have to stop."
Liam froze mid-strike, hand quivering overhead.
A pink dart landed in the wolf's shoulder, eliciting a snarling roar from him. Another two quickly joined the first. Liam's growl was focused beyond Theo as the wolf attempted to charge at whoever shot at him.
Had his limbs listened, he would have already planted himself between the wolf and his pack. Yet, he barely pushed his torso off the ground. He rolled into sitting, voices swimming around him, the world tilting as he groaned.
Theo did not expect to see Stiles to be the one rushing towards him and dragging him back to relative safety. That was a new level of trust. He set him down, looking at the chimera's chest with gaping eyes and a puzzled frown. Theo glanced down, rather impressed as he took stock of the giant gashes crisscrossing down his torso.
"You look like an open autopsy."
"Yeah, I've had better days," he said, panting, hoping the pain would ease sooner rather than later.
"So, you got a plan beyond tranqing them? They can't hear us."
"I was really hoping you had one," Stiles admitted.
An outright statement like that was rare in and of itself, let alone to him. Theo's stomach sank as he glanced back at Liam still struggling from whatever sonic weapon the others had deployed.
"You hurt?" Mason asked, his chest heaving and heart drumming louder than Theo's own as he knelt at his side.
"No, I normally spurt blood from my ribcage." Theo's lip twitched, a suppressed growl rumbling in his chest as he forced himself to feet. "But I'll be fine. You guys get going."
"I don't think you know what 'fine' actually means," Corey said, his face pale as a sheet.
"You got a handle on this idiot?" Stiles asked, looking to Mason. At the other's nod he turned to Corey, "You and me are going to check on the others. Wake up who you can and get them moving out. Tell Ethan and Jackson to find Lydia. Once you're done with that, you start taking Scott out."
As the other two moved away, Mason shook his head. "You know he's right. You never use that word properly."
"It means that I'm still breathing, which means I can distract the hunters while you guys get everyone out," Theo snarled, forcing himself to his feet.
Despite a stumble, he managed to stay upright, which rather impressed him. The whole of his chest was on fire, blood still somewhat pouring from the criss-crossing claw tracks. Deep wounds took forever to heal, and these would be no exception, but he couldn't focus on that.
"Are you insane?" Mason grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back, forcing him to turn around.
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
The hunters were close, probably only a few corridors down. If Mason stayed any longer, he would be killed. These people had no use for a human so clearly allied with supernatural creatures. Losing Mason would disable the pack more than any of those morons realized, and he was not about to let that happen. Not after working this hard to get Liam away from these monsters.
"Urgh. You're impossible!" Mason groaned, glaring at him.
"I'll hold them off." Pause. "Get out of here. Get him out. All that matters is him."
"I'm not leaving you here. They'll kill you, or worse," Mason said, shaking his head desperately.
He chuckled, quiet and strained as he put a hand on Mason's shoulder.
There were many worse things he had seen than a dingy cell and far crueler things had been done to him than any normal person could ever think of. Hunters didn't scare him. Not even ones worse than Monroe. What more could they do than Hell?
"I've been through worse." Theo shrugged, sliding backwards before Mason could grab him again.
"And besides," he looked at Liam hanging off Mason's other shoulder, "some people are worth dying for."
"Was that a Fro—"
"Get out of here," he snarled, eyes flashing as he started running towards the sounds of the hunters.
If this was all that Tara's death lead to, than he wasn't sorry at all. So long as it saved Liam, then it was worth it. Fuzziness swam all through his vision, blurring everything, but he kept going. He was going to save them, all of them. The pack would be safe and whole, everyone would be happy, no more Theo to worry about in the back of their minds. Stiles would probably cheer and try to throw a party about it.
He slowed as the thunder of approaching hunters grew loud enough that even a human would hear them, letting out a challenging howl, drawing them in. So what if he was a pawn in this game? It wasn't technically anything new. He might just be good enough at this role to save the pack.
"Are they sending me their trash, hoping I get distracted?" A woman asked as she turned the corner, gun in hand at her side.
"Go ahead, underestimate me. The list of people that have done that and are still alive is short."
"Oh, a monster with some confidence." She chuckled as she stopped, cocking a hip and smiling.
"You're a manipulator. How the hell did you get into the goody-goody alpha's pack?"
It was a tight and thin smile, all sharp edges, like shards of a beautiful stained glass. The whole of her was the same, from her cocked gun to the studded mini vest laced with enough wolfsbane that he could smell it across the twenty foot gap.
"I like to think of myself as an outcome engineer," Theo replied, projecting as confident an aura as he could.
"Well," the hunter hummed, cocking her gun, "I doubt you can engineer your way out of what's in store for you."
"Good luck. You can't break what's already broken," he said, cursing how his smirk faltered as his animals snarled at him.
"We'll see about that," she smirked, pulling the trigger.
