Chapter 6

Scott's pack were in his house again. But this time, they had more pressing issues than getting to know the new girl.

"Scott, what are we going to do?" Malia asked.
Scott knew her, knew that she didn't want to help Artemis, and neither did he. So he was reluctant when he said, 'We have to help Artemis."

"Scott! We can't we-"

"Stop!" Scott whirled on her, a very angry look in his eyes, "Malia, do you think I want to do this? I can't let anything bad happen to Liam and we have no idea where he is," he started to calm down and he dropped onto the couch, his head in his hands. He was quiet when he spoke again "I don't have any other choice."

"I'm sorry, Scott." Malia said with some regret in her voice, "I-I have to go."
She rushed out of the McCall home as fast as she could. This only made Scott feel worse, "First Liam gets taken and now my pack is falling apart. Could I possible be a worse alpha?"
Stiles was at his side, comforting him almost immediately.

"Hey man, it's okay. We just wait for Artemis to call and we can get everything sorted. Then, we come up with a plan. I'm already working on an investigation on my board."

"But we know who took him," Lydia spoke up.
"Yeah, but this board is for finding out where."
Scott lifted his head, "No. I can't deal with this right now. I need some time alone."

He stood up and started up the stairs. When he was about halfway, he turned around and said, "You all should go home. Just leave, I don't want to be the reason any of the rest of you get hurt."

He continued up the stairs then turned a corner into his room. Lydia and Stiles only stared at where he had been standing, on the stairs, before looking at each other and Lydia said, "We might as well go, there's no point in staying."
"Okay," Stiles sighed, looking to the top of the stairs again. He turned to Lydia and said, "You call us immediately if you start doing some sort of Banshee thing or if Artemis contacts you."

"Yes, Stiles. I will," she replied with a very annoyed tone.

She left and Stiles followed her out the door, taking one more glance at the upstairs hallway, wondering if Scott was going to be okay.

-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-

After storming out of Scott's house, Malia ran. She just ran and ran until she was in the woods in the middle of nowhere. The running had calmed her down a bit but she was still angry at the fact that Liam had been kidnapped and there was nothing they could do but wait. She yelled and punched a nearby tree. It splintered and pieces fell everywhere. It helped a little but she still had a lot of pent-up anger and frustration. She aimed to kick the tree but stopped short when she heard something. The anger rushed out of her body as it was replaced with adrenaline. She listened closely and she could hear a person talking. She froze and tried to make out what they were saying.
"Do we have to keep lugging him around? He's heavy," a guy said, Malia wondered what he was talking about and decided to follow the voice.
"Stop complaining. We can't exactly let him loose now can we? If you need a break, give him to Marcus, "Malia gasped, that was Artemis! She crept closer to the group, trying not to make a sound. Hiding behind a tree, she spotted Artemis and her two brothers. One of them had Liam slung over his shoulder in a fireman carry. Liam's wrists and ankles were tied together with thick chains and he had a gag over his mouth. The group was walking through the woods and they all they their bcks to Malia, except for Liam. He saw her an got excited. He tried to call out but the gag caused it to only be mumbles, maybe that's for the better, Malia thought; she didn't want Artemis knowing she was there. Liam squirmed, trying to get loosed from Marcus's grip. This angered the older werewolf and he threw Liam to the ground.

"Stop squirming!" He shouted and kicked Liam in the ribs. Liam recoiled and stopped struggling. He glanced at Malia and his look seemed to be pleading with her, she mouthed the words, I'll call Scott, and put a finger to lips, telling Liam to be quiet. He nodded and Marcus, thinking the nod meant Liam would be obedient, picked Liam up again and followed and Artemis and Matthew through the woods again. Malia crept behind them, quiet, keeping as close as she dared, falling back once but only enough to call Scott and tell him the situation.

-/\-\/-/\-\/-/\-

5 minutes earlier

Liam woke up feeling groggy and weak, he expected to be in the dark room he was in earlier and instead he opened his eyes to bright daylight. He realised that he was out in the woods and looking around, saw that he was over someone's shoulder in a fireman's carry. He couldn't see who it was but guessed it was probably one of Artemis's brothers. Liam tried to move, knowing it would probably be useless. And he guessed it, his hands and feet were tied and he was anyway, again, weak from the wolfsbane injection from who knows how long ago. He also realised that he had a piece of duct tape over his mouth, acting as a gag. He struggled against his bonds and yelled, trying to call for help, despite the tape. This caught his captors' attention and the brother that had him dropped Liam on the ground, on his back. The three of them looked down at him.

"Oh, you're awake," Artemis smiled at him, not exactly smiled. She didn't seem to be happy that she was doing this but she seemed happy that her plan was working. Liam looked at her with a confused look. He felt very groggy and squinted up at sunlight coming from behind his three kidnappers.
"Oh, is the wolfsbane affecting you?" She mocked him, "It's okay, we're almost there."
"Mhm?" Liam meant to ask, Where?, but Artemis seemed to understand, "We have to get a new hide out, my old pack has been looking for me and they're close. Now, I'm not going to tell you the full story—we don't have time and I don't want to anyway—but my old pack is trying to kill my brothers and I. We kidnapped you so that Scott would keep us safe. But that doesn't mean I won't kill you if you become out of hand; I think Stiles would be an easy target, I mean, he didn't put up much of a fight when we attacked him at school."

Some of Liam's confusion and questions were gone but he still wondered, why didn't Artemis just ask Scott for help, he would probably have agreed. One of the brothers, Marcus, picked Liam up and he was again thrown over his shoulder in a rather uncomfortable position. Artemis started walking and the boys followed. Liam just sat there, grudgingly aware that there was nothing he could do until the wolfsbane wore off; and even then, it would be three against one. Four, if Marcus and Matthew counted as one and a half each. A few minutes later, Artemis was talking to her brothers when Liam heard something that sounded like a frustrated yell, the other three apparently didn't hear it because they kept walking as if nothing had happened. Liam didn't want to alert them to it so he stayed quiet and looked around, trying to find out who it was. Marcus was complaining, "Do we have to keep lugging him around?"
"Stop complaining. We can't exactly let him loose, now can we? If you need a break, give him to Matthew."
"No ways, man. Marcus has him for five more minutes."

Finally, Liam saw who had yelled earlier, it was Malia! He had to admit, being in that room alone for who knows how long gave him a lot of time to imagine what it would be like when someone finally came to save him, he hadn't thought it very likely that Malia would be the one to find him. What's she doing out here? Where are we even? He couldn't help but wonder. Screw it, he thought, he was going to be freed. He tried to call out to Malia, ask her for help. He didn't think about how his kidnappers would react to it.

Marcus dropped Liam to the ground where he landed with a loud thud.
"Stop squirming!" Marcus shouted as he kicked Liam in the ribs. Liam curled into a ball to try and protect himself as best he could while being bound. He looked and tried to tell her with his eyes how badly he needed to be rescued. She put a finger to lips, as if she was telling him to be quiet. She lowered her hand and mouthed the words, I'll call Scott. Liam was filled with relief and he nodded to Malia, He had again been in his own world, Artemis and her brothers temporarily out of mind. As Liam was again picked up by Marcus and roughly thrown over his shoulder, he was filled with the hope that Scott and the pack would come save him and they could sort out this problem with Artemis the way they usually did: Scott trying to negotiate, bad guy just wants to fight, battle. Hopefully no one died this time.