#also am only drawing hunter in wolf shirts for the rest of my life | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

formerprincess · 6 years

Text

Our little paradise

Fandom: Teen Wolf Pairing: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken Words: 3118 Theo and Liam just enjoy a quiet afternoon after work. Just the two of them, no interruptions, and Theo could not be happier.

Also read on Ao3

Theo walked into the workshop and his nostrils flared when the familiar scent of gasoline, grease, sweat, and metal hit them. It was a scent he grew to like since he lived right above the workshop. He associated it with home, something Theo had not known for a long time. But things had changed since then, since he had come back to Beacon Hills to find a way into Scott McCall’s pack and destroy it from the inside, since the Dread Doctors, the Wild Hunt, the war. He had friends now, a pack even, and together they had graduated high school and even attended the same college. Yes, he, Theo Raeken, was part of something that wasn’t evil, wasn’t created to destroy something else. He was part of something good.

Good. Life was truly good, maybe even perfect, at the moment. Sure, there were still supernatural shenanigans happening, there were still hunters, and sometimes Scott had to call his gang together to defeat whatever came lurking, but they mostly had a regular life.

“I wasn’t aware you’re working as a pizza delivery guy now but I won’t complain either and gladly accept this. Just put the pizza here,” a deep voice shook Theo from his thoughts and he turned his head. The guy, Mojo, bigger than Theo himself (yes Theo was aware he wasn’t the tallest but this guy probably was taller than Derek Hale and twice as broad) with a buzz cut and a lightning bold shaved to the side of his head smirked at him. Theo had no idea how old Mojo really was, his guess would be 31/32 but really, it was just a guess. But Mojo was like a human teddy bear and incredibly funny. A woman with her brunette hair tied in a messy bun smirked and the corner of her eyes crinkled. “I’m sure this is just a bribe to let his other half leave earlier.” “Neither. This is our dinner and I will fight you both for this pizza,” Theo declared and grinned. “Yet, if you would let him leave earlier, Kiki…” The woman pointed a finger at him in a playful threat. “You’re getting way too sneaky, mister!” She laughed. “But who am I to get between guys and their dinner? He’s over there, showering his one true love with attention.” “I’m his one true love,” Theo reminded her with a chuckle but turned around again and ventured into the direction Kiki had pointed him. It wasn’t long until he reached the end of the bike shop and smiled at the picture in front of him.

Over the years Theo had not only found friendship and a place to belong, he had also found love. And that from a side he never expected it from in the beginning. Because if someone had told eighteen-year-old him he would be in love with Liam Dunbar, Scott’s angry Baby Beta, and they would be in a committed relationship, he would have laughed. Yes, Liam and he had become friends, but love? Even if Theo might have nursed a little crush on the younger man, Liam would have never returned his feelings. And yet, one of their many discussions had ended with Liam huffing out a breath and crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I want to strangle you almost as much as I want to kiss you, asshole,” he had said and Theo was not proud of it but he had gaped at him. Liam had given him a funny look but then obviously registered what he had said because he started to gesticulate wildly and tried to explain himself. “Oh fuck! I didn’t want to tell you like that! This is not how I pictured it!” “You want to kiss me?” Theo had asked weakly and Liam groaned and his hand movements contained Theo’s whole appearance. “Can you blame me? You have this going on.” It had hurt to know Liam was attracted to him just based on his looks while Theo really fell in love with Liam’s everything, his looks as well as his good heart, but he had nodded and put on a brave face. “So you want sex.” Liam had shrugged. “Sex, dates, a relationship, the usual stuff, you know?” And again, Theo had gaped which caused Liam to roll his eyes. “Seriously? I’m aware I’m bad with words but I thought I made myself very clear right now. I am not only attracted to you because you’re hotter than the sun, but I also feel very attracted to your character and would very much like to date you. Stop staring at me like a freaking goldfish. Turn me down so we can go on with our normal lives and I can crawl into a hole and die of mortification.”

Theo’s brain had not functioned properly because he would have loved to tell Liam how amazing he was, how happy this made Theo, and waxed poetically about the other’s whole self, but he just had managed a weak “Yes.” “Yes, what?” Liam had asked. “Yes to the date. To all of it, really.” They had stared at each other, Liam with narrowed eyes while he tried to figure out if Theo was joking or not, Theo still trying to figure out what the hell happened. Long story short, both overcame the initial shock of the sudden reveal and had decided to try this relationship thing with each other.

Fast forward two, almost three, years and you had them today. Still absolutely in love, living together in the apartment right above the motorcycle workshop Liam worked in. Life could not be better for Theo at the moment: An amazing boyfriend, a cool apartment, and a job where he could be creative and express himself through his art. They had to thank Liam’s grandpa for finding this little piece of home. After his death, Liam had come in contact with his grandfather’s best friend Rod who owned the workshop. They had met to reminisce the man they both had held so dear and Rod had inducted Liam to the world of motorcycle and workshops, repair, and tunings, and also the joy of riding one of those steel horses. Ilona Geyer had not been overly excited to see her son on such a thing but after she realized how happy Liam was to ride a motorcycle she had caved in and smiled. The people working in the shop had taken a great liking to Liam- he was an adorable puppy when he wanted to be - and had soon become part of his family. Kiki and her husband Jay had taken over the shop when Rod had retired and offered Liam a job in their shop. Liam could do what he liked, work with the motorcycles and also work on his own motorcycle, a blue Harley Davidson Fat Boy, on the side, what else could be better. And Theo found a job at the tattoo parlor right next to the workshop. His boss Bean (“My name is Gregory but nobody calls me that! It’s Bean.”) was also a friend of Rod, Kiki, and the others and he and Theo talked often. He saw some of Theo’s drawings one day and offered to take him in as an apprentice. Theo had not really thought about doing a creative job but he took the chance because he was curious. And now he was a quite popular artist in the shop, had his regulars, and loved what he was doing. Tattoos were a way for people to express themselves and he loved to help them with it a little bit.

Several tattoos adorned his own body as well, the newest piece being a Dias de Los Muertos woman on his right shoulder blade. Liam had suggested that one special tattoo after Theo had awoken from yet another nightmare. He had said he liked the Mexican holiday and the thought that the dead were never that far away and instead watched over their families. His boyfriend had suggested it would help Theo cope with the lingering guilt about Tara’s death and see a slightly more positive outlook on death, maybe even the hope to once get the chance to make up with his sister. Theo had battled the thought for weeks, going over the pros and cons, and finally decided to do it. He now loved the ink on his skin.

He wasn’t the only one with tattoos on his skin. Liam, for example, had also taken quite a liking to the ink art. The head of a howling wolf on his leg, and several other motifs on his arms and back. The first two tattoos had been done by Bean but the rest, every single one after that, had been done by Theo. There was something about Liam not only wearing something he drew but something he inked on Liam’s skin. It gave him a strange sense of possessiveness and belonging.

Liam’s style had changed in general since the first time Theo met him. He wasn’t looking like America’s sweetheart anymore, not like the typical jock, but his style had become a bit rougher around the edges. Ripped jeans, leather jackets, punk shirts, and due to his work in the bike shop, more tanks, and flannels. It wasn’t unusual to find him with dirt and grease on his hands and on his face and the smell of gasoline and grease always merged with his natural scent. Theo was here for that, he loved his boyfriend looking like that. Liam’s hair was shorter these days, shorter than it had been in high school, but the manual work had given him a new body feeling and since he often worked outside and mostly in a tank, he had a nice tan going on. He looked ridiculously hot if you asked Theo but maybe he was a little biased (He, after all, knew what Liam could do with this body...)

When he found Liam now, the younger male knelt in front of his motorcycle and oiled it. He wore a white loose fitting tank top and dark jeans, littered with oil stains. It had been a bit colder in the morning so Liam had worn a white-red flannel shirt which was now wrapped around his waist. He had not spotted Theo yet, too focused on his task, and Theo smirked. He was like that when it came to tattoos. “I’m aware you love this thing a lot but I brought pizza.”

Liam looked up and smiled when he saw Theo. “Hey, you.” His blue eyes sparkled with happiness and he grabbed the cloth next to him to clean his fingers. “How could I say No to pizza?” “Just to pizza? Not spending time with me? I am hurt, Liam.” “I know I will never say No to spending time with you.” Liam stepped closer to Theo and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Stop being a drama king.” Theo pouted playfully. “Only if I get a real kiss.” “I am greasy and sweaty.” Liam laughed and it coaxed a happy smile from Theo. “Liam, we literally kissed when we were bloodied and full of Gargoyle slime. This will be half as bad.” “Okay.” Liam grinned and then captured Theo’s lips with his in a sweet kiss. Even after three years, it made Theo happy and he eagerly returned the kiss. “Come on, Kiki said you could leave,” he then told his boyfriend and motioned towards the back door of the shop. It was the fastest way to get to their apartment instead of walking around the whole garage. “Yeah, leave before you start making out on Liam’s bike like the last time!” Kiki called from somewhere and the two young men snickered. Liam threw his rag in a container. “See you tomorrow, guys!” He yelled and then left the workshop with Theo.

They reached their apartment over some stairs and Liam unlocked the door. The space above the shop had originally not even been an apartment, more like some unused space. Theo and Liam had taken a lot of time and effort to turn it into a loft-like apartment where they could actually live. It was big enough for the two of them and their two Tamaskan dogs Aka and Koda who now came to greet them happily and then returned to chewing their favorite toys. The apartment even held space enough in case they ever wanted to add another member to their family and adopt a child, but that was something they had not discussed yet and didn’t feel the need to at the moment. They were not even married yet and enjoyed their time together.

“I’m taking a quick shower, you can already start eating,” Liam muttered and pressed a quick kiss against Theo’s cheek when he walked towards the bathroom. The door closed behind him and Theo carried the pizza box into the kitchen to grabbed two glasses and two beers from the fridge and then carry everything out to their little balcony. It wasn’t big, but they had two comfortable benches with soft pillows and a little table gathered there to sit and enjoy summer nights. Even a little barbecue had found its place in a corner. The whole balcony was surrounded by plants. It had started with Liam’s mom giving them one plant when they finally moved into their apartment, and then Liam had claimed one looked like shit. Over time they had gathered various things to make the banister a little friendlier. It looked like a little green oasis in the middle of a meek and otherwise empty backyard.

Theo set everything down on the table and then just ventured into the apartment and the bedroom to change into comfortable sweatpants. When he walked back to the balcony, he plopped down on one bench and sighed. He opened the pizza box and both beers and took a slice of the greasy food. It smelled delicious and was just as tasty as you would think after you smelled it. It made his mouth water and he eagerly took a bite from his slice. Liam wouldn’t mind, he knew Theo hated cold pizza. Chewing he leaned back and enjoyed the rays of the evening sun on his face. The perfect way to end the day.

Liam joined him some minutes later, hair still wet and disheveled from the towel, clad in sweatpants and a hoodie. He sat down on the other bench and leaned back with a groan, stretched out. Theo chuckled. “Long day?” “Uh uh. We had a very demanding customer and you know I love challenges but that guy was really a bit too much and constantly changed things.” He scrubbed his hands down his face and then made grabby hands at the pizza. Theo nudged the box closer to him and watched his boyfriend devour a slice fastly. “That should be unattractive. Strangely, it’s not.” Liam gave him a pearly grin. “You find everything I do attractive,” he stated simply and raised one of the beer bottles. “Cheers.” “Not everything but a lot. Cheers.” Theo raised the other bottle and clinked them together. They both took a gulp from their bottles almost perfectly in sync and grinned. Over the course of their relationship they had grown so close, got to know each other on a whole new level, and those quiet moments felt really nice. They didn’t need to talk, just sitting there an enjoying the sun, finishing the pizza up between the two of them, and sipping their beer was enough to make them both happy and relax them both.

Theo liked the silence with Liam. He also liked the talks he had with him, don’t get him wrong. He liked Liam’s voice, could spend hours hearing him talk about the things that excited him, but he liked how easy this was as well. He didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with words and he felt himself relax. Theo had always used words as a tool, something to use to get what he wanted in every regard, and he had strongly related to them at the beginning of their, well, everything. He had used his words against Liam, used them to rile him up and manipulate him, but then they had grown closer and words became not necessary anymore. They learned to rely on each other without words, learned to fight together without talking about a tactic before, learned how to be a team without saying much. Again, talking with Liam was great, but Theo had been afraid of the silence for years and Liam helped him overcome it, so now he could also enjoy the silence with his boyfriend.

Liam moved after a while and squeezed the empty pizza box until it got smaller. He got up and carried the trash into the kitchen to throw the box away. Theo smirked. They both weren’t the tidiest people on the earth but Theo hated empty pizza boxes lying around so Liam has picked up the habit of throwing them away as fast as possible. It was a nice gestured and another one of the many little things Liam did to show Theo how much he loved him.

He walked back but instead of walking back to the bench he had sat before, he walked towards Theo’s bench. Theo moved so Liam could slip behind him and Theo could lean against his chest. Liam’s arms loosely wrapped around him and played with his fingers. Theo tilted his head back and looked at Liam and the younger smiled but understood. He moved closer and gave Theo a gentle upside down kiss. Both chuckled in the end and then Theo curled up against Liam again and held his face into the sun. “I love you,” Liam muttered and gently tugged at Theo’s hair with one hand. Theo moaned softly and let his head fell back against Liam’s shoulder. “I love you too,” Theo replied softly. A huff next to him and Aka trotted into the sun and laid down there again. Koda chewed a bit more on his toy then he grabbed it and carried it outside as well to lay down next to Aka and continue playing.

Liam kissed his temple, then he leaned back and watched the sun shining down on them and creating various forms on the wooden floor of the balcony and on the plants. “Our little paradise,” he said happily. Theo chuckled. “Our little paradise,” he agreed. It wasn’t a mansion, it wasn’t that much, but it was perfect for them and Theo was once again reminded life was pretty much perfect right now.

Just something cute to enjoy the evening. I am really curious how you liked that little story. I just love the idea of mechanic Liam and tattoo artist Theo and the rest just happened. What do you say? Any comments/hopes/wishes/dreams? I'm thinking about making this a series and always adding random ficlets to it.

#thiam #My writing #Ink & Gasoline series

12 notes · View notes

evansandblack · 7 years

Text

Silent Treatment - Nolan Holloway

Requested by the lovely @froygutierreez “can i request an imagine/one shot of where the reader is liam's younger sister and she has a small crush on nolan? like nolan had always liked her more than she likes him. anyway, and when he and gabe beat up liam, she doesn't talk to him for a while and nolan just keeps trying to apologise? when they do talk, they confess their feelings and have been a secret thing since then? ( im doing this for a story/rp thingy and may need some inspiration! )”

Warnings: Swearing, violence, mentions of blood, mentions of anxiety, death, and an extreme range of emotions.

Word Count: Just over 14k. (This got out of control. I could not. stop. writing.)

Note: The continuity, especially as far as it goes for time of day/general cycles of daylight and night, in S6 was a damn mess so I tried to make it a little more continuous for the sake of everyone reading this. There are still some time frames that don’t make much sense so please forgive, I am doing my best. Also, the reader in this is Liam’s twin sister. And this title made more sense before I actually wrote this whole thing but I’m sticking with it.

My phone was resting on the sofa next to me while I scrolled through Netflix to find a new movie to watch. I’d already watched a few romcoms throughout the day. I didn’t have much better to do since I was throwing up and running a fever, which effectively stopped me from going to school.

A quick succession of text notifications came up so I dropped the tv remote and picked up my phone to read them.

They were all from Corey and Mason.

I opened them up, expecting to see some “hope you’re feeling better” messages but that wasn’t the case. They had both texted me saying that Liam had been in a fight at the end of the day. More specifically, that he’d been beat up by two guys from the lacrosse team.

I immediately tossed the blanket from my lap, stood up, stuffed my feet into a random pair of sneakers, and went to get into my car.

There was a possibility that if I showed up at school after being called out sick that I could get accused of not actually being sick and then end up in trouble but I really couldn’t be bothered to care.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed most of the cars were gone. Mason’s car caught my eye and then I noticed him and Liam standing next to it.

I parked in the spot next to Mason and got out, immediately running over to my twin brother. “Li, what happened? Are you okay?”

There was an absurd amount of blood on his face and I was furious.

“I’m okay, Y/N. I’ll heal.” He said. “You don’t have to worry.”

“The hell I don’t! Who did this?” I asked.

He didn’t respond but I could tell that Mason wanted to tell me.

“Why didn’t you at least defend yourself?”

“They were trying to get me to shift.” Liam stated.

My eyebrows flickered up. “What?! Who? How do they know?”

Liam explained what had happened with Brett and Lori, how he’d shifted in front of people, about the new hunter in town.

“Why didn’t I know about this before?” I snapped, folding my arms across my chest.

“It’s safer for you that way.”

My brother was the werewolf, not me, but I all but growled at him anyway. “If your life is in danger, it involves me. Don’t ever try to hide something like this again.”

He huffed and leaned against the side of Mason’s car. “Fine.”

“Now, tell me who did this.”

“Y/N, leave it alone.” He groaned.

I turned to Mason and glared. “Tell me. Now.”

He crumpled quickly. “Gabe and Nolan.”

At the sound of Nolan’s name, I felt my jaw go slack and my hands begin to shake. I knew Nolan, I’d thought he was my friend. We had a few classes together and we sometimes studied together in the library. We never saw each other outside of school but we had quite the habit of flirting. He was cute and smart and funny. But suddenly everything I thought I knew about him was gone.

Before I spoke, Mason did. He explained to me what had happened, how they’d basically just taken turns punching him until Coach Finstock broke it up.

“Where are they?” I asked.

“Principal’s office.” Mason said, as though it should’ve been obvious.

I nodded once. “Take Liam home while I go take care of this.”

“You’re kind of scary when you’re sick.” Mason muttered.

I narrowed my eyes. “I can get a lot scarier too. Please, just take him home.”

Mason agreed and I took off into the school, ignoring Liam’s shouts telling me not to do anything.

Gabe and Nolan were just walking out of the principal’s office when I made it to the hallway.

“Hey!” I shouted, drawing their attention as I stalked towards them.

They both stopped and stared, seeming more than a little surprised to see me coming at them.

“You started this, right?” I asked Gabe. “You threw my brother on the floor?”

He didn’t respond but I noticed a small smirk flicker across his face.

I walked the last couple of steps towards them, fisting my hand in the taller boy’s shirt and yanking him down so that he was closer to my height. My voice was shaking when I spoke, our faces only an inch or two apart. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are but if you ever touch him again, I will gut you.”

“Promise?” He teased.

The hand that wasn’t fisted in his shirt went up to grasp him by the jaw, fingertips digging harshly into his skin. “Do you really want to find out?”

The venom in my voice even surprised me.

Gabe’s eyes went wide for a fraction of a second and he didn’t have a witty comeback.

I shoved him away from me and he stumbled backwards a couple of feet. “Go home, Gabe.”

When he disappeared down the hall, I turned my attention back to Nolan.

“As for you,” I pointed one finger at him and he immediately stepped backwards, hitting the lockers behind him, “I thought I could trust you.”

His mouth moved as he tried to sputter out a response but I merely cut him off.

“You’re a liar.” I stepped closer to him. “Don’t come near my brother, don’t come near me, don’t come near any of our friends.”

Even without wolf-hearing, I knew Nolan’s heart was racing in his chest.

“You’re a coward.” I said, giving him a shove that slammed him against the lockers. A bang echoed down the hall and I stepped away from him, turning to leave as tears threatened my eyes.

I left the school and headed home.

Later that night, and for several days after, I got multiple texts from Nolan. He tried to apologize, begged me to talk to him. Whenever he tried to talk to me in the halls or in class, I stared right past him, not reacting to a single thing he said.

No matter what he said, it didn’t change what he did. It didn’t change that he was there at the sheriff’s station with the rest of the hunters, another incident that I had not been informed of until it was all said and done. Rumors kept swirling around after that, ones about Nolan having something to do with Edgar’s death.

He showed up while I was digging my biology book out of my locker. He leaned against the locker next to me, seemingly waiting for me to acknowledge him.

I checked my reflection in the small mirror hanging on the inside of the door and even read a text, all while Nolan stood there.

“Are you going to talk to me ever again?” He asked.

I didn’t respond and I could tell that he was starting to get annoyed. When I shut my locker and headed down the hall towards class, Nolan followed after me. “Y/N, come on. Please just talk to me.”

Still, I refused to answer him.

He must have realized that this was going nowhere and he stopped following me. I was a few feet ahead of him when I heard him speak again, his voice sounded broken. “The silent treatment, really? At least yell at me!”

When I saw Sydney at the end of the hall, I called out to her and she greeted me with a smile before we made our way to class.

I was involved in the next part of the plan. Mason and I had gone to round up a bunch of fake supplies, making sure Nolan saw us, and he followed us to the zoo, just as we were hoping.

When two other hunters showed up, Liam and Theo were listening while they talked to Nolan. When they didn’t believe him, I watched in horror as Liam and Theo started an only half-fake fight to draw attention.

My fingers were laced behind my neck and I was facing the ground, walking in a circle when we noticed someone approaching the spot where we were hiding.

I peeked around the corner and saw Nolan walking around with a crossbow in his hand.

Liam and I kept peeking around to watch Nolan when Theo warmed us that if we didn’t stop, we were going to get caught. Neither of us listened and finally, he grabbed both of us and hauled us away but the sound of our footsteps caught Nolan’s attention.

Theo and Liam were arguing again, this time about Liam’s anger. I was trying to tell them to quiet down and keep moving so that we wouldn’t be found but it was almost as if they didn’t hear me.

I was second away from slapping both of them in the face when I heard an all too familiar voice just a few feet behind me.

“They’re up here!” Nolan called.

Before I could even turn all the way around, my brother had lunged, tackling Nolan right over the small ledge we were standing on.

I could hear them below, I could hear my brother growling and I could hear Nolan, the way his voice was shaking. I could see him point the crossbow unsteadily at Liam. I wanted to run down there and stop them from killing each other but Theo had a tight grasp around my midsection.

I was crying, fighting against him, demanding that he let go.

“If you go down there, he could shoot you too.” Theo said.

I shook my head, still trying to force my way out of his grasp. “No, he wouldn’t do that. Not to me. Please, Theo. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. And I know Liam’s angry. I know what happened here, I know why he’s angry.”

Theo was listening to every word I said but not responding. His grip hadn’t faltered once.

The weight of the situation, everything I felt, came crashing down on me in that moment. My shoulders slumped and I stopped trying to fight him off. I fell against him but he kept me on my feet. “That’s the difference between us, Theo. You can hear Liam’s heart, you can smell his anger, but I don’t have to do that to know. We’re twins, I can feel all of it right now. Please, let me help him.”

He finally caved, letting go of me but watching to make sure I didn’t immediately take off running. “Let me do it. Stay behind me, I’ll stop him.”

I nodded once before we ran down to where they were. Liam had Nolan against the wall. Nolan was crying as my brother repeatedly punched the stone wall beside Nolan’s head. I could hear the crunch of bones breaking in his hand when they made contact.

Then the claws came out and I thought I see Liam freeze for just a second, almost like he was thinking about killing him. And Nolan knew too.

I wanted to yell at Liam to stop but I couldn’t get any words out. I was frozen and speechless. I was terrified of what I was about to see.

Theo walked up behind Liam and knocked him out with a single punch.

My heart hammered in my chest but I could finally move again.

Nolan looked up at Theo and then over to me, his eyes widened when he saw the look on my face.

“Run.” I breathed, begging my voice not to quiver.

When Nolan took off, Theo lifted my brother off the ground and carried him to his truck, I followed behind, asking if it was really necessary to knock him out. Theo didn’t answer so I assumed that he believe that it was, in fact, really necessary.

We’d been driving for a while when Liam finally woke up again. I sat forward from my spot in the backseat, grabbed Liam’s chin and turned him to face me. I examined his face to make sure everything had healed. When I was satisfied with what I saw, I sat back and stared out the window. Theo and Liam were talking in the front but I was too tired to listen.

I ended up falling asleep a few moments later. I didn’t wake up again until Liam woke me. I was surprised to find myself in my bed.

“What’s going on? How’d I get here?” I asked, rubbing my face and leaned up on my elbows. It was too dark for me to be able to read the clock on my wall but it felt like it was either very late or very early.

“I carried you up here. That’s not the point right now.” Liam rushed. “Someone shot up Scott’s house.”

I sat up instantly. “What? Who? Is everyone okay?”

He shook his head and I noticed tears in his eyes. “Li, what happened?”

“Scott’s parents, Lydia, and Mason were all hurt.”

I didn’t know what to say so I grabbed my brother by the shoulders and pulled him in. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to convince myself not to start crying too. “Everyone’s alive though, right? Everyone’s going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. They all have to go in for surgery.” He whispered and I felt tears drip onto my shoulder.

“Should we go to the hospital?” I asked.

He shook his head. “We can’t. Scott’s going to be there, and Malia too. But we have to go to school.”

“We have to go to school while our best friend has a bullet inside him?” I said incredulously.

“We can’t run from this anymore. I’ve got to find out who did this.”

He pulled away and I sat back a little. “What makes you think we can find that out at school?”

“It could’ve been Gabe or Nolan. If not, I’m willing to bet they know who did do it.” Liam explained.

I nodded. “Right. Well, what are we supposed to do after that? Are you going to kill someone, Liam?”

He looked up at me, his eyes wide and his jaw slack. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t kill people, Liam. No matter how much you might want to, no matter what they might do to you. You have to try to solve things peacefully.” I said.

“Are you sure my sister and not Scott’s?” He asked.

I stuck my tongue out and rolled my eyes. “Ha. You know I’m right, Liam.”

“Y/N, you manhandled Gabe and Nolan after they kicked my ass.” He said.

I shrugged. “I’m human. And I wasn’t going to kill either of them.”

“You told Gabe you would gut him.”

I threw my hands up angrily. “What the hell? Were you eavesdropping?”

He nodded sheepishly.

“Oh my god. You’re unbelievable. When are you going to start understanding that I can take care of myself?” I whined.

“As soon as you start understanding that I can.” He shot back.

I groaned and flopped back against my pillows. “Okay, enough bickering. What’s the plan for school?”

“I’ll talk to Gabe if you can talk to Nolan.”

My heart stuttered for a second and I prayed he didn’t hear it. “Why do I have to talk to Nolan?”

“Because he was your friend.”

I shook my head. “I am not speaking to Nolan.”

“You need to talk to Nolan.”

I screeched out an agreement because I knew we were getting nowhere. “Fine! Jesus, whatever. I’ll fucking talk to Nolan.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome. Now get the hell out of my room, if we’re doing this, I need some sleep and so do you.” I said, pulling the blankets up around my shoulders and getting comfortable again.

Liam left after muttering a goodnight and I fell back asleep faster than I anticipated.

I woke up a few hours later when the alarm on my phone started blaring. I shut it off and quickly got out of bed before going through my normal morning routine.

When Liam and I left for school, he ran me through the plan again as though it were necessary.

I tried to talk to Nolan several times throughout the day but it seemed that he was now the one ignoring me.

When classes got out, I spent a little bit of time in the library, wondering if Nolan might show up there but he never did. I was walking back to my locker to grab one of my books when I heard footsteps coming from another hallway. I abandoned my locker and quickly ran and hid around the corner.

Gabe and Nolan came into view, talking in hushed tones. I noticed them heading in the direction of the locker rooms so I followed them as quickly as I could. As soon as they went into the room and the door clicked shut, I ran over and pressed my ear against the door.

“They wanted to know who shot up Scott’s house.” Nolan said.

“Yeah, but I didn’t tell them.” Gabe defended.

“Well how do you know who did it?” Nolan asked.

I didn’t hear a response.

“Gabe? What did you do?”

“I did it for you.”

My heart started pounding. I want to run in there and beat the shit out of Gabe but it wasn’t worth blowing my cover. He wasn’t worth it.

“You shot up a house for me?!” Nolan said, sounding surprised. “What are you trying to do? Get me killed?”

It’s a good way to do it. I thought.

“I’m trying to keep you alive. I told Monroe it was you so try being a little grateful.”

“You told her it was me?” The more Nolan spoke, the more scared he sounded.

“Why do you think you’re still alive?”

I heard footsteps approaching the door and I assumed it was Gabe. I took off back down the hall at a sprint. I didn’t stop until I got to my locker. I dropped my backpack to the floor, leaned back against the cold metal, and slid down to the ground. I wasn’t sure why I’d started crying but I didn’t know how to stop.

My sobs were so loud that I didn’t hear someone coming towards me.

“Y/N?” Nolan asked, scaring me enough that I flinched against the wall.

I looked up at him, trying to glare at him through my tears but failing miserably. “What do you want?”

He knelt beside me. “Are you okay?”

“Are you kidding me? You’re asking if I’m okay?” I rolled my eyes and used the sleeve of my sweater to wipe tears from my face. “You beat the shit out of my brother, your psycho friend shoots up Scott’s house for you; and you ask me if I’m okay?”

He didn’t respond, he only looked at me sadly.

“Honestly, of all the things I thought you were, Nolan, I didn’t think stupid was one of them.” I sneered.

“I’m sorry!” He blurted.

I laughed humorlessly. “That’s rich. You pointed a crossbow at my twin brother. And you expect a simple ‘I’m sorry’ to make everything better? Did you know there were humans in Scott’s house when Gabe decided to go Taxi Driver and just start shooting? Both of Scott’s parents got shot, Mason got shot. Humans! The people you’re allegedly so concerned with protecting.”

Again, he didn’t speak. He only stared at the ground.

“That could’ve been me. I could have been in that house. I could have ended up with a bullet in my chest. Do you think Monroe would give a shit? Or Gerard? They don’t care about saving human lives, they only care about killing supernaturals.” I slammed my head back against the lockers. “You really don’t get it. Scott, Malia, my brother – they’re the ones trying to keep you alive. To Monroe and Gerard, you’re disposable.”

His eyes flickered up to me and I could see the realization starting to set in. It seemed like maybe, just maybe, I was starting to get through to him.

“I liked you. God, I thought you were so cute. And funny.” I laughed again. “But now this. It’s ridiculous but I feel so betrayed. Tell me something, Nolan. If I were the werewolf instead of Liam, would you have pointed that crossbow at me?”

Tears sprung up in his eyes and he started to reach for me, his hands freezing in the air before touching me. “Y/N, I… No. I would never do that. Please believe me.”

“But you kind of did, didn’t you? Threatening Liam – hating Liam – is threatening me, too. We are twins. Can you understand that connection? You don’t get to like me and hate my brother. The Dunbar twins are a packaged deal. So if you’re on my team, you’re on his team too. But if you’re against him, you’re against me. And it’s time that you pick a damn side.” I finished, standing up from my spot on the floor. I brushed dirt from my jeans and lifted my backpack onto my shoulder.

He stood beside me. “I – I’m scared.”

I nodded. “I know. And I know why. Do you? It’s not just the wolves. If you wanna find out, if you want to understand, if you want to pick a side, you have my number.”

He smiled shyly. “O-Okay.”

I walked down the hall, towards the door. I’d made it halfway down the hall before he spoke again.

“Did you actually mean it?” He called, his voice sounding more confident that I’d ever heard before.

“Did I mean what?” I asked, turning to face him.

“About liking me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Nolan. I really did.”

“Then help me.” He pleaded. “Help me understand. Show me what they won’t.”

I smiled a bit. “Okay. Take me to your place and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

Nolan walked towards me quickly. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

I followed him out to the parking lot and into his car. We didn’t talk much while he drove but the silence was far from uncomfortable.

There were no cars in the driveway when we pulled up to his house and it was quiet when we went inside.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” He asked, shutting the door behind me.

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine.”

“We can go up to my room, if you want.”

I followed him upstairs and to the end of the hall. His room felt oddly comfortable, all soft colors, a large bed, a desk covered with papers and pens, his lacrosse stuff laying in one corner.

“You can sit wherever you want.” He offered. “The bed’s soft but if you’re – if you’re not comfortable, you can sit in the desk chair.”

I dropped my backpack by the door and moved to sit down on the end of his bed.

He sat beside me, leaving enough space that made me aware that he was trying incredibly hard not to freak me out.

“So, what can you tell me?” He asked.

I shifted to face him. “God, where should I even start?”

“Start with Scott.” He prompted.

I nodded and began my speech. I explained how Scott was bit, about how he became an alpha, how incredible and rare it is for someone to become a true alpha. I explained how he bit Liam to save his life. I told him about how Scott saved my life when I was fifteen. I told him about the Beast, how we were all trying to stop it, how it was a product of the Dread Doctors and not a real werewolf. I told him about the anuk-ite, the way it heightens your fear and feeds off of it.

“So that’s why everything’s been so much worse? Why everyone is terrified?” He asked.

I nodded. “It’s not just the wolves, the coyotes, the banshees. It’s that thing. It’s making your fears even worse and Gerard and Monroe are using that fear to manipulate you. They’re scaring the shit out of teenagers, putting guns into your hands, and trying to tell you that the people who are trying to help you, are the ones you need to kill.”

Nolan groaned and fell back on the mattress, his legs still hanging off the end.

“Why did Theo stop Liam that day at the zoo?” He asked.

“For a lot of reasons, Nolan. He didn’t want Liam to become a killer, and neither did I. He knew that if he didn’t stop him, that I would’ve. Theo didn’t want me to get hurt, and I think he didn’t want you to be hurt either.” I explained.

“He doesn’t seem so bad.” Nolan admitted.

I laughed. “He wasn’t always like this. Scott still doesn’t trust him. But I do.”

“Even after what I did, you would’ve stopped Liam from hurting me?”

“Yeah, and I would do it again. Not just for Liam, either, but because I don’t think you deserve to die. Do you deserve a solid punch in the face? Maybe. But to die? Absolutely not.”

“Aren’t you just as scared?” He asked, sitting up again.

I nodded. “Yeah, all the time.”

“So why can you be like this,” his eyes searched mine for answers, “while I’m like this?”

“Fear affects people differently. For some, it makes them angry. Others shut down. I used to get angry, Liam and I have that in common.” I chuckled at the end.

“How did you stop being like that?”

My eyes focused on his, such a beautiful shade of blue. “I learned how to channel it into something else: compassion. I didn’t want other people to feel like I did. I tried to protect Liam and my friends and everyone else. I knew there was a chance people would react like this if they found out so I helped them keep it a secret. And whenever people did find out, I tried to help them to understand. I showed them that they’re not all bad. Are there creatures out there that thrive off of killing humans? Yes. But there are more out there that are like Scott, ones that want to protect you and me. There’s something that Lydia taught me once. ‘Not all monsters do monstrous things.’”

“I wish you would’ve told me this a long time ago.” He breathed.

“I wish you didn’t have to find out about this world the way you did. I wish we could’ve done more to protect you.”

“Are you part of the pack? Even though you’re human?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I am. I don’t have super strength or speed, I can’t heal that fast, I can’t predict death, but I can do other things. I’m smart, I care, and I do know how to fight.”

“So, that’s your super power? Caring about people?”

I laughed. “I think so.”

“What power do you wish you had?”

I didn’t hesitate before I responded because ever since I’d learned about the supernatural, it was the one thing I wished I could do. “To be able to take away pain.”

The way Nolan smiled at me then made my heart pound in my chest.

“Why don’t you ask me what you really want to?” I asked.

His eyes skimmed over my face, noticed my body language, and then flickered away before focusing back on my own eyes. “Y/N, I really like you. I have for a while now, ever since we had classes together last year. I’ve always thought you were beautiful and funny and smart…. And way out of my league.”

“That’s not a question.” I whispered.

“Can I kiss you, Y/N?”

I smiled. “I was hoping you would.”

He turned to face me more and placed his left hand on my face, the pad of his thumb tracing over my cheek as his eyes gazed into mine.

I noticed, in that moment, just how beautiful he was. His eyes were crystal blue, light freckles decorated his skin but the ones on his nose – darker than the others – were perfect, and his lips looked soft and inviting.

He must have noticed the way I looked at his lips because he closed the gap between us and let our lips touch. They were just as soft as I thought they would be.

I melted into the kiss and let my face lean more into his hand.

He pulled away just a fraction of an inch and I could feel his breath against my lips. “Was that okay?”

I didn’t respond. Instead, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and tugged him towards me until our lips met again.

His free hand moved to my waist and his fingertips gently pressed into the skin, keeping me close but not so tightly that I couldn’t move away if I wanted to.

But I didn’t want to move away. I moved closer to him and my hand traced from his collar up to the back of his head and my fingers toyed with his hair.

The sound of my phone ringing startled both of us and we separated with a gasp but I couldn’t convince myself to move away from him or to take my phone out of my pocket.

The ringing stopped but started again just seconds later.

“You should get that.” Nolan chuckled, pecking my lips one more time before moving away.

I pulled the phone from my pocket to see Liam’s face flash across the screen. I hit answer and lifted the phone to my ear. “Hey, Liam, what’s up?”

“Where are you?” He asked immediately.

“With a friend.” I said quickly. “We were studying. Is everything okay?”

“We need to talk. Should I come pick you up?”

“No, no. I’ll get a ride. Are you at home?” I asked.

“Yeah. Um, hurry, by the way.”

I sighed but agreed. “Okay, I’ll be there soon. Bye.”

We hung up and I turned my attention back to Nolan. “I need you to take me home.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

We didn’t talk much again while we were in the car but he did hold my hand while he drove and it felt nice.

When we pulled up in front of my house, I took off my seatbelt and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for listening.”

He smiled. “Thank you for teaching me.”

I nodded. “Anytime.”

I didn’t want to get out of the car but I knew Liam probably heard us pull up and he would get suspicious if I didn’t come inside soon.

“Listen, we need to come up with some sort of plan. We’ve got to do something about all of these hunters, for all our sake. We’ll talk tomorrow?” I whispered in case Liam was trying to listen.

“Yeah, you can come to my house again.” Nolan offered.

“Bye, Nolan.” I said, opening the car door and stepping out.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He whispered before I closed the door.

When I got into the house, my brother was sitting on the sofa. He’d clearly been waiting for me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, taking a seat next to him.

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped. He leaned towards me and sniffed at my shirt. “Who were you with? I know that scent.”

I pushed his shoulders away. “What the fuck, Liam? I know we shared a womb but that doesn’t mean you get to sniff me.”

“Why do you smell like a boy?”

“I told you I was with a friend. I have friends who are boys.”

“You have a boyfriend?” He asked, his voice raising.

I sputtered. “Do you even listen? I said I have friends who are boys, friends who are of the male gender. Why are we even talking about how I smell? I thought you had some important information to share with me. Let’s get to that.”

Thankfully, he dropped the topic of the scent on my shirt. “You know how we found out the anuk-ite has two faces?”

“It’s not just Aaron. There’s another half.” I groaned.

He nodded. “Yeah, and it’s someone like us, like me. Another shapeshifter.”

I ran my hands over my face before letting them fall to my lap. “Okay, so do you have any idea who it is?”

“No, not really. We just know that we have to find them before the two halves merge.” He explained.

“Okay, what happens if they merge?”

He shrugged. “Not sure. We just know it can’t be good.”

“Of course. Nothing is ever good. It’s never positive. For once, why can’t we have some creature that brings happiness and love and positivity to the world instead of something that comes rampaging through the town, causing nothing but death and destruction? Why does it feel like we’re all five minutes away from being brutally murdered?” I realized I’d started yelling and I was thankful we were the only ones home.

Liam frowned. “I wish I could’ve kept you out of all this.”

“Why couldn’t you have just been the more dominant twin and absorbed me in the womb?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “I know I asked you before if you’re sure you aren’t Scott’s sister but now I’m starting to wonder if it’s Stiles instead.”

I glared but my face softened quickly. There was no time to argue, we had a much larger problem at hand. “Moving on… What else do we know about the anuk-ite?”

“Scott and Malia found this phone on a body in the woods and there’s a voicemail on it."

I cut him off. “You guys stole a phone from a dead body in the woods?”

“Malia did.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “That’s not the po- You know, never mind. Just… Continue.”

“Well, one of the bodies was stripped down to the muscle and you could still see the pack tattoo. It was a werewolf. That has to be the other half of the anuk-ite. If we can figure out who the person is that left the voicemail, they could lead us to its other half.”

“Okay. That sounds a lot simpler than it actually is though.” I said.

“Which is why you’re going to help.” He pulled a flip phone from his pocket and held it up. “Maybe you’ll recognize the voice.”

I kicked my shoes off and pulled my legs up onto the sofa, tucking them underneath me. “Okay, let me hear it then.”

He flipped the phone open and played the voicemail.

It was a woman’s voice and she sounded older. I was sure I’d heard her voice before but I couldn’t tell where.

When it ended, Liam immediately played it again. And then twice more after that.

“It’s someone at the school.” I said suddenly.

“How do you know that?” He asked.

I nervously bit at my lip before I answered. “I don’t… I don’t know. It’s just memory. I hear the voice and I can imagine being at school, staring at a chalkboard, being bored out of my mind.”

He played the voicemail one more time and I saw something click in his mind. “I think I know who it is!”

I sat up straighter. “Well, out with it then!”

“I think it’s Mrs Finch.” He stated.

“Play it one more time.” I said quickly.

He did and I could finally match a face to the voice. Liam was right and I knew he was.

“That’s her. That’s absolutely her.” I nodded. “There’s no question. It’s Finch. We’ve got to do something at school tomorrow. Try to prove that she’s a werewolf.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure? What about the other students? The hunters? What if we end up just painting a target on her back?”

“Honestly, I think they probably already know about her. I mean, think about it. If she is a werewolf, she can probably smell that you are. And I mean, when Gabe and Nolan jumped you… You and Mason said that she didn’t do anything? She didn’t stop them?”

He nodded once.

“Okay, maybe she was scared? She knows that Gabe and Nolan are working with the hunters and she doesn’t want to give them anymore of a reason to come after her.” I suggested. “I know this could make her a target but think about it. If we can find out who she was calling, who that other body is, then we can find out who the other half is. If we can stop the halves before they merge, if we stop the anuk-ite, the war is over. If people aren’t scared anymore, then she should be safe. You should all be safe.”

“You’re right. If people aren’t scared anymore, they’ll stop trying to kill all of us.”

I let out a small sigh. “Right. So how do we prove it?”

Liam stared at the ground for a moment before his head snapped up. “Wolfsbane.”

“Can’t that kill her?” I asked.

He shook his head and shifted in his seat. “No. Well, yes, but no. If we can expose her to just a little bit of wolfsbane, she’ll react to. She might shift but we should be able to tell.”

“Sounds good. You should call Scott and tell him. Maybe he’ll have another plan if this one doesn’t work.” I said. “Oh, and speaking of plans, I have one. We don’t know how long it’s going to take to find the other half of the anuk-ite or what it’s going to take to stop it. So, until then, I think I know how we can get information about what Gerard’s army is doing.”

“Really?” His sounded almost excited. “What’s the plan?”

I frowned and picked at my nails. “Well, I can’t exactly tell you that yet. But please, just trust me. I have to look into it a little more but I know someone who might be willing to help us.”

“Is this the person you were hanging out with earlier?” He asked.

“Yeah. I know you’re not going to like it when you find out, but just trust that I’m working on something, okay?”

“Y/N, don’t do anything that could get you into trouble. Please.”

I folded my arms across my chest before speaking. “Liam, listen. Whether you like it or not, I’m part of this now. I am fully aware of the danger that I could be getting myself into, okay? But I’m not going to sit by and do nothing.”

He seemed to accept even though I’m sure he didn’t want to.

I stood up and started making my way towards the stairs before stopping halfway there. “You never told me what happened with Gabe.”

“I didn’t get anything.” He admitted.

I ran a hand through my hair. “Well, that’s okay. Because I did.”

Liam jumped up from his seat immediately. “From Nolan?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. I heard the two of them talking in the locker room. Gabe was the one who shot up Scott’s house. Nolan had nothing to do with it.”

“You’re sure?” He asked.

“Positive. But let’s not worry about that yet. Tomorrow, we deal with Mrs Finch. If we can’t find the other half of the anuk-ite then we get Gabe.”

“Deal.”

I nodded once. “Goodnight, Liam.”

My brother got up early the next morning to go talk to Scott so I texted Nolan and asked him if he could pick me up and we could talk on the way to school.

When he pulled up in front of the house ten minutes later, I was already waiting.

“Good morning.” He said as I got into the car.

“Hi.” I smiled but my face dropped when I noticed the dark circles around his eyes. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

He chuckled at my bluntness but shook his head. “No, not really.”

I sighed and reached for his hand. “I’m sorry, Nolan.”

He cut me off before I could say anymore. “No, you don’t have to apologize. I should. I’ve been a complete ass.”

I nodded. “Hmm, yeah, you have.”

He rolled his eyes playfully. “Seriously, I want to make up for it. I want to help.”

“Well, that’s great! Because I have a really fantastic idea of how you could help. But it’s also really dangerous. And now that I think about dangerous it is, I’m not so sure that I want you to do it.” I rambled.

He squeezed my hand gently. “Just tell me.”

“I was going to suggest that maybe you…” I trailed off, not being able to force the words out. “It’s just… We don’t know anything about what’s happening with…”

“If you want me to be a spy, I can be a spy.”

My shoulders slumped. “I really don’t want you to but I don’t know how else we can do this. There’s no way that we can go at this blind.”

We pulled into the school parking lot then so I knew we didn’t have much more time to talk.

“Monroe is calling a meeting. Everyone’s going to be there. I’m not sure what the point is yet but it must be important. I’ll go and get all of the information to you tomorrow.” Nolan offered.

“No! You can’t tell me.” I said.

His eyebrows furrowed.

“Well, I mean, you can tell me. But Liam doesn’t know you’re on our side yet or that we did that whole kissing thing. Anyway, you need to reach out to Liam. Text him, ask him to meet you somewhere, tell him you have a plan and that you have information. He may not like it but he’ll have to listen.” I stopped to take a breath. “After that, he’ll bring me in on it. Whatever information you give him, he’ll want me to hear too. Then we make our next move.”

“What’s the plan I’m supposed to tell him that I have?”

I chewed on the corner of my lip. “I didn’t get that far. I was hoping you might have an idea. Maybe you should wait until after the meeting to decide. You’ve still got time. Just… Whatever you do, make sure the plan is something you’re willing to actually go through with in case something else falls through. And make it believable.”

“What if he listens to my heart? He could know that I’m lying.”

I ran a hand through my hair and was surprised to realize that my hand was shaking. “He’ll just think you’re nervous or scared. If the plan is believable and you just seem freaked out, he should just go with it. And don’t tell me that plan first, I’ll have to be genuinely surprised when Li tells me about it.”

Nolan grabbed the hand that I had just run through my hair and squeezed both of my hands tightly. “Breathe. It’s going to be okay.”

“Are you telling me that? Or yourself?” I asked, noticing the fear in his eyes.

“Both.” He laughed nervously.

I smiled sweetly at him before looking around to make sure no one was watching us. When I didn’t see anyone, I leaned over the center console and kissed him softly.

When I pulled away, he tried to follow.

“I’ll see you in class, okay? I have to go find my brother now.” I said before hopping out of the car.

I waved to Nolan as I hurried towards the building in search of Liam. When I found him, he was standing outside of Mrs Finch’s classroom with Scott.

“Hey, Y/N.” Scott smiled when I walked up.

“Hi!” I smiled back. “Any new developments?”

Liam unzipped his backpack to show me a transmitter like the ones Argent used. “I have wolfsbane in my pocket, too.”

“Isn’t that uncomfortable?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s powder and only a little bit. I’m fine unless I breathe it in.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take it?”

“No, you’ll take the transmitter.” Scott said.

“Okay, fine.” I unzipped my bag and took the transmitter from Liam before sliding it down between a couple of notebooks and zipping the bag up again. “The transmitter is plan A, I’m assuming?”

Both boys nodded.

I adjusted the straps of my backpack. “Well, alright then. I’m off to English for now. I’ll see you in bio later.”

For the rest of the day, I found it hard to pay attention during my classes. Most of the time I was sitting there with a notebook open in front of me and a pen in my hand but instead of copying notes, I found myself thinking about every little thing that could go wrong with every plan we had.

When I sat down in my math class, I was so distracted that I didn’t even notice Nolan take the empty seat in front of me until he spoke.

“Y/N, are you okay?”

“Huh?” My head snapped up and a I took a deep breath. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking. Overthinking, maybe.”

His eyes bored into mine and I noticed him reach a hand towards me before stopping himself. “I don’t know how to help while we’re here.”

I forced a smile onto my face. “I know, Nolan. But it’s fine. I promise I’ll be okay. Just stick to the plan, alright?”

He nodded before turning to face the front of the room just as the bell rang.

The teacher started writing something on the board about trigonometric identities which I already understood so I tuned out the droning of his voice. I pretended to be copying the notes while I was really brainstorming ideas on how to take down Gerard’s army if we weren’t able to stop the anuk-ite before it was too late. The only semi-reasonable idea I had – bombs – was too deadly of one to entertain for much longer than twenty seconds.

When the bell rang at the end of class, I shoved my belongings back into my bag and hurried out of the classroom after muttering a quick goodbye to Nolan.

I ran to my locker to exchange a few books before making my away across the building to Mrs Finch’s room.

When I got there, Liam was sitting at a lab table by himself so I went to take the empty seat beside him. Before I could get there, Gabe took the seat.

I stood in front of Gabe, arms folded across my chest. “Move.”

He didn’t acknowledge me and before I could speak, Mrs Finch did. “Y/N, there are plenty of other seats. I’m sure you can find one.”

I faced her and tried to smile. “Of course.”

There was an empty chair at the lab table next to Liam’s so I sat there, dropping my bag to the floor beside me.

The bell rang and Mrs Finch called the class to attention by telling everyone to put their phones away.

When she turned away from the board, she seemed surprise to see Liam sitting there.

“I didn’t think we’d be seeing you again.” She said.

“Can’t let my GPA go down just because I got beat up in class.” He said, shooting Gabe a look.

Mrs Finch muttered something but nothing of any meaning came out. She then noticed Gabe typing something on his phone and took it away from him.

I wondered if he’d sent someone a text telling them that Liam was back.

When Finch turned her attention back to the board to start teaching, I looked over at Liam who quickly stuffed a pair of earplugs into his ears before giving me a nod. I reached down to lift up my backpack and pretend I was looking for something inside it.

I clicked on the transmitter and the top glowed red, confirming that it was on. I noticed Liam flinch slightly and another girl a few rows back covered her ears before running out of the room. Mrs Finch, however, didn’t react.

She turned away from the board and her eyes scanned the room. “Where did Rebecca go?”

I clicked off the transmitter and dropped my bag back to the floor.

My brother mumbled something, his mouth covered slightly by his hand and I knew he was talking to Scott who was out in the hallway.

When Mrs Finch called three volunteers to the board, a boy sitting behind me stood up and Gabe did. They both walked to the board, followed by Liam a second later. When Liam got to the board, he shoved Gabe to the side so he could stand there.

I had to stifle my laugh when I saw how pissed off Gabe looked.

My brother scribbled something on the board which was completely incorrect before pulling a folded up piece of paper out of his jacket and sprinkling wolfsbane over the eraser sitting at the bottom of the board.

Mrs Finch told Liam that he was doing the problem wrong and to sit down.

When she picked up the eraser to wipe away what Liam had written, she had to have breathed in some of the wolfsbane.

She coughed once and Liam and I could both see her shaking slightly. It looked like she could be close to shifting. Instead, she only sneezed.

I groaned internally and I felt my whole body droop in disappointment.

When I was sure we were getting nowhere, she dismissed the class.

Everyone was confused as to why but we all gathered up other stuff anyway.

“Not you, Liam.” She called. “You stay put.”

Our eyes met across the room.

I dropped my bag back to the floor. If Liam wasn’t leaving, neither was I.

“Y/N, you should go.”

I walked over to Liam and stood by his side. “Liam stays, I stay. We’re a packaged deal, Mrs Finch.”

“I get it. I know what you’re trying to do.” She said, her attention turned back to my brother.

“You do?” He asked.

“You’re upset.” She walked around her desk. “You want to get back at me.”

“Upset?”

“B-Because I stood by and I did nothing. For what Gabe and Nolan did to you. I’m your teacher and I should’ve protected you.”

“No!” Liam said quickly. “No, I-I mean, yeah. But no, that’s not why I’m here.”

Her brows furrowed and eyes narrowed for a millisecond.

“I know about your pack.”

Her forehead creased. “My what?”

“I know what you are.”

“Liam, I…” She looked away before looking back and I analyzed every little movement, her body language, the tiniest idiosyncrasies.

“You’re a werewolf.” He said, cutting her off.

The quirk in her brows gave her away before she responded. When she spoke, it was almost a laugh. “A what?”

“A person who turns into a wolf on a full moon.”

She laughed again. “Oh, god. Right. And I can probably only be killed by a silver bullet.”

“No, no, that’s not totally true.” I said.

“Are you on drugs?” She asked, stepping closer to us.

“Huh?” Liam and I chorused.

Mrs Finch stepped closer still. “I know your father is a surgeon at the hospital.”

“No, I’m not drugs!” Liam began.

“Mrs Finch, you’re a werewolf!” I finished in the same tone.

“Hydrocodone?” She asked.

“You have a pack.” He muttered.

“Oxycodone?”

“You said it on the phone.” I jumped in.

“That’s enough.”

Liam looked like he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “You can’t hide what you are.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but you really need to go now. You need to leave this classroom Right now. You have to leave my class. Go!” Her voice rose almost to a yell when neither of us moved to leave.

A quiet beep behind me caught our attention and I heard the sound of her voice on the voicemail. When we turned around, Scott was standing there with the phone in his hand.

After a few seconds, she grabbed the phone from Scott’s hand and snapped it shut. “Where did you find this?”

I knew she wasn’t the anuk-ite but I was sure they would lead Liam and Scott to who it was.

“Y/N, you should go.” Liam said quietly.

“What?” I snapped. “Why?”

“If it shows up here, the other half, if they merge… We can’t protect you. You have to go.”

I shook my head. “No, Liam. I’m not going.”

“Please.” He begged. “For once, please just listen to me and get out of here.”

“No!”

Liam grabbed my shoulders tightly. “Please. I don’t know if I can keep you safe.”

“I’m part of this now, Liam! I have been ever since you told me what you were. You need me now too.”

He groaned. “Then at least go wait in the car so that if we need to get out of here fast, you can be our getaway driver.”

I rolled my eyes as he shoved his keys into my hand. “I can’t believe this.”

I didn’t say goodbye before grabbing my bag and walking out the door.

When I got to Liam’s truck, I opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. I stuck the key into the ignition but didn’t turn it on yet.

I wanted to know what was going on inside, I wanted to know what everyone else was doing. It didn’t know where Theo was or Mason or Lydia or Malia. There were so many other plans that were in action that I didn’t know about.

I wondered if Nolan was already at that meeting Monroe called. I wondered if he was safe.

I waited in the car for what had to be hours. It was starting to get dark and I hadn’t seen or heard anyone come or go from the school.

My hands started shaking and I felt like I was on the verge on an anxiety attack. I didn’t know if Liam was safe. I wanted to run inside to find him but I was scared that if I left the truck, something else might happen. If he was safe, we might not be able to get away. My breathing grew heavier and I leaned forward, resting my head against the steering wheel and trying to calm down but I couldn’t.

I tried every technique I had but I couldn’t stop freaking out. My heart was pounding in my chest and tears streamed down my cheeks. I felt like I might pass out. But that was when I realized it.

The anuk-ite, at least half of it, was close.

From the school, I heard this shrieking sound that made goosebumps come up over my whole body. Minutes later, I heard the same screaming.

I didn’t know what the hell was going on but I turned the key, hoping that Scott and Liam would come running out at any second.

A girl came running out of the building and towards the library. Liam followed soon after her.

Lydia’s car screeched to a halt next to the truck and I almost screamed. I jumped out of the car at the same time as her and Malia. “Lydia! Malia! What are you doing here?”

“They’re both here. Both halves of the anuk-ite. If they merge, you’ll die if you look at them. We have to get Scott and Liam now.”

“Scott is in the school still. But Liam just ran into the library.” I said.

Right after I said my brother’s name, I heard him roar from inside the library and my heart felt like it dropped into my stomach.

I had to ignore the feeling of dread and I took off in a dead sprint towards the library doors. Lydia followed me while Malia went to find Scott. What we didn’t notice was the group of three men with guns walking into the school.

The moment I got inside the library doors, I saw Liam standing there, facing away from me. There was the body of a girl laying lifeless on the floor and it felt like I was on the verge of a heart attack.

Lydia and I grabbed Liam by shoulders and pulled hard, leading to the three of us toppling through the doors and onto the sidewalk outside.

“We have to run!” Lydia said.

We got up and followed her when she ran into the school.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked. “Quinn and Aaron merged, we have to stop them.”

“You can’t” I said, grabbing his arm and pulled him along.

“You can’t look at it. If you do, it will kill you.” Lydia informed. “We have to find Scott and Malia and get out of here.”

We turned down one hallway and I froze. There were two bodies on the floor, two men with guns. But they weren’t just dead, they were turned to stone.

“That’s what it does.” I breathed. “If you look at the anuk-ite, that’s what happens to you.”

“How do we fight something we can’t look at?” Liam asked.

Lydia shook her head slowly. “I have no idea.”

“We have to learn to fight without our eyes.” Scott said as he walked up behind us with Malia.

“Fight without seeing, that means…” Malia trailed off and looked at Scott.

“Deucalion.” Lydia confirmed.

While I’d never actually met Deucalion, I had heard plenty of stories about him. And from the stories I heard, he didn’t seem like the kind of person that I wanted to associate with. Guys who call themselves “Death, destroyer of worlds” don’t often make good company. But I knew he was blind and damn near impossible beat despite that so if he would be willing to help, then I might have to introduce myself.

We all went home that night feeling a wide range of emotions. Mine mostly consisted of fear, anger, and pure exhaustion. I wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed and sleep for two weeks. But when I got into my bed, I couldn’t fall asleep. I tossed and turned for hours.

I finally fell asleep around five a.m., only to be awoken by my brother when he came barging into my room less than two hours later.

The sound of my door being flung open and slamming against the wall jarred me from my sleep and I sat bolt upright in bed. The pocket knife that I kept under my pillow was open and in my hand within a second.

Liam, however, did not seem at all bothered by my weapon. “Get up.”

I glared him but I did not lower the knife. “Even though I now know that you aren’t an intruder, I’m still willing to stab for you the extremely unpleasant wake up call.”

“Then get it over with so I can heal and change clothes before we have to leave.” He sighed.

I rolled my eyes and clicked the knife shut. “What do you want? I never get up this early and you damn well know that.”

“Your buddy texted me.” He said, tossing his phone into my lap.

I picked it up and checked the screen. There was a text message from Nolan asking Liam if he would meet him in the library before class.

“What are you going to say?” I asked, tossing the phone back to him.

“I was going to ask what you think?”

I pretended to think about it for a second even though I had spent most of my time awake during the night deciding what I would say in this kind of situation. “I think you should meet him. I mean, I know him a little better than you so just… Believe me when I say that I don’t believe he’s actually a bad guy. He’s like everyone else, he’s acting out of fear. And you’ve seen him, he was anxious enough before the anuk-ite. Who knows? Maybe he can tell us something we don’t know, something about Monroe or Gerard.”

“If you want me to go, then you’re coming too.”

I faked being annoyed. “Whatever, fine. Get out so that I can get dressed.”

When he left, I got out of bed and headed towards my closet. I pulled out a pair of jeans, a black tshirt, and a pair of boots. I was too tired to try to look any nicer than that. The fact that I’d chosen jeans over leggings or sweats was a feat in itself.

I grabbed my brother’s lacrosse hoodie from my desk chair and pulled it over my head before I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs.

“Are you ever going to give my hoodie back?” Liam asked around a mouthful of cereal.

“Absolutely not. And have same manners, please.” I said as I grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl and began peeling it.

I only managed to eat half of the orange before the anxiety I’d been feeling made me want to throw up. I tossed the remainder into the trash before pulling out my phone to text Nolan.

The plan is a success so far. We’ll see you at the library in a bit. I typed and hit send.

When Liam finished his cereal, he placed the empty bowl in the sink and we took off.

“Let me do most of the talking.” Liam said when we pulled into the school parking lot and got out of the truck.

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “And why should I do that?”

“Haven’t you noticed that he turns into the physical embodiment of the heart eyes emoji whenever you talk to him?” Liam asked. “If this is going to be successful, we need you not distracting him with your female ways.”

“What the hell does that mean? Female ways? That sounds incredibly sexist, Liam Dunbar.” I smacked his arm.

He stopped walking and I followed suit. “What I’m saying is that he is a 16 year old boy. Every shred of attention that you give him just fuels his hormones.”

I rolled my eyes aggressively and continued walking. “As if you were not a 16 year old boy last year. As if you didn’t act the same damn way with Hayden.”

“That’s not the point.” He defended.

I decided to drop it, knowing that Liam and I could argue for hours at a time and end up with no clear winner.

We walked into the library and found a secluded spot off to one side so that when Nolan showed up, we’d be able to talk more privately.

I was about to text Nolan to tell him we were there when I heard the doors open again and I peeked between a couple of shelves and saw him coming inside. I noticed that a lot of people were shooting weird looks at him and I could see how much it bothered him.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” Liam said when Nolan got closer. “You know why they’re all looking at you like that?”

“They’re afraid of me?” He asked.

“They’re afraid of what you’re going to say, and who you’re going to say it to.” Nolan eyes focused on the ground when Liam spoke. “Nobody trusts you anymore.”

“Then why are you here? How come you texted me back?” Nolan asked.

“’Cause maybe this time I’ll kick your ass.” My brother said, beginning to get in Nolan’s face.

I grabbed his elbow and pulled him back a few inches. “Li, don’t. Please.”

“I said I was going to help. I can show you something. Something I know you’re going to want to see.”

“Where?” Liam asked.

“A-At the hospital.” Nolan’s voice quivered and I couldn’t tell for sure if he was acting or if he was actually feeling freaked out.

I noticed my brother turn to look back at me. His eyes narrowed and I felt like he was getting suspicious of how quiet I was being so I decided that I needed to up my own performance a bit. I still had to keep up the lie of not trusting or liking Nolan. “Why can’t you just tell us? Why should we trust you?”

Nolan’s voice was still shaking slightly when he spoke again. “Because I had a plan.”

“You? You have a plan?” Liam asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I..” He stopped to take a deep breath before continuing. “I’m gonna show you what you need to see at the hospital. Then you’re gonna kick my ass so Miss Monroe thinks that you had to beat the information out of me.”

I felt my own heart speed up and since I was standing a bit behind Liam, I mouthed my disdain at Nolan. Are you fucking serious?!

He didn’t respond obviously but I know he noticed.

Liam seemed to think about it for a second before nodding. “Yeah, I’m good with that plan.”

I immediately wanted to slap both of them. “No, what the fuck? We can’t… No one needs to get the shit beat out of them today.”

“Miss Monroe might come after me if it becomes obvious that I’ve switched sides.” Nolan said.

I threw my arms up in the air, holding them there for a second before bringing my hands down on top of my head. “I can’t believe this shit.”

Neither boys responded to me and I felt like I wanted to let out a scream that would make Lydia proud.

“Are we going now?” I asked.

“We can’t skip class.” Liam said.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. “As if that’s ever stopped either of us before. As if that ever stopped Scott and Stiles. Come on, it’s like being part of the pack means that you have to skip school at least once a week.”

“No, we aren’t skipping school again, Y/N. We’re seniors, we have to stay alive and graduate on time.”

I rolled my eyes. “I literally cannot believe this. I’ll see you in biology unless I decide to drop out, move away from here, and start raising cows in Montana before then.”

I left the library without saying goodbye to either one of them and headed to my first period class.

The day only seemed to drag on and I felt increasingly frustrated with every passing hour. By the last period, when I was sitting in biology with Liam, I was wiggling my leg and tapping my fingers almost constantly. I didn’t know what Nolan was going to show us but I knew it probably wasn’t good and I just wanted to find out so that we could move forward with the next phase of the plan.

When the final bell rang, we hurried out of the school, got into the truck, and followed Nolan to the hospital. Once we were parked, we all headed inside together.

Nolan was leading the way while Liam and I walked side by side behind him.

He opened the door to one of the waiting rooms and we went inside but he stopped Liam and I before we could completely round the corner.

“See that guy?” He asked, pointing to a male nurse who was talking to a little boy. “That’s why we didn’t come in front door.”

“Who is he?” Liam asked.

“He’s with Monroe. He was there last night. They handed him a gun like everyone else.” He then pointed to a blonde. “Do you see that, that nurse right there? She was standing right behind me. There’s more than you think and they’re not just hunters. It’s anyone and everyone who’s willing to pick up a gun. Last night they were teaching them how to use them, how to load clips, what to do if the gun jams.”

“Nurses?” I asked, leaning heavily against the wall.

Nolan nodded. “Everyone.”

“So this is what you wanted to show me? That people hate us? I could’ve figured that out on my own.” Liam was starting to get angry so I grabbed his arm and gave him a quick squeeze, just as a little reminder to try to stay calm.

“But it’s not just that.” Nolan sighed and placed his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “Come with me, okay?”

A phone rang at the nurses’ station and the blonde turned to answer it.

“Now!” Nolan said in a hushed tone and we followed him across the room and down another hallway.

We took an elevator up a couple of floors. Before we stepped out, Nolan held his arm out to stop us. He looked around to make sure we were okay to go in and then let us follow.

We followed him through a set of swinging doors into a dimly lit room containing three beds. There was a man in each bed, all attached to an IV pumping a purple liquid into them.

“They brought them in yesterday.” Nolan told us.

“Who are they?” Liam and I asked.

“I-I don’t know, but they brought them in last night.”

I walked over to one of the IV bags and took a closer look. I immediately knew what the purple tinged liquid was.

“Do you know what that is?” Nolan asked.

“Wolfsbane.” I said, feeling my hands clench into tight fists. “They’re killing them slowly.”

Liam looked over at me. “What do we do? We have to do something.”

I shook my head. “I-I really don’t know, Liam.”

“I’m calling Mason.” He said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

He walked towards the doors where he stood to talk to Mason while I walked around the room, looking at each man that was hooked up to an IV. I didn’t recognize any of them but I knew that they were probably suffering.

My hands were shaking and I had to force myself not to start crying. Everything was starting to feel like it was too much and I didn’t know what to do anymore.

Liam hung up the phone a minute later and Nolan spoke. “Okay. Uh, I’m going.”

“Whoa, whoa. What about your plan?” Liam asked and stopped him from leaving.

“Nobody saw you come in with me…” He said.

“So?”

“So, I don’t have to get my ass kicked.” Nolan said, an undertone of hope in his voice.

“That was the only part of the plan that I liked.” Liam said.

I walked over from where I was standing. Nolan seemed to have accepted what Liam said but I hadn’t. “Li, come on. Please be nice. He’s trying to help. At least now we have a little bit more information to go off of.”

“Go.” Liam said to Nolan and nodded towards the door.

Nolan chuckled and smirked before walking out.

Liam and I lingered for a minute.

“Mason and Corey are on the way.” He told me.

I nodded. “Okay, good. They can help us figure out what to do next.”

“Can I ask you something?”

I wanted to say no because I was afraid of what he would ask but I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why do you suddenly seem like you’re protecting him?”

I played with a loose string on my sleeve. “It’s not just him. I’m trying to protect everyone, Liam. I’m tired of people dying and getting hurt constantly. I can’t stand it. And he’s a scared 16 year old. He made some mistakes but I don’t think you need to kick his ass when he’s here, putting himself at risk, trying to do something to help us. I could be in his position if I didn’t know all of the things that I know. If you weren’t my brother, if you weren’t a werewolf, we could be on the other side of this.”

My phone rang from my pocket, interrupting the conversation. When I checked, it was a text from Lydia. When I read what she said, my heart started hammering in my chest and I felt lightheaded.

“What is it?” Liam asked, hearing the change.

“Lydia. It starts tonight, the war starts tonight.” I said, putting my phone away before I dropped it. “We aren’t ready, Liam.”

We walked towards the doors and looked out through the windows. There was no one around, no nurses or doctors in the hallway. And suddenly the power cut out, leaving us in the dark for a few seconds before the emergency lights kicked on.

“I think this was planned. To get us here. You, me, Mason, and Corey. They’re trying to spread all of us out.” I said.

“Nolan.” Liam accused.

I shook my head. “No, Liam. I really don’t think it was him. Monroe and Gerard have been manipulating him, they probably figured out that he’s on our side now. They knew he would pull something like this.”

I pulled my phone out again, ready to text Mason and Corey to tell them to stay as far away from the hospital as possible but I had no signal. “Do you have service?”

Liam checked his phone and shook his head. “No, none.”

“They’re using a cell jammer, I think.”

He put his phone away. “We can’t leave yet. We don’t have a plan. I’m not letting you go out there and get yourself killed.”

I nodded. “Right. Okay, so, we wait a few minutes. See if we can figure something out. If not, we just – we just have to go for it.”

He agreed reluctantly.

We waited by the doors, looking to see if anyone showed up. And we were both trying to figure out what the hell we were supposed to do.

Liam turned around suddenly and I saw one of the men we thought were werewolves pointing a gun at him.

A shot rang out and I screamed, thinking for sure that the bullet was going to hit my brother.

It missed and before I could react further, Liam had grabbed the guy and thrown him through the doors. I watched as he went sliding into the wall and was knocked out when his head hit.

I followed Liam out of the room and to my left, I heard the sound of a gun being cocked. When I turned, I saw five men holding guns. Gabe was one of them.

“Let me do it.” He said, pointing the gun at Liam.

I stepped in front of my brother, blocking his body with my own. “Go, Liam. Get out of here.”

“Y/N, move out of the way.” Gabe said.

In that moment, I wished so desperately that I were a werewolf that so I could rip his throat out. “Fuck you, Gabe. If you want to kill Liam, you’re killing me first. And you better hope you do kill me because I swear to god, I’m hoping to live up to the promise of gutting you.”

I looked behind me for a fraction of a second to see if Liam had moved. “Liam, go, please!”

I heard him start backing up.

“Go ahead, Liam, run! It’ll be more fun that way.” Gabe spoke.

I began backed up, keeping myself in front of Liam.

We were almost to the wall and I didn’t know what we were going to do.

The elevator dinged behind us and the doors slid open. Liam grabbed the back of my shirt, roughly yanking me into the elevator and I fell to the ground, flattening myself out as they started shooting.

The door slid closed and I looked up to see that Theo had pulled Liam and I into the elevator before we could both be killed.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked, breathing heavily.

“Was just asking myself the same thing.” He replied.

I could hear bullets still hitting the elevator doors when Liam grabbed me and helped me to my feet.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “You’re not hit are you?”

I shook my head, tears filling my eyes. “I’m not hit. But I’m not okay either. None of this is okay.”

He pulled me into his chest. “Hey, just calm down. We’ll get out of here. I’m not letting anything happen to you.”

I sobbed into his shirt and felt one of Theo’s hands on my back.

“We’re getting out of here.” Liam said. “Alive.”

I pulled away from him and wiped my face. I took a deep breath and gave him a nod. “You’re right. We’re getting out of here. And do you know why? I’m tired of being scared. And right now, I’m a lot more fucking pissed off than I am scared.”

Theo chuckled at my words. “I like this side of you.”

I wanted to laugh but I didn’t quite have it in me.

The sound of the bullets had stopped but I wasn’t sure if Gabe and the rest of them were gone. “Are they still out there?”

Liam nodded.

“Look, I’m not dying for you.” Theo said, speaking to my brother.

“I’m not dying for you either.” Liam responded. After a second, he continued. “But I will fight with you.”

“Okay. Let’s fight.” Theo said.

I watched as they both shifted, their eyes began to glow and the claws came out. “I-I can’t do that. What do I do? I can’t do anything.”

“Stay back.” They said at the same time.

Theo pushed me over to the side of the elevator so that when the door opened, I would still be protected.

He pushed the button to open the doors and as soon as they slid open, Theo and Liam ran out as gunshots rang out. A minute later, I could hear various blows landing but there weren’t anymore gunshots.

I peeked my head around and stepped out before the doors slid shut again.

One of the guys was on the floor and he reached for his gun again, he was about to take a shot when Melissa came around the corner with the stun gun Argent had given her and used it on him.

He dropped instantly and Nolan came around the corner next. As another guy moved to get up, Nolan grabbed his gun from the floor and used the end of it to hit him.

I looked toward the end of the hall and saw Gabe standing behind Liam and Theo, getting ready to shoot. I began screaming at them. “Get down!”

Melissa, Nolan, and I all dropped to the floor instantly while Theo and Liam tried to run towards us. Nolan scrambled towards me, pulling me underneath him and blocking me from the chaos.

When I finally looked up, Liam was fighting with Gabe, trying to wrestle the gun away from him. Someone else had come into the hallway, a man I didn’t recognize and he was holding a handgun in one hand and a walkie talkie in the other.

He said something into the talkie that I couldn’t understand and I tried to move to do something, to get the gun away from him but Nolan held me down. “Don’t. Don’t get in the way.”

I heard Monroe’s voice come over the talkie. “Shoot them! Shoot both of them!”

Nolan’s head shot up and he looked at the guy for a second before nodding to Melissa and I and getting up to move up behind him.

The guy opened fire and Liam dove out of the way. I saw one of the bullets go straight into Gabe’s chest and I felt more tears well up in my eyes. What bothered me the most was that he didn’t stop shooting, He kept sending more bullets right into his torso until Nolan hit him in the back of the head with a fire extinguisher.

I watched as Gabe dropped to the ground, not yet dead. He crawled his way over to the wall, groaning the whole time. He propped himself up against it while we all made it to our feet.

Liam and Theo had both been shot but were already starting to heal.

I walked ahead of everyone, watching how blood dripped from Gabe’s mouth, down his chin. His shirt was soaked and I knew he wasn’t going to make it. After everything I’d said, I realized I didn’t mean it. I wouldn’t have killed him, I couldn’t. And no matter what, he didn’t deserve to die like this.

“It hurts.” He choked out, his eyes meeting mine. “It hurts.”

Theo walked towards him while Nolan moved closer to where I stood.

Tears streamed down my face as Theo knelt beside Gabe, pushed his sleeve up his arm, and grabbed his wrist. I watched as their veins both turned black and Theo took away Gabe’s pain.

“Does it hurt anymore?” Theo asked.

Gabe shook his head and breathed out a quiet “no.”

“Good.” Theo said, lowered Gabe’s hand back to his lap as his eyes slid shut and he stopped breathing.

I felt Nolan stumble beside me a bit and I didn’t hesitate to wrap one of my arms around his waist to help steady him. We clung to each other, held each other up. And I didn’t even care if Liam didn’t approve. Nolan needed me in that moment, and I needed him.

After that, it was all over. There were no more gunshots ringing out. I didn’t feel as afraid as before.

My phone rang again and it felt awkward to answer it when Gabe was dead on the floor in front of me but I knew it was probably important.

It was Scott. “Y/N, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Scott. We’re all okay, I think. What about you? Is anyone hurt?”

Liam moved towards me while I listened to Scott’s response.

“No, not that bad. We’re all going to be okay. The aunk-ite is gone.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”

“We’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Soon.”

We said goodbye and hung up.

The sound of a voice coming over the walkie talkie belonging to one of the hunters caught our attention. It was Monroe asking for information at what was going on.

Liam picked up the talkie and pressed the button before speaking. “You lost.”

I almost laughed before turning more towards Nolan, wrapping my other arm around him.

He squeezed my shoulders tightly and held me to his chest. I felt him press a kiss to the top of my head.

“It’s going to be okay.” I whispered. “And we couldn’t have done it without you.”

Liam walked up behind me. “Is this who you were studying with?”

I pulled away and turned to face him. “It was. But we didn’t study. I helped plan a lot of this. I told him everything.”

Liam looked to Nolan. “Is this true?”

Nolan nodded and smiled down at me. “Yeah, she taught me everything I needed to know. She’s the one who told me to text you after that meeting.”

My brother shook his head but smiled. “I should’ve known you had something to do with this. You’re way too protective over this kid.”

I shrugged. “What can I say? I kinda like this one.”

“You’re sure?”

I nodded. “Positive.”

He turned his attention back to Nolan. “I have claws. If you hurt my sister, I will use them on you.”

Nolan gulped. “Message received.”

“Play nice.” I said. “We might not be standing here if it weren’t for him.”

I stepped away from Nolan to hug my brother.

He held me tightly. “I love you.”

I smiled. “Love you too, Li.”

“You saved my life tonight.” He said. “Standing between me and those guys.”

“I would do it again tomorrow if I had to.” I assured him.

When we separated, I walked over to Melissa. She held her arms out and pulled me.

“Thank you for everything.” I said.

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

Mason and Corey had joined us so I pulled both of them in at the same time. “I love you guys. I’m happy you’re okay.”

Theo was the only person left. We locked eyes before I walked over to him. “And you…”

He frowned, probably thinking I would be unhappy with him for whatever reason.

“Thank you. You saved Nolan’s life, you saved my life, you saved my brother’s life. You took away Gabe’s pain. You’ve proved a lot of people wrong recently.”

His eyes went wide and he smiled. “Get over here.”

I ran towards him and he scooped me up in a hug.

“Thanks for always seeing the good in me.” He whispered.

“None of us are all bad, Theo. Not even you.” I said.

He released me a few seconds later and I smiled at all of my friends.

Nolan was gazing at me, one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen gracing his face despite the few tears that still lingered in his eyes and on his cheeks.

I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers together as we started making our way out of the hospital.

The moment we got outside into the cool night air, I turned towards him and placed my hands on his face. I stretched up onto my toes and kissed him. His hands landed on my waist as he kissed me back.

Liam cleared his throat from a few feet away. “That’s enough of that.”

Nolan and I both giggled as we separated.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts before I spoke again.

“We did it. We won this. We were scared out of our minds but we still won. We worked together, even some of us that we didn’t expect.”

My lungs pulled in the first steady breath I’d taken in what felt like weeks and I smiled as I finished speaking.

“We can go home.”

#nolan hollway imagine #nolan holloway #nolan imagine #teen wolf #teen wolf imagine #froy gutierrez

436 notes · View notes

doubletriplepowerbomb · 7 years

Text

Anything But Ordinary

A/U Roman Reigns x OC fanfic Summary: Sierra Winters is normal girl, whose life is anything but ordinary. Her parents are notorious hunters of supernatural creatures. Once her parents catch a certain alpha, her life turns upside down. This story features other WWE superstars as supernatural creatures too. I sadly don't own WWE or Roman reigns (I wish I did) but I don't Word count: 2900+ Warnings: None other than one F-bomb I think.

Sierra's alarm went off at 7 am for another day of work. She spent her day taking care of the supernatural creatures her parents captured. Her family was notorious for kidnapping these creatures and holding them for testing. They caught all types of amazing creatures; vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and hybrids. Sierra could go on and on about all the intriguing creatures her parents brought back to the lab on a daily basis. Except for yesterday, her parents brought home something special, a purebred alpha male werewolf. A creature like him wasn't uncommon, one of her best friends in the lab was one, but this one, Sierra could tell that this one was different. His name was Roman Reigns and he was beyond gorgeous. His raven black hair was tied in a bun and his skin was a beautiful caramel color. He was very muscular and he had a huge tattoo that spread from his chest, all the way down his right arm. Sierra didn't get the chance to meet him yet, right when he arrived, he was taken to the maximum security cells because he was acting hostile. Sierra followed close behind his cage but her dad stopped her and told her to stay away from him until he calmed down. After Sierra ate her breakfast, she grabbed the cart she used for the food and began loading it with trays. Sierra grabbed her headphones off the counter and put one in her ear before pushing the cart into the lab. She started with Baron Corbin, he was an alpha male werewolf that was captured a couple months ago. "Good morning princess," Baron said grinning. Many of the creatures, including Baron liked Sierra and only Sierra because she brought food and was the only person that treated them like the people that they were. "Good morning Baron. How are you feeling, I know they put you through the ringer yesterday." Sierra said. Because Baron was an alpha, he was a common test subject and Sierra hated her parents for that. It wasn't fair that he and many others were going to spend the rest of their lives in these cells. "I'm fine now that you're here, means food," Baron muttered, looking down at the tray of food for him. Sierra smiled and handed the tray to Baron through the small gap in the cell door. "Enjoy. I'll be back for lunch at noon." Sierra said, with that, she turned and continued on to the other cells. The next one was Seth Rollins, he was a vampire who'd been caught two years ago. "Good morning Seth, how are you?" Sierra asked handing the tray to him. Seth was very quiet, he only ever spoke to Sierra, and when he did, it was either a couple words or a short sentence. She gave trays to Jimmy a werewolf, and Jey, Jimmy's twin who was also a werewolf; Alexa, a shapeshifter; Charlotte, a shapeshifter/vampire hybrid; and Becky, a werewolf/shapeshifter hybrid. After going through minimum security, Sierra walked down a different hallway, to go to maximum security.

Dean Ambrose was the first face Sierra saw in maximum security. He was a hybrid cross between a vampire and a werewolf. Dean was the only vampire/werewolf cross that they had at the moment and he was easily Sierra's best friend. She looked forward to seeing him every day and told him everything. Dean was just a little unstable which is what landed him in max. "Hey darlin' what's for breakfast today?" Dean asked. "Today? Only blood, you have testing." Sierra said, her voice low. She hated telling them when they had to be tested, it was easily the worst part of her job. Dean's face fell. "I do? They tested me a couple days ago. What the hell could they possibly want?" He asked. "I don't know Dean. But you better drink this fast, they're coming to get you in a couple minutes." Sierra said. "I'm sorry." "It's not you darlin'," Dean said. "I know that if this whole thing was up to you, I wouldn't even be in here." He said confidently. Sierra nodded and pushed the cart down the hall, giving trays to others before she stopped at Roman's cell. He was still trying to get out when Sierra got there. He was pulling on the bars that covered his small window. "You're not gonna get out. Everyone in here has already tried, and I've tried everything and can't get you out either." Roman's head snapped to look at Sierra and he stalked slowly towards the door. "Who are you? Where am I? Where's my pack?" Roman asked, obviously confused. "I'm Sierra. I'm gonna be bringing you your meals and helping if you need me for a while." Sierra said. "I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I've been captured?" Roman asked. "You... you're one of the Winters! You ruined my life!" Roman yelled at Sierra as he white-knuckled the cell bars. "Roman, please calm down,” Sierra said calmly, trying to not draw too much attention. “My parents captured you, not me. I would never." Sierra said trying to calm him down. Roman's pupils were completely blown and his sharp canine teeth had begun protruding from his gums. He was about to turn and Sierra had to stop it. "No, Roman. Don't, they'll test you." Sierra said she didn't think about what she did next. Sierra typed in the 6-digit pin code and opened the cell door. She stood on her toes and cupped Roman's cheeks in her hands. Sierra knew she was putting herself at risk but she didn't care. Her main concern was that Roman would be put through so many more unnecessary tests if he turned. Sierra looked into his eyes and watched as they changed back to normal. Luckily, Roman began to calm down when Sierra rubbed her thumb back and forth over his cheek. "You have to calm down. Please. I'll explain everything to you but you need to calm down first." Sierra's voice shook with her hands but she kept them on Roman's cheeks. Roman took a deep breath and because his turn was voluntary, he retracted it. His eyes went back to a deep brown and his teeth turned back to normal as well. Roman covered Sierra's small hands with his larger ones and lead her to his bed. Sierra explained everything to Roman as he ate his breakfast. She told him all about the different creatures that her parents captured and she explained all the different tests they were put through. "Purebred shapeshifters are tested every other week to test the progress of foxglove, a plant that disables their powers and weakens them, and it does it painfully." Sierra began, the last word of her sentence causing Roman to cringe slightly. "Purebred werewolves were tested every other week to test the progress of wolf's bane, a plant with the same purpose of the foxglove, and just as painful. That’s what my parents used on you, to knock you out and get you here. And purebred vampires were tested every other week to test the progress of larkspur, a plant with the same purpose of foxglove and wolf's bane, also just as painful as the other plants." She continued. "And since you're an alpha, you'll be tested twice a week because you're stronger than the betas and omegas in here." She said her voice barely above a whisper. "You gotta get me out. I can't do this. Please, I have to get back to my pack." Roman said, his hands squeezing Sierra's. "I've tried Roman. But this is a high-security lab. The cages only open for 5 minutes at 7 am, noon, and 6 pm for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And when the cages do open, they only open from the outside and they're heavily guarded 24/7. I can't get you out." Sierra said softly. Roman stared into Sierra's blue eyes and realized how beautiful she really was. Sierra's long, platinum blond hair was tied into two Dutch braids. Her blond hair and olive skin really accentuated and brought out her bright blue eyes. She was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of light wash jeans with a pair of converse. She was dressed so simply but she looked so goddess-like in Roman's eyes. Sierra and Roman stared at each other for god knows how long, still holding each other's hands. Until they were interrupted by a shrill shriek that made them both jump slightly. "Sierra! Get out of there! He's dangerous!" Sierra's mom yelled. She scanned her ID card and the cage opened. Guards pushed roughly past Sierra to restrain Roman while two others held her arms tightly. "Roman!" Sierra yelled when she saw guards injecting him with wolf's bane. "You're hurting him!" She yelled before Roman let out a blood-curdling scream as he fell to the floor while the guards pulled Sierra out of the cage. "What were you doing in there? You could've been hurt." Sierra was in shock, she couldn't answer. Her mom opened the cage with a card. Why didn't she have a card? Was the card the key to save Roman and all the other creatures? Sierra's mind raced with thoughts as she stared wide eyed at her mom. "You know what, just go feed the rest of them." Sierra shook herself from her thoughts and went on to feed the rest of the creatures. Sierra spent the rest of breakfast thinking about the card. If she could get her hands on one, she'd be able to free everyone during the guard change. She had to get a card. Sierra finally got an idea and walked into her dad's office. "Dad?" She asked quietly. Her dad spun in his chair to face her and leaned against his desk. "What's up cupcake?" He asked nicely. Sierra cleared her throat and sat down on one of the chairs. "I was wondering when I'm gonna get an ID card. "I'm 22, that's old enough to have one." Sierra started. "You know, I was supposed to get one made for you this weekend." Sierra's dad said. "I guess I could do it now. It'll be done by tomorrow morning." Sierra smiled and hugged her father. She felt a little guilty because she was going to use this card to save Roman and everyone else, therefore, ruining all of her parent's research and their careers. But Sierra felt more guilt watching the creatures in their small cages, it was a prison and Sierra didn't like it. It was 8 am, which meant she had 4 hours until she could tell the creatures that they'd be saved by tomorrow. Sierra walked with more of a bounce in her step but she was stopped by more screams that echoed down the hallway. Usually, Sierra would ignore them or try not to listen, but these screams were different. They were closer than usual, they didn't come from the lab. Sierra’s head snapped toward the noise when she heard her name. It was Roman. Sierra sprinted down the hall, following the screams. Sierra came to a halt when she saw what the guards had done to Roman. She could see that he had a black eye and a gash on his lip that was bleeding badly. His breathing was shallow and Sierra could tell he was in pain. She could also tell that he was trying not to move due to the wolf's bane ropes that burned him with each extra movement. Sierra stood at Roman's cell door but she couldn't get in. It was way past 7:05, so the doors were locked and they would stay locked for the next couple hours and Sierra had no idea what to do next. But then she got an idea. Sierra sprinted back down the hall, out of maximum security, and to her dad's office. Luckily, he wasn't in his office which made Sierra's plan a whole lot easier. She began digging through his desk until she found exactly what she was looking for. Her father's ID card. She grabbed it and ran back down the hall to maximum security. Two guards stopped her but she held the card up and said Roman needed medical attention. The guards nodded and walked back to their posts. Sierra scanned the card and opened Roman's cell. She kneeled down beside his bed and began untying the ropes as quickly as possible. "Roman." Was all Sierra could say as she saw the burns that the wolf's bane left on his skin after pulling the ropes off of him. She pressed her forehead against his and held the back of his head with her hand. "I'm getting you out tomorrow. I promise." She whispered. Roman was too weak to really respond to what Sierra had just said, but she saw Roman's eyes light up. "How?" Roman asked, his voice gravelly and strained. Sierra smiled at Roman and helped him sit up. "Don't worry about it, just yet. But you need help, so come with me." Sierra said, she stood up and offered her hand to Roman. "Won't your parents kill me if I'm out of my cage?" Roman asked as Sierra lead him out of his cage and down the hall. "Woah. What the fuck? Let me out too!" Dean yelled. Sierra held tightly onto Roman's hand as she walked to Dean's cage. "Hey keep your voice down. He's hurt, I'm just helping him. Don't worry, you'll both be out for good tomorrow night." Sierra said. Dean's eyes lit up and he opened his mouth like he was about to say something but Sierra cut him off. "We have to go. I'll talk to you during lunch." Sierra said. Dean nodded, letting her and Roman walk away. When Sierra and Roman made it to the lab. Roman's eyes widened, he saw all the horrible tools Sierra's parents used on people like him. "Oh god Roman, don't look at that stuff," Sierra said as she squeezed his hand and lead him to another room with a doctor's table and some boxes of equipment. "Sit and be quiet, I'll be right back," Sierra instructed. Roman sat down on the table and watched Sierra close the door behind her, leaving Roman alone. Sierra came back into the room a few minutes later with a plastic container full of steak. "Eat this while I check you out," Sierra said. Roman gladly took the container and began scarfing down the steak. Sierra lifted his shirt and noticed all the scars from the ropes that were forming on his skin. She ran her fingers over one of the scars on his chest. The wolf's bane had seeped through his shirt and burned him, badly. "Roman..." She whispered. "I can't believe they did this to you. I'm so sorry." She said, tears beginning to well in her blue eyes. "Hey, it's okay. Look at me."Roman said. He hooked to fingers under her chin and lifted it. "I'm okay and this isn't your fault," Roman said as he stared into Sierra's glassy blue eyes. Sierra nodded and checked to make sure nothing on his body needed real medical attention before grabbing ace bandages to wrap around the horrible, bubbling burns. She pulled his shirt over his head and her eyes (and fingers) trailed right to the tattoo that covered a good portion of his chest. Sierra was lost in her own world when Roman cleared his throats and playfully raised his eyebrows at her. "Don't flatter yourself, Reigns." Sierra laughed as she rolled her eyes. "I'm just wrapping you up." She said in a playfully defensive tone. "You know you like the view." Roman retorted smiling down at Sierra as she began wrapping the bandage around his chest to cover the horrible burn there. Sierra only smiled and continued to wrap the bandage slowly around his chest, enjoying the warmth of his smooth skin. After finishing with the bandage on his chest, Sierra grabbed the second one and started carefully wrapping the other horrible burn on his shoulder. Roman watched intently as Sierra wrapped his shoulder. He noticed how her eyebrows creased slightly while she focused and how carefully her hands were moving because she didn't want to hurt him. "All done," Sierra said smoothing the bandage down before helping Roman back into his shirt. "Ready to head back?" Sierra asked. Roman nodded and Sierra took his hand again and lead him back through the lab to the cages. "I'll be back around noon for lunch," Sierra said softly after closing Roman into his cell. Sierra rested her forehead against to the cell door as she spoke. Roman smiled and closed the space between them, resting his forehead close to hers on the other side of the cell. "Don't be late," Roman said as he rested his forehead against the cool, metal bars that separated them. His dark brown eyes practically melting Sierra. With that, she turned and walked down the hall, hoping Roman didn't notice how much she was blushing.

Part two

#roman reigns #roman reigns x oc #roman reigns fanfiction #au #werewolf #shapeshifter #vampire #baron corbin #dean ambrose #seth rollins

92 notes · View notes