Barely Human (But Getting There)

Chapter 4

"Can you tell where it came from?" Stiles shouted at Liam.

"The library!"

"Corey, Mason, cover me!" Stiles disappeared from view the next second, taking advantage of the temporary distraction to make a move. The stunned hunters in the direction of the school library started falling left and right before they could collect themselves, accompanied by the thwacks of a baseball bat at work. Damn, Mason was getting the hang of his swing. Liam made a mental note to chat to his friend after all this was over; maybe it was time to reconsider his career path. But for now, he turned his attention back to the hunters around them who were scrambling for their guns again.

The low throb in his leg, although dulled from adrenaline evoked by his Alpha's roar, reminded him he'd been shot in his left leg, again. It'd ripped through his thigh this time, leaving a gruesome exit wound that he wasn't sure whether to deem a good or bad thing. Liam angrily shook out the sweaty bangs plastered to his forehead and scanned the crowd for Theo, finding him on the other side of the hall, wolfed-out and blinking slowly in bewilderment. Liam searched the chimera for injuries – he'd vaguely heard Theo roar furiously right after he'd been shot so maybe the chimera had been too? He seemed fine though, as fine as one could be in this situation. Feeling more at ease he focused on channeling his anger instead, also fully shifting until his features took on razor edges to match his already unnaturally glowing eyes. He pushed himself off the lockers with a predatory growl under a smirk; the terror on the faces of those nearest to him didn't escape his notice.

Theo had been in the middle of fighting his way back to Liam when a bellow of absolute authority clouded his senses, the familiar prickling sensation crept through him and suddenly his fangs were jutting against his lips and his face was contorting into what felt like a permanently furrowed brow. The werewolf form was thoroughly intense and precisely made for battle. Being in it was unmistakable.

Scott? He vaguely identified. Theo had never felt anything like it, never thought it would be possible for him. One moment he was seeing all red – as red as the blood gushing from Liam's leg, as red as the agony etched across Liam's face - his mantra of 'don't kill, only incapacitate' lost to the wind. The next moment an impossible power thrummed through his veins and made him feel as though he was floating. His senses sharpened, limbs felt more agile, and it was all because of one roar.

But he was a failed experiment, born of science rather than the supernatural. It didn't make sense; it was supposed to be concrete fact that he'd never be able to experience the same natural connections Liam and the rest of Scott's pack had with one another. Yet somehow, here he was, resisting the urge to howl back, filled with foreign feelings he'd previously grown so accustomed to evading his fingertips, dancing out of reach.

Belonging.

Hope.

Somewhere in his conscious, Scott had sent that roar out to all his friends, to all those fighting on their side tonight. And somehow, that had included Theo.

He couldn't help but smirk back. The remainder of hunters in that hallway never got time to reload their guns.

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The Anuk-ite was screeching an awful sound that was delightfully ironic. Scott could practically taste the fear rolling off it in waves. In its startled state it barely processed when the library doors slammed open, revealing a hauntingly dark-eyed Stiles. Scott gaped as his friend looked directly at the Anuk-ite without batting an eyelash, realising he was seeing something that occupied his nightmares more often than he would've liked – the face of Stiles lost to the void. The hollow pang that gripped his chest mirrored the emptiness of Stiles' appearance. He choked on his breath, all thoughts of Native American mythologies or werewolf-hunter wars thrown to the back of his mind. When had Stiles regressed?! What had caused it, why hadn't Stiles' said anything and why wasn't - then Stiles opened his mouth.