Scott and I headed in the direction of the town's preserve after I texted Liam for a bit more clarification on his and Stiles' location. I didn't tell him we were on our way, figuring that would be something they could discover all on their own.
A familiar faded blue Jeep sat in front of the low-hanging chain that warded off anyone entering the preserve grounds at night, something no one actually abided by. Liam and Stiles were nowhere to be found, and I could assume they were currently hiding under a brush as they tailed Theo in the wilderness.
Scott and I park but remain seated, only removing our helmets. We stare out into the rows of trees up ahead, waiting for any sign of movement in them.
"Should we go out there?" I ask and Scott shakes his head.
"They'll figure out what's going on and be back soon enough," he says cryptically. He notices my puzzled expression and sighs before explaining.
"Theo's sister died from exposure a few years ago, she got stuck out there in a creek one night and couldn't get out. That's why his family left town before," he tells me, his voice dripping with pity.
My eyes go back to the woods up ahead, empathizing with Theo's losses. Liam and Stiles weren't going to stumble on anything malicious, rather just a lonely boy grieving and paying his respects to his dead sister.
"Alright, fine. I'm officially worried about Stiles, too," I relent, not finding anything about this situation amusing anymore.
"I don't want him to get bad again," Scott agrees.
We vividly remember what life had been like around the time of Stiles' possession. He was plagued by panic attacks and nightmares, and there was hardly a time when he was awake that he didn't feel like his whole world was caving in. Things weren't like that now, but there was no telling if they could be again.
"What do we do?" Scott asks, not because he was without ideas, but because when it came to Stiles it was hard for him to be a leader.
Scott still saw himself as a fragile asthmatic boy when he was around his best friend. That wasn't something negative, it only meant Stiles made Scott feel the most human. In some ways, that could bring him an immense amount of strength, in others, it could leave him completely lost.
"Track his chemo-signals. If it gets to a point where he's having panic attacks again, we bring in the sheriff," I suggest.
"An intervention? He's going to hate us," Scott replies, hesitant to observe his friend in such a personal way without his knowledge.
"It's better than him going nuts and taking your Beta out into the woods again to follow someone who could actually hurt them," I say in a lecturing tone.
This situation could have gone down a very different path if Stiles was following someone who had real ill intentions toward us. What would have stopped them from hurting him all the way out here? What would have stopped them from hurting Liam? The preserve was secluded and there were miles of real estate to hide bodies without anyone seeing or hearing a thing. Stiles is one of the smartest people I know, but this idea of his was incredibly stupid.
Scott thinks to himself for a moment, but not for any reason I could assume.
"Does Liam text you a lot?" he inquires.
His question seems out of left field at first, but then it dawns on me that he's suspicious as to why Liam decided to message me instead of him, especially when he's his Alpha and Stiles' best friend. I act quickly, knowing what he was looking for.
"We're friends, Scott. I text Lydia, too, doesn't mean I wanna cop a feel." I force a fake laugh, selling it as best I can.
I wasn't going to let everything fall apart over something so insignificant.
Scott chuckles along with me, though, the humor in his expression sinks into something more sorrowful a second later.
"I just want to make sure you're focusing on yourself and not another person. I want you to be a normal teenager and have a normal life... because you didn't get to have that before," he admits earnestly.
It's hard to resist the gut reaction for me to want to hide away from his sympathy. Being exposed like this felt threatening and I had to suppress everything inside of me that wanted to run from it because I had done that for so long. I'd allowed chaos to fuel my existence and that didn't do me, or the people I hunted, any good.
Scott's worries were understandable, too, to some degree. He didn't want me to become reliant on Liam because that would only lead to disaster if our relationship ended the same way his did with Allison, and I didn't mean their breakup. The thing was, that being with Liam wasn't about co-dependency, it was about living. Only by doing that could I truly evolve.
Death wasn't anything for me to fear anymore. But existing as I had before? That was, and that's what Scott didn't get. How could he? Before he was bitten, he was still just a teenager. No one stole his life from him and made him become something unrecognizable to himself. But for me, the girl I was before Kate found me, she was buried with the rest of her family. Moving on from that was difficult, but Liam helped. I didn't care about who I had been when I was him, I only cared about who I was going to be.
"Is joining the yearbook club normal?" I joke with Scott, changing the subject.
He laughs and wears a laid-back grin at my words. Things are normal again. Good.
"For some people," he replies playfully.
His attention is stolen from me as he tilts his head to the side and listens in on something my ears can't pick up.
"They're coming back," he says, and after a beat, Liam and Stiles emerge from the treeline, freezing in place when they see us waiting for them.
"You told him?" Liam asks me in disbelief.
"You told her?" Stiles blurts out at the same time, his question directed at Liam.
They resentfully glare at each other until Stiles moves, going to his Jeep.
"Find anything?" Scott asks him.
"Nope," Stiles replies dismissively.
"I fell in a hole." Liam offers up that piece of information with a bright smile, proud of his discovery.
Scott and Stiles give him mildly annoyed glances before ignoring him completely. Liam's smile falters until he looks my way and notices that I was actively trying to hold back a grin at his words. I give him a subtle wink and watch as he aims his returning smile downward so as to not draw attention from the boys.
"It was the bridge where his sister died, wasn't it?" Scott asks Stiles through the rolled-down window.
"Yes, it was. Very embarrassing. So we're gonna leave now."
Stiles moves to turn the key in the ignition and start his Jeep, but all he gets in response are scattered groans from the engine. He closes his eyes and mutters to himself in defeat as he comes to terms with the fact that his embarrassment tonight was only going to get worse from here on out.
"Liam, just do me a favor, get in the car, and turn the ignition when I say," he demands as he climbs out and rounds his Jeep to inspect it.
Liam moves to do as he's asked, though, instead of passing the front of our bikes to make a direct line to the Jeep, he walks all the way around. I watch as he does so with confusion, but soon understand his actions when he gets behind me and reaches out to trace his fingers across my lower back. I stiffen and keep my eyes trained on Scott and Stiles, both of whom are thankfully distracted.
I send Liam a scolding glare when he takes Stiles' place in the Jeep. He doesn't bother to show any guilt for his bold actions and had the audacity to grin at me with delight.
"Stiles?" Scott's voice grabs my attention. He waits off to the side patiently to speak with his best friend who toys with random bits of his engine.
"Be with you in a sec," Stiles brushes him off.
He proceeds to order Liam to try starting the Jeep, which only results in failure. Stiles puts his head in his hands with growing irritation at his car which was currently being held together by fraying layers of duct tape, and a dream.
"Stiles," Scott says more adamantly, telling his friend that he couldn't get out of talking about what happened tonight.
"Okay, we followed him out here. What do you want me to say? That I'm a stalker, huh? That I'm crazy, totally paranoid? None of this is new information," Stiles snaps at him.
"Not gonna at least try to at least give him the benefit of the doubt?"
"I give people the benefit of the doubt. I've given a lot of benefits to a lot of people."
"Like Derek?" Scott points out, making Stiles pause.
Scott and Stiles had no idea what they were getting mixed up in when Scott got bitten, and Derek wasn't exactly the most competent leader back in the day either. They often spoke of the distrust they had for him in the beginning, but now, there were very few people they trusted more. Because of that, the Derek-shaped hole in our pack these past few months was hard to ignore. It wouldn't have been such an issue if Derek called once in a while, but since he'd left, it had been almost complete silence on his end.
I didn't judge him for it, I knew he needed space, but I was sure his absence only contributed to Stiles' fears that one day we'd leave and never be heard from again, too.
"Kira? Liam?" Scott continues, going down the list of people Stiles once wanted to avoid.
"Me?" I add in, making the two seniors look my way.
"That was different," Stiles argues.
I let out a wry laugh. "Yeah, I was worse."
There were multiple occasions when I openly threatened Scott and Stiles when I first came here, and I couldn't lie and say all of them were empty. If I heard someone speak to them now in the way I once had, that person would never see the light of day again.
Truthfully, the only actual difference between Theo and I, was Allison.
He didn't have someone to vouch for him and be in his corner when people doubted him as I did. Allison went to bat for me time and time again, even when she herself doubted my intentions. If it wasn't for her, Scott and Stiles wouldn't have grown to see me as an equal, nor would I be here with them now. I didn't even want to imagine what would've happened if they hadn't taken me in, one of the worst parts of that being the lack of a certain Beta in my life.
If the pack didn't trust me I wouldn't have been here when Scott bit him. Thinking about a life without Liam wasn't something I wanted to dwell on. Instead, I found myself wondering what could happen if Theo was like me, and was given the opportunity to be more than he was. He might not have been the most trustworthy figure, but if I could get another chance, why couldn't someone like him?
Stiles ignores my claims, going back to fiddling with the engine with more force than before.
"I was right about Peter," he mutters to Scott. "You know, I bet you still think that there's something about him that can be saved."
"Maybe," Scott admits.
Stiles shakes his head and returns to his car, his hands roughly grabbing at the metal structure as if that would do anything. I sit up on my bike, watching as he does so with a bit of caution as I feel the beginning sides of an incoming outburst.
"Try it again, Liam," Stiles demands hotly.
Liam once again turns the key and nothing happens.
"Why can't you trust anyone?" Scott presses Stiles, and his words definitely don't get the desired reaction.
"Because you trust everyone!" Stiles shouts before raising his fist and bringing it down onto the engine below him.
Scott and I stare at him in surprise and Liam flinches, unable to see Stiles with the lifted hood in his way but definitely able to deduce what happened. Stiles visibly bites back revealing any of the pain that rang through his now trembling hand.
"Are you okay?" Scott takes a step forward making Stiles hold his hand out to stop him.
"I'm fine," he says in a strained voice.
"You could've broken it."
"It's not broken," Stiles dismisses his best friend.
Scott takes another step. "Let me see it."
"I'm fine," Stiles assures him.
"Let me see it," Scott repeats, his voice still gentle yet more firm, leaving no room for arguments.
Stiles reaches out, allowing Scott to take his affected hand into both of his. Black veins rise on the Alpha's skin as he siphons Stiles' pain, his expression shifting to panic that I'm sure is a product of him not only taking on Stiles' pain, but his anxiety, too.
"Scott-"
"It's okay," Scott cuts off any attempts for Stiles to apologize.
"Go home and get some rest. We'll talk about it later," he promises, letting go of Stiles' hand.
He nods and musters up a barely-there smile for Scott who seems relieved at the sight. The dark moment only continues to brighten as Liam brings the Jeep back to life, the engine humming happily as its headlights brighten up the preserve. Scott gives his Beta with an appreciative look, though it slips a split-second later.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Mason?" he asks, making Liam's eyes widen.
"I'm dead," he breathes out shamefully, realizing Scott and Stiles weren't the only best friends tonight that would endure an argument.
---
One of the worst things about living alone was the fact that my culinary skills were basically nonexistent. That meant I had to eat microwavable dinners most nights that often tasted like the plastic they were wrapped in. As unfavorable as the motel could be at times, I did miss having Lily's diner within walking distance. There were plenty of places nearby that delivered takeout, but Beacon Hills wasn't a place with establishments that stayed open past midnight, unless they were clubs and bars.
I watched as one of the colorful trays spun in a circle in my microwave, wondering if the mysterious lumpy white blob in one of the corners was rice or mashed potatoes. That internal debate is cut short by the sound of the door to the loft sliding open.
I immediately tensed at the unannounced presence and reach for one of the knives in my dish rack to have as a weapon.
"Jac, it's just us!" Liam calls out from downstairs.
I relax and bring my hand away from the handle of the blade, moving to climb down the spiral metal staircase to see what company Liam was referring to. I find Liam standing with Mason in the doorway to the loft, the Hewitt boy gaping at me as I descend the stairs.
"Hey, guys, what's up?" I ask, curious about their arrival.
"You're a werewolf hunter," Mason breathes out, ignoring the question.
I smirk, looking over at Liam. "You finally told him."
"Had to," he says easily.
I send him a puzzled look for that cryptic answer but don't question it.
Mason ventures away from us, moving to the wall behind the staircase that had an array of shelves on it now. It was Lydia's idea to display a few things there, adding life to the previously naked space. My sword sat proudly on the highest shelf on a stand gifted to me by the Yukimuras. Every morning when I woke up it was one of the first things I saw since my bed was across the room, and I was comforted by the sight and the reminder it brought.
Lydia kept the other decorations to a minimum, knowing I preferred simplicity since the loft's industrial design wasn't exactly suited for knick-knacks. The other shelves held a couple of stacks of hunting history books with vintage covers, one framed picture of a drawing she had done of the Nemeton, and then the dagger gifted to me from the Calaveras a few months ago.
"Technically, I'm retired," I say in response to Mason's acknowledgment of my occupation. It didn't feel like a spiteful statement, but rather one that brought me a bit of pride.
I lean closer to Liam, lowering my voice so Mason couldn't overhear us. Though, I was sure he wouldn't anyway as he reached to grab one of my books, his eyes scanning the pages that detailed various creatures around the world.
"Intense," he whispers to himself, completely enthralled.
"Did you tell him about...?" I trail off and gesture between Liam and I, allowing the action to finish my sentence.
"He doesn't have to know that yet," Liam says softly.
"Are you okay with that?" I ask him, fully prepared to tell Mason everything right here and now if it brought Liam any sense of happiness.
"I have my two favorite people in one room and I don't have to lie about who I am to them. Trust me, I'm okay with it," he says, his body drifting closer to mine so our arms are pressed together. I smile blissfully, always finding peace with him even if there were parts of it that had to be hidden.
We only step away from each other when Mason turns back to face us, but my smile never fades as I still feel Liam's warmth clinging to my skin.
"I knew you were cool the first day we met, but I didn't know you were this cool," Mason tells me as he waves the book in his hands around.
"Welcome to the world of the supernatural, Mason." I laughed.
"We've been waiting for you, buddy," Liam adds, more than happy to accept his best friend into the reality of our lives with open arms.
Mason nods to himself, pure joy reflected in his gaze.
"Hell yeah."
~
||| A/N |||
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