REAPING INNOCENCE ◦ STILINSKI [3]

ix.

And as much as she wanted to find Scott, she wanted to turn around and go back to the station and talk to Parrish more. She wanted to be the one who insinuated the idea of the existence of supernatural creatures and physically see his reaction. Just a slight facial reaction would give her the answer she needed. Carter refused to let the strong bond between her and Parrish be wasted on the fact that he was a supernatural and knew about it the entire time—and did nothing to help them. She refused to let it happen.

Liam immediately noticed that her eyes were scanning the crowd. He knew that she was looking for Scott. For only being around them for such a short time, he picked up on their dynamics pretty quickly. But he still had a hard time distinguishing the relationship between Scott, Carter, and Stiles. It was obvious that Scott and Carter were more than friends—or, were more than friends at one point in time—sometime recently had they cut their relationship short. But he also knew that Stiles and Carter were a thing without a doubt—seeing that the two seemed to gravitate toward one another.

There was definitely a love-triangle that needed to be sorted out before things got messy. It was as if Carter was hesitant on picking between Scott and Stiles—afraid that if she picked one she would lose the other. Or worse, she would break the bond that had been created between Scott and Stiles long before she came back to Beacon Hills. And she just couldn't bring herself to do that.

Carter wasn't Carter without Stiles; but she also wasn't herself without Scott.

She needed both of them to keep herself on track. She hadn't been lying when she told Scott that he and Stiles were her humanity. If it had been anyone else that walked into the locker room when she had her claws in Violet's neck, they wouldn't have been able to stop her from killing the assassin. And if that would've happened, they would've lost the Carter Hale they knew forever. There was no going back.

"Scott's down the hall talking with his dad," Carter looked back to Liam, the Beta nodded down the hall. "Here," he shrugged off his jacket before handing it to her, "I don't think you want to explain to Scott's dad that you were stabbed and how it magically healed."

She smiled at him, nodding in thanks before tugging the jacket over her shoulders before zipping it up, covering the blood on her shirt. Liam grabbed her hand as he began to make his way through the crowd once again, pulling Carter through by her hand to make sure she didn't get caught in the current of people. It was obvious that she had taken a strong liking to Liam, and he with her, wanting nothing more than to protect each other. She was like his big sister—and Carter had alway wanted a little brother.

When they had finally made their way through the crowd, Carter peaked her head around a corner to see Scott in a deep conversation with his father. Knowing that Agent McCall was working hard to rebuild his relationship with Scott, she knew better than to interrupt. Which was why she and Liam remained where they were.

The chatter around them suddenly fell to complete silence as a certain girl was being led out of the locker room where the three attempted murders took place. Deputy Jordan Parrish was the one leading her out, a hand locked on her forearm. It took all of Carter's might not to run over to him and demand to know what he is. As they walked past Carter and Liam, Violet's smug grin fell and fear quickly took its place. It was evident that Violet was afraid of the brunette—knowing very well that she literally had her life in her hand.

Liam leaned forward to whisper in Carter's ear when he noticed the claw marks embedded in the side of Violet's neck. "Did you do that?"

Carter gulped and nodded, watching as Violet's brown eyes wavered from away from Carter and toward Parrish, her irises falling upon his name tag.