"There's a different scent here. I recognise it," the alpha said, her hand resting against the bark of the tree where the arrow had been imbedded.
"Who, Levi?"
"I don't know. I just- I just can't figure it out," the girl sighed frustratedly. She was sure that she had smelt that scent before, almost the scent of fire burning, mountain ash and a hint of gunpowder.
//.//
"Why didn't he answer?" Lori yelled, storming down the drain pipes as the rest of them scurried behind her. Levi had a hand rubbing at the spot in between her eyebrows, annoyed that the young werewolf had probably just alerted the hunter to their whereabouts. She wasn't sure they were dealing with an amateur at all.
"Maybe, maybe, he didn't hear us!" Liam tried to reason with her, holding the hope that Brett wasn't dead already. He was the closet thing Liam had to someone that he could really relate to that was his age, and as much as they used to hate each other, Liam did not want his friend to die.
"Maybe, he can't," Malia murmured, but let out an apology as Levi and Scott shot her disapproving looks about her inconsiderate choice of words. Just as they turned back to look at Lori, Scott and Levi noticed the trip wire just a second too late.
"Lori, no!" Scott yelled, but it was too late.
The metal embedded wooden stake flew out from the wall, missing Levi by an inch and shooting straight into Scott's stomach. Levi gasped, rushing to him instantly, her hand pressing against the wound on his stomach.
He yelled out in pain, but the girl was not going to let him die here. Reaching around the wooden stake, she gripped on to it and tugged it. With the help of the other three supernaturals, they moved the pole from his body as he slid down the wall breathing heavily.
"Hey, hey," Levi breathed, holding his head in between her hands as he whimpered in pain. "Breathe."
Scott shook his head, his eyes flickering between them all as he realised what this trap meant. It was obviously only set recently, and it certainly wasn't done by someone who hadn't done this before.
"They knew we were coming," Scott breathed, but was interrupted by Malia. The werecoyote was hovering over Levi's shoulder, concerned for her alpha as she tried to ignore the lack of concern that the two younger wolves were showing for him.
"Don't talk, just heal, and let us figure this out."
Levi pressed her hands to his wound as he loosely shook his head again. "They've been a step ahead of us the whole time."
"I'm sorry, but I can't wait around.We have to go!" Lori yelled, looking around at the two members of the pack that were still standing. Malia and Liam shared looks before Liam started talking.
"We still have the numbers, three-to-two. We're faster, and we're stronger!" He hyped, trying to convince himself and the rest that they didn't need Scott or Levi to pull this off without losing Brett. Levi and Scott both shook their heads, Scott groaning as he argued with his beta.
"They're smarter!"
Lori had had enough of the small talk. "I don't care who's smarter or faster or whatever, my brother's going to die!"
"Something's not right. That arrow, the trip wire, the poison..." Scott began, realisation hitting him fully, and the exact reason as to why this all had seemed weird from the start popped up in his mind.
"These aren't amateurs," Levi voiced, finishing Scott's sentence as dread filled in the bottom of her stomach. She knew that she had recognised the scent before, but the name and face just weren't quite reaching the tip of her tongue yet.
"But they've never fought us before!" Liam argued, and Levi had to remind herself that he really never had faced true hunters before. Ever since Liam was turned, it was almost other supernaturals that they outnumbered or had a rule to defeat. Hunters, they didn't have rules when it came to them.
"And you've never fought hunters, Liam. We need to stick together," Scott gasped, closing his eyes for a second as Levi moved to place her hoodie against his wound in place of her hands.
"I need to go!" Lori yelled, moving away slightly. Liam ignored Scott, turning to look at Levi for permission to go. If one of his alphas approved, he knew that they could talk the other into agreeing.
"No, you're not going alone. I'll go with you!"
"Liam, you don't know who they are or what they're capable of. Hunters will rip you apart!" Levi snarled, her eyes glowing slightly as she felt her anger for the hunters that had ripped her and her family apart when she was only a child. The fire that had been caused that had led to her being taken by Deucalion stung in the back of her mind.
"Look, I know who we are. We never give up, especially when it's someone innocent, when it's someone alone, when it's one of our friends." The alphas paused before Scott nodded.
"Okay, go, go. All of you, I'll catch up," he said, watching as the younger supernaturals ran off. He looked at the two girls that were standing and crouching with him. "Go, Levi, Malia, go with them."
Levi pushed his hand away, continuing to press against the healing wound on his stomach.
"I just need a minute, go!" Scott said, trying to get them to leave him and save their friend. Levi was in no way leaving him. The last time she had left the boy alone she had ended up being forgotten, and there was no way she was ever letting the universe separate them again.
"You just need to shut up," Malia snarled, ready to crouch down and take over from Levi as she could see the girl was getting tired of holding her hands up.
"Malia, it's okay. I've got him. Liam needs you," Levi softly murmured, knowing that someone needed to go and look after the betas. She could see the conflict in the werecoyote's eyes but she knew that Malia was going to do the right thing.
Malia huffed a sigh as she contemplated ignoring them both and staying, but she knew Levi was right. The alphas were more than capable of taking care of themselves, but they all knew that Liam and Lori were both still incredibly inexperienced and would need backup. She turned on her heel without a second glance backwards, taking off in the direction that the teenagers had ran off.
"How did we miss that?" Levi snarled, looking at the wooden stake that had been thrown across the tunnel when she had removed it from Scott. He whimpered in pain, and she leant forward, connecting their lips and allowing some of his pain to transfer quickly from her to him. He smiled as he placed a bloodied hand in her hair before answering her question.
"We underestimated them," Scott admitted, a sigh breaking from his lips. Levi wasn't sure that that was the only answer.
"But, how did they rig a trap that big with us down here in the tunnels? Unless..." She trailed off, linking eyes with Scott as she noticed the same realisation in his eyes. They were piecing it out together, and the answer was looking more horrible as it went on.
"They didn't," Scott agreed, his eyes landing back on the pole. "They rigged it a long time ago."
"We've been through these tunnels a hundred times. So whoever this hunter is, he's been through them a hundred more," Levi noted. Scott nodded as he continued their line of thought.
"And he knew we were here, he was waiting for us, tracking us. He was prepared and we weren't." Scott moved to his feet, Levi jumping up and allowing his arm to fall around her shoulder for support as they swayed slightly. Scott's legs gave out again, and they both slid back to the floor.
Levi and Scott both looked at the stake as Scott and Levi both realised exactly who the hunter was.
"There aren't a lot of people who spend time in these tunnels. Who was the last hunter we saw down here?" Scott reminded her, with the female alpha's eyes flashing red as a snarl left her lips.
"Argent and Gerard."
"The trap wasn't lethal.It slowed us down and split us up. He's planning something else, another trap," Scott continued now that Levi had said the names out loud. He looked at her in panic as Levi realised what he had figured out.
"And Liam, Malia and Lori are walking right into it."
___
"No, no, no, it's just not working. I don't think that we should waste any more time," Scott slumped to the side as Levi tried to take more of his pain.
"Scott, please keep walking," she begged, trying to get him to stand to his feet so that they could keep up with their friends.
"It's okay. Go!" He motioned, trying to push her in the direction that their friends had previously gone in. She shook her head, moving closer to him as she rested a hand on his cheek.
Allowing a few tears to roll down her cheeks, Levi pulled his head to look at her as she stroked his cheek gently, trying to speak some sense into the boy since he wasn't listening to her clearly.
"No, it's not okay, I'm not leaving you ever again, especially after what it took for me to come back," she reminded him, the wild hunt briefly crossing her eyes before she slouched back against the metal. "None of this is okay. We should've called Stiles."
"We promised we wouldn't!" Scott reminded her, but she shook her head in disagreement.
"It was a stupid promise."
There was a moment of silence before his head dropped slightly, and Levi noticed the sudden decrease in his heartbeat. She slapped his face gently, trying to get him to keep his eyes open as she wasn't sure that he would open them again ever if he let them shut.
"SCOTT!" She yelled, shaking him lightly as she received no response. Panicking, she did the one thing that felt right.
Leaning forward, Levi wrapped her hand around the base of his neck as she pressed her lips into his with the most passion she could muster. There was a slight second before she felt his heartbeat pick up, and his lips move in time with her own.
Pulling apart, she sighed in relief as he looked at her confused.
"What happened?"
"You fell asleep on me, you jerk," she almost chuckled with relief before Scott used her and the metal pipes to pull himself up. The kiss had allowed for Levi to absorb his pain for a second, and their desperation to find their pack had only sped up the process.
__
"You set this up," Monroe accused Gerard as she watched the dead werewolves lay in the middle of the road. The yellow eyes and fangs that Liam exhibited were on view for everyone to see, a snarl breaching his lips as he spun in a circle having just witnessed the death of his friends.
"Of course I did," Gerard scoffed, knowing that she really did have a lot to learn from him before she truly became a good hunter.
"Is this part of the lesson?"
"Everything's a lesson, every moment with me. And if there's one thing you learn today, it's this, the best way to build an army is through fear," he informed her, about to move away and slip into the shadows when a pair of eyes latched on to his.
Standing with her hands drenched in the blood of her boyfriend, Levi Hale fearlessly stared back at the man as Scott approached their beta. Gerard felt a small smirk grace his face as she stood her ground, Monroe watching the sudden stand-off with confused eyes.
In that moment, Gerard and Levi knew that they had just formed an instant agreement; one of them certainly was not going to make it out of this war alive.