They'd changed a little since she'd last seen them.
She hadn't quite noticed it while they were speeding away from Allison, but Stiles had grown his hair a little longer than the last time she'd seen him and he'd finally managed to grow the beard that he'd always told them all he would have if he tried.
Isaac had a little bit of stubble - not as much as Stiles, but definitely more than she remembered - and that baby-ish look on his face was long gone now. His eyes were a lot more hardened since she'd last seen him and she wondered if his eyes would still be yellow or not.
Both of them looked at her with too many feelings in their eyes.
Levi ignored Stiles' mutterings about being left out of the loop as she jumped down from the back of the Jeep on to the hard ground outside the police station. Her wounds had fully healed, although she was still drenched to the bone and had a faint smell of gasoline across her from her encounter with Allison at the garage.
She paused as she noticed a significant lack of police cruisers, bitting her tongue from letting out an annoyed comment. Her eyes relaxed as she noticed a familiar sports car at the side of the parking lot, a slight relief in her chest as she realised the office wasn't as empty as she thought.
"Great. Just great," Stiles muttered, slamming the jeep's door and striding over to her side, his eyes darting around the seemingly deserted police station. "Levi, we're going inside and you're gonna tell us everything right from the start."
Isaac trailed after them, his face locked into a brooding expression as he clutched the arrow tightly. The thought of Allison hunting his pack, his friends, sickened him to the core.
Levi had tried to explain it to them in the short car journey, but how could she really? She had no idea what was going on other than Allison had appeared because of something Lydia, Malia and Scott had done at the Nemeton. All she really knew was that she was having some pretty awful dreams about the huntress and suddenly Lydia had called Jackson for help.
"Shut up, Stiles," Levi said quietly as she pushed open the station's doors. The sudden rush of cold air felt like a slap to her face.
"Yeah, the fires all happened right after the jar was taken from Japan."
Lydia, Levi thought. She'd recognise her voice anywhere. Her eyes flickered to the side to see that Isaac had picked up on the sound of the strawberry blonde's voice, and both of the wolves cast a glance at Stiles before making the decision to keep walking deeper into the station and towards her and the others without telling him anything.
"Wow, wow, hold up," Stiles flailed, grabbing on to both of their arms as he tugged them to look at him with an incredulous expression. "What was that? Don't think I didn't notice that look you both just gave each other and then me!"
"Nothing, Stiles. Just focus," Levi snapped, pulling her arm out of his grip and continuing to walk into the station. Isaac followed suit, leaving Stiles to trail after them in confusion.
"I'm just asking for transparency, Levi," Stiles retorted, his mouth contorting in frustration as he stomped behind her. "I know that's a really hard concept for you-"
She rounded on him within seconds, pushing him against the nearest filling cabinet and flashing her eyes at him. Stiles mouth dropped a little as he stared at the glowing red orbs that were burning into his own brown ones, his heart rate jumping in surprise as he felt the cold metal handles of the cabinet jabbing into his back.
"I said, shut up," Levi snarled, dropping her grip on his plaid shirt and stepping back from him. Isaac's eyes shone as he grabbed tightly on to her arm, his own fangs poking from his gums as he glowered back at the alpha in front of him.
"Don't touch him again," Isaac snarled, the noise of their argument suddenly reaching the ears of the four supernatural humans in the room joined on to the corridor.
"They're in there. Lydia and Jackson, and the others," Levi admitted to Stiles a low murmur as she stepped away from both of the boys, her gaze flickering towards the corridor leading to the interrogation rooms. Stiles followed her gaze, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Lydia and Jackson?" he repeated before his eyes narrowed with realization. "What are they doing here?"
Isaac was silent, his eyes darting between the two of them. He felt something heavy settle in his stomach. He had long learned not to trust that feeling.
"We could ask the exact same about you, Stilinski."
The three turned their heads to see Jackson standing at the door to the room, his tail wrapping around his legs as he crossed his arms to look between Isaac and Stiles with a slight smirk on his face. He paused as he hovered over Levi, looking her up and down and noticing how drenched she was and the various marks across her clothes.
"Why can I smell gasoline?"
Levi's smile dropped as Liam stepped out from the room, his eyes darting around before meeting her own. A scowl fell over his lips as he stared at her with a coldness in her eyes that almost made her flinch.
"That's me," Levi admitted, trying to look away from his gaze as Stiles looked between them with an understanding look. She might have seen him briefly when Derek had been attacked, but it wasn't like they had time to exchange any pleasantries then.
It wasn't just them Levi had abandoned. It had been her entire pack - including her first beta.
"Allison attacked me at the garage."
"She what?" Lydia said, shoving past Jackson and walking towards Levi. Levi could literally hear the moment that Stiles' heart stopped beating for a split second as he laid eyes on the love of his life - who had left him without a single explanation as to why.
Lydia stalled in her steps as she laid eyes on Stiles too, various emotions flashing across her face as she took in the sight of the boy in front of her. Memories - premonitions even - flashed before her eyes as soon as she noticed him, a lump forming in her throat of panic as she looked at him in front of her.
"Stiles," she breathed, her words echoing throughout the stillness of the room.
Stiles was staring helplessly at Lydia, his entire body frozen. Levi watched the scene in front of her unfold with an odd feeling of detachment. The closed-off part of her heart ached at the sight before her. They had been through so much together, these unique individuals who now seemed so alienated from each other.
"Lydia," Stiles said, his voice cracked like a whisper caught in the wind, brimming with emotions - pain, desperation, relief.
Levi felt Isaac's hand on her arm then, pulling her back slightly. She tore her gaze away from Lydia and Stiles, turning to look at him in confusion. His eyes were trained on something else - inside the room there was one word that had been written on a sheet of paper on the detective board.
Levi's bones chilled as she felt her entire body clench up.
"Why does that say Nogistune?"
____
"Yeah, the fires all happened right after the jar was taken from Japan," Liam told them all, having filled Stiles, Isaac and Levi in on the fact that after Allison had been brought back, the Nogistune had came back too.
Levi was leaning against the desk in the corner of the room, Lydia beside her and with their hands linked. Both girls needed support from each other - for completely different reasons but both as valid as the other.
"You were in Japan?" Levi asked Liam, surprise written on her face.
"Yeah, with Theo. You'd know if you ever bothered to call."
"Theo?" Levi questioned, confusion written across her face at that. Why the hell was Liam in Japan with Theo of all people?
Kira looked between the werewolves with an awkward glance, before her eyes narrowed as she pointed to one of the photos on the detective board with confusion across her face.
"So if this guy isn't the Nogitsune, then who is he?"
"That's the guy who stole the jar, the one who freed the Nogitsune," Liam said, recognition across his face as he leaned in closer to get a better look at the grainy image of a man wrapped in a hooded jacket of sorts.
"Wait," Stiles interjected, squinting at the photo, "I've seen him before."
"You have?" Isaac asked, turning to face him. "How the hell have you seen him before?"
"He came by the animal clinic," Stiles murmured lowly, his eyebrows pulled tight together. "Just after Scott left, and I was looking over the clinic for the day since I thought it was just a day or two of a family trip... not all this..."
"Focus, please," Levi interrupted, rolling her eyes.
"Right," Stiles replied. "He was looking for Scott, I never saw his face but he was wearing that exact thing. I thought it was strange but just figured he was like one of Scott's weed dealers or something."
Confusion swept through the room like a cold winter breeze. Lydia, still silent and lost in her own world of thoughts, glanced sideways at Stiles.
"Looking for Scott? But he's-"
"Here? Yeah, I know that now," Stiles snapped back, the room falling silent again. Levi swallowed a lump in her throat at the awkwardness, confused as to what had really happened between Lydia and Stiles for things to be this tense.
Her gaze flickered to Levi, and there was a connection - an understanding of some sort.
"He's the one setting the fires," Lydia deducted, all of them now looking at the board with interest again.
"And not the Nogitsune?" Jackson asked, confused on how this was all playing out. He'd been gone by the time the Nogistune had reigned terror over Beacon Hills and his friends, but Levi and Ethan had of course filled him in across the years. He knew fine well what the Nogitsune was capable of - Aiden and Allison being full testament to that. "Why don't we catch him and kill the Nogitsune? That sounds like a pretty good plan to me."
"Well, the Nogitsune's not a person," Kira said, her eyes ghosting over Stiles for a second who looked more and more uncomfortable with every mention of the spirit. "It's an ancient power, so old it's practically elemental. It might not be possible to kill him."
"Didn't we do that before?" Isaac asked, his voice tight as he thought about the last time he was in Beacon Hills.
"No, we just trapped him," Stiles replied, the emotion in his voice causing them all to go quiet. Levi had almost forgotten his connection to the Nogistune.
It seemed like this was something that was all affecting them in different ways. She could help but almost feel stupid for not having realised that the evil would have been involved, especially after all the events that had happened so far.
Chaos and strife had certainly summed up her past 24 hours. The nogistune had a lot to feed on in Beacon Hills right now - from betrayals, awkward reunions, fear... yeah, they were fucked.
"Well, I'm willing to give it a shot," Jackson replied, almost challenging Kira's realistic point of view. Liam and Levi shared a look, on the same page for a change.
"We're wasting time," Liam butted in, nodding to Levi. "You guys can figure out who's starting the fire. We need to find Scott."
"And Eli," Levi added, looking around at the supernaturals (and Stiles) that she once called her pack.
She knew she'd lost their trust - maybe except from Lydia - but she knew that this was only going to end up positively for them if they worked together.
"Lydia, Stiles, Jackson - you find out who is starting the fires," Levi ordered.
All three wanted to argue against the grouping, but they knew for their own reasons why Levi had said that. Jackson was probably more lethal than her or the other werewolves, and would stand a better chance at protecting Lydia and Stiles should anything arise. Lydia and Stiles were always the detective duo of the pack - so it made sense to pair them up.
"Liam, Kira, Isaac - we'll look for Scott. We can cover more ground if we split up," Levi said, all three nodding. "Isaac, with me?"
"Sure."
"Great. Let's do this."
____
"When you said I was with you, I didn't realise you meant on foot."
Levi rolled her eyes as Isaac complained from behind her, almost being able to hear the disgust that was no doubt present on his face as they moved through the wooded preserve.
"Allison didn't have a car, and Scott and Eli didn't either. If I was a wolf being hunted, I'd go into the woods too," Levi reasoned, shrugging as she continued to try and tune her senses in to either Scott or Eli's scent. "I figured you'd be able to pick up Scott's scent faster than Liam or Kira anyway."
Isaac said nothing for a moment, and Levi knew he was biting his tongue from saying something.
"Say it."
"You should know his scent better than anyone," Isaac retorted, a little bit of hostility in his voice. "Since you're the one he married and loves."
Levi stopped in her tracks, her back still turned to him. A night wind blew through, tossing her hair lightly and rustling the leaves around them. She was silent for a moment before she spoke again.
Isaac quickly regretted his words for a split second but it was too late to pull them back. He hesitated before going to speak again, the initial anger that he had towards her coming back as she remained silent after his statement.
"No," Levi cut him off, her voice hard like granite. "You're right. I should know his scent better, but I don't. You know that Isaac, and I don't feel this is a conversation we need to have right now."
"Why don't you?" Isaac questioned, his voice echoing through the woods. The moonlight streamed through the skeletal branches of the trees onto their faces, casting an eerie glow on them. "You loved him, and then you just disappeared without so much as a goodbye. One argument, and then that was it."
"One argument?" Levi whispered, her eyes brimming with tears of frustration as she looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. "Isaac, I know you know exactly what happened - don't try and play me leaving Scott as a small disagreement."
"He would have understood-"
"You were there, Isaac," Levi snapped. "You saw how he looked at me that night."
"I did," Isaac admitted, his voice as low as the murmur of the distant river. "I saw a man devastated by your actions, but also a man who would have risked everything to set things right. He loved you, Levi. He still does."
"There was a time when Scott understood me better than I did," Levi whispered, her voice filled with a potent blend of regret and longing. Her heart clenched painfully at the thought. "Yet that night... he didn't understand why I did what I did - and I knew he couldn't forgive me for it. I need you to know I wasn't sorry about my actions back then Isaac. And I'm still not sorry for killing those hunters in the way that I did. The only thing I'm sorry about... is not having done it sooner."
A poignant silence fell between them, broken only by the mournful wind singing through the trees and rustling leaves underfoot.
"You talk about it as if it was inevitable," Isaac said, trying to keep his voice steady as he looked at her. "As if there was no other choice but for you to take those lives."
"There wasn't," Levi countered firmly. Her eyes were steely as she held his gaze, unflinching in the face of his judgment. "I did what I had to do, Isaac. I protected this pack when no one else would."
"By becoming a murderer?" Isaac challenged.
"Don't you dare," Levi's voice was dangerously soft, her fingers curling into tight fists at her sides. She took a step towards him, her chest heaving with restrained anger. "I thought you out of everyone would have understood why I did what I did. You were there when Boyd died, and you felt that pain. You saw what it did to Derek."
"Derek didn't kill the alpha pack-"
"He would have. You would have too," Levi snapped, her eyes flashing red for a second. "Don't play the moral high ground here, Isaac. Things might have changed since we were in high school, but we're all wired the same to our cores."
There was a pause as Isaac absorbed this. His gaze softened, torn by what seemed an insurmountable conflict between loyalty to Scott and understanding for Levi.
"Scott isn't me, Isaac," Levi's voice sounded smaller now, but steady. "He isn't us. He believes there's always another way – a better way - even when there isn't. That's his strength... and it was my weakness. That's why he got his power and those red eyes in a much different way than the rest of us with them did."
"You broke his heart-"
"I know," Levi snapped again, growing more frustrated. "I hated myself for that. But I told myself, once I'd killed those hunters, I'd explain to him the pain that coursed through my body when I watched Alec die. He was my beta. He was my responsibility. I told myself that Scott would understood why I had done what I had done once I told him that."
"Why didn't you tell him that?"
"Because I still love him," She whispered, her voice shadowed by the night. Her confession floated into the air, disappearing among the leaves and the wind. Isaac was silent for a long moment - his face unreadable under the moonlight. "I'll never stop loving him. And that's why I had to go, Isaac. Because once I killed that group... I had a thirst for it. I didn't stop killing hunters after that night, I continued it for a few years. He'd never have been able to stand by me as I did that - and I wouldn't have stopped doing it. So I loved him enough to save him that pain."
Isaac's gaze fell to the ground, his mind spiraling with the weight of Levi's confession. The night seemed to grow darker around them, cloaking her brutal honesty in a shroud of shadows. He could see it now—the pain etched deep in her gaze, the ruthless determination carved in the lines of her face.
"I didn't know." Isaac's voice was barely audible among the whispers of the wind. The guilt was evident in his eyes as he looked back at her.
"No one did," Levi responded quietly, "and I didn't want anyone to know. I found myself becoming... almost becoming a mirror image of Deucalion. I didn't want peace, I just wanted power. And Isaac... that fucking scared me."
Her words hung heavy in the silence between them, a raw testament to her struggle.
"But it doesn't change what I've done," Levi stated, her voice declaring a cutting truth. "And it doesn't change what I am."
"You're right," Isaac agreed solemnly. The breeze picked up around them, rustling leaves and snapping twigs underfoot as though echoing their somber sentiments. "But it does change how I see you."
Levi looked at him then, her gaze scrutinizing and intense. She searched his eyes for any trace of deceit but found only sincerity.
"I wanted you to hate me," Levi confessed, a tear tracing its way down her cheek before she roughly wiped it away. "I thought if you hated me... if everyone hated me... it would be easier. But it wasn't."
Just as he opened his mouth to say something else – perhaps to comfort her or maybe even argue some more – they heard a distant yell cut through the quiet stillness of their surroundings.
Levi snapped her gaze to Isaac, her eyes wide as she recognised it without any help from the other werewolf.
"Fuck, that's Scott!"
Both of them took off instantly, tearing their legs through the wooded terrain as they rushed in the direction of his shout.
The scent of pine and damp soil filled their nostrils until the more distinct scent of blood made them run faster. Isaac was unsteady, his face a mask of fear and disbelief. Levi was stone-faced, her body lurching forward with an alarming purpose.
Suddenly, Isaac tripped over a root and went sprawling into the foliage. Levi skidded to a halt, glancing back at him before turning her attention to the direction of Scott's cry. Before she could decide whether to help Isaac or continue, he was back on his feet and shaking his head vehemently.
"Go," he gasped out as he waved her away - a sheer confirmation that he would be okay. She gave him one last hard look before nodding once and darting forward again.
As she drew closer, she could hear the growls and snarls mixed with Scott's pained grunts - the sound echoing off the surrounding trees like a chilling symphony of dread. She skidded around a large oak tree to find Scott on his back, a familiar form looming over him.
"Levi, NO!" Scott snarled as Levi slammed into Allison, sending the hunter rolling across the rocky ground. She wasted no time in crouching down beside Scott, pressing her hands against the gaping wound on his chest before hissing as soon as her hands touched the skin there.
"Wolfsbane, fuck," Levi gasped, bitting her tongue for a second before placing her hands back over it and trying to haul Scott to his feet at the same time.
"Levi, she..." Scott's words died in his throat as the effort to speak took its toll.
"I get it, shut up and let's go," Levi snapped in desperation, not understanding what Scott was trying to tell her until it was too late.
Two strong arms wrapped around Levis' shoulders from behind, pulling her off Scott and flipping her over to the ground. Levi groaned as her head slammed against the rock work beneath them, Allison Argent straddling her with a raised knife in her hand.
The knife glinted menacingly under the breaking dawn as she plunged it downward.
Levi rolled to the side, avoiding the blade as it sunk into the earth right beside her face. She kicked out, catching Allison in the stomach and sending her sprawling off of her. Scrambling, she got back to her feet, even as a sharp twinge of pain shot through her skull from where it had hit the rocks.
As they circled each other, Isaac stumbled onto the scene. His eyes flicked between Scott lying helpless on the ground and Levi squaring off against a determined Allison. He felt a pang of anxiety twist his insides at the sight of his friends in such dire straits.
"Isaac," Scott's hoarse voice broke through his daze. Isaac's attention snapped to his Alpha, lying battered on the cold forest floor. "Get out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you here," Isaac said frantically as he moved to attend to Scott first.
"It's not up for discussion," Scott managed to say through gritted teeth. The agony on his face was clear.
With Scott's words ringing in his ears, Isaac clenched his fists and focused his attention back on Levi. She and Allison were locked in a tense standoff, the tension between them as tangible as the cool night air.
"Levi!" he shouted, distracting both women momentarily. He saw Levi's gaze soften briefly at the sight of him, a flicker of relief crossing her face before it hardened again.
Seizing the moment, Allison lunged forward. The element of surprise worked in her favour as she managed to push Levi off balance, plunging the Wolfsbane coated knife right into her stomach.
Levi's breath hitched in surprise and pain; Allison pulled the weapon free before backing away. Levi stumbled but refused to fall, clutching at her stomach as dark blood welled up between her fingers. She looked up, meeting Isaac's horrified gaze with a grimace of her own. Scott yelled out as Levi coughed a little, falling on to her knees as she felt the burn from the poison enter the wound.
Isaac made the split-second decision then, dashing towards Allison with a snarl of rage. The hunter had been expecting it, but not fast enough. Isaac crashed into her, sending them both sprawling onto the forest floor.
Allison managed to roll them over, pinning Isaac beneath her, and plunging the knife just below his shoulder - twice. Isaac yelled out in pain too, thrashing against her but being unable to harm her.
He couldn't hurt Allison. One look into her eyes, and it was like he was back to being a teenager and being head over heels with the woman in front of him.
Somethings never changed.
Scott, despite his injuries, tried to push himself up, his weak effort resulting in a groan of pain. He dragged himself over to Levi, pressing a hand to her face as she grunted in pain against the wolfsbane in her system. How he was coping better than her and Isaac after he'd been stabbed much sooner than they had, she didn't know.
"Get... get out of here..." she rasped, fighting against the dizzy spell that threatened to overcome her. Scott shook his head stubbornly.
"Never," Scott muttered, his voice barely a whisper. He closed his eyes as pain washed over him again.
Then, everything faded away.