Chapter Text
“Run!” Scott yelled to the others, grabbing Allison’s hand and pulling her down the hall behind him. The pounding of everyone’s heart was almost unbearably loud in his ear, but he could still track the slow plod of the Alpha behind them. It could have over-run them in seconds, it was playing with them. He was almost certain that he could literally feel its amusement, every heavy breath behind him sounding like a mocking laugh.
They slammed into the cafeteria. He quickly got Jackson to help him move the milk machine in front of the door while the girls dragged a table over. Jackson normally would have noticed that the two of them should never have been able to move the machine, but clearly running for his life had put his suspicions out of mind for now. That odd scent itched at Scott’s nose making him glance over at the lacrosse captain. Something was off with him.
Marked.
The new creature in the back of his mind whispered but he pushed it away, now was definitely not the time.
“Umm guys, stop.” Stiles called from behind him.
Scott moved to help Allison with a stack of chairs before finally turning to Stiles.
“Nice work, really beautiful job, but how about the 20 feet of windows?”
Shit.
"Can somebody please explain to me what's going on because I'm freaking out here." Allison panted, turning to Scott expectantly.
Scott's brain stuttered to a panicked halt as it struggled to think of what to say.
"Scott?" Allison prompted, panicking him further. He turned away from her getting some space. What could he tell them that wouldn't sound absolutely bat-shit crazy?! Not to mention that they would soon realize what his part was in all of this and turn from him.
Stiles watched Scott as well but saw that he wasn't going to be helping answer any questions any time soon and stepped forward to draw the other's attention.
"The janitor's dead." Stiles blurted. Scott felt instant relief at his friends’ distraction, and then wondered if that comment had really helped at all?
"What?" Lydia squeaked. Scott could actually smell the fear in the room surge higher, definitely didn’t help.
"What are you talking about? Is this a joke?" Allison demanded, looking to Scott for some answers but he still wouldn't even look at her.
"Who killed him?"
"No, nononono. The mountain lion...."
"Don't you get it! That wasn't a mountain lion." Jackson interrupted Lydia. He knew what he saw and he wanted some answers. He wasn't letting it be written off as a freakn' mountain lion.
"Who was it?!" Allison yelled making Scott wince at the volume and lose his patience.
"I don't know! I don't know who it is, alright?!" He snapped. "All I know is that if we don't get out now, he's going to kill us too."
The group fell silent, trying to think of what to do next. They were just kids.
"Ok, we need to call the cops.” Jackson decided.
"No, we are not calling the cops." Stiles said instantly.
"What? What do you mean ‘no’?"
"I mean, no. Want to hear it in Spanish? No."
"Why the hell not?!"
"Because we don't know what kind of weapons the killer has!"
"I know the type your dad has; it's an entire sheriffs department!"
"Enough, I'm calling." Lydia interrupted the two boys and pulled out her phone. Fingers moving easily over the buttons and some calm coming over her at the sound of the line ringing.
"Yes, we're at the BeakonHillsHigh school, we need you to.... but... she hung up on me." Lydia said softly, complete disbelief in her voice.
"The police hung up on you?" Allison questioned in disbelief.
"She said there was a tip about prank calls coming in about breaking into the school."
"What is this!? Why does this person want to kill us? Why does he want to kill anyone?" Allison demanded fiercely, all eyes eventually turning to Scott for answers.
"Why's everyone looking at me?" Scott tried lamely.
"Is the killer the one who called the cops? Are they the one who sent the text?"
"I don't know!" Scott shouted back, losing his control, feeling the odd shift under his skin. He didn’t want to have to answer, his life was screwed up enough as it was lately, he didn’t want Allison to know how messed up he was.
"Easy." Stiles said drawing Scott away, knowing that the group was pushing the limits of the new werewolf's control.
"Fuck I just bit her head off." Scott bemoaned and Stiles barely withheld rolling his eyes.
"She'll get over it, kinda bigger issues at hand here, like us getting out alive."
"That's just it, we shouldn't even be alive, he's playing with us. I think..."
"Ok, ass-hats. New plan." Jackson called, interrupting their huddle of whispers. "Stiles calls his worthless dad to get some help out here."
“We are not calling my dad!”
"Are you kidding me? Look I'll call him." Jackson said, reaching out and grabbing Stiles, moving to take the phone off of him.
Stiles surprisingly turned in Jackson's grip and socked Jackson in the face, making the other boy stagger back and fall to one knee, a hand over his nose.
"Jackson!" Allison yelled, going to kneel down by his side.
Scott felt a twinge of some unknown emotion at seeing the two beside each other but passed it off.
“Quiet!” Scott hissed at last, silencing everyone. Dear god what were they thinking? As if the Alpha couldn’t easily hear them! “I know you're all scared, but we can’t call the cops.” Scott agreed with Stiles and could literally smell his friends’ relief.
“What the hell McCall…” Jackson started when something huge slammed into their barricaded cafeteria door, making everyone jumps. The Alpha on the other side snarled and clawed at the door, throwing its entire weight against the door. It certainly wouldn't hold long.
“Stairwell.” Scott decided and grabbed Allison’s hand, ignoring the questions on her face for now. He opened the back door and glanced up and down, undecided. How did his high-school life turn into constant life and death situations?
“We should head down; we’re only going to get trapped with fewer options higher we go.” Stiles suggested making Scott smile. Scott had always known he could count on his friend, but lately Stiles had just been amazing. What are the odds of finding a friend who could accept him becoming a werewolf, and all the constant danger that resulted in? How had Stiles not told him to get lost well before now? (Besides the fact that Stiles practically got off on the very idea of werewolves existing.)
“Ok, down…” A crash and growl from below them made them all freeze, a soft whimper coming from Lydia.
“Up is good too.” Stiles whispered hoarsely and seeing wide-eyed agreement led the dash up the staircase. A roar from the Alpha below set Scott's old bite a light with a burning pain, his hand instinctively going to protect his side. He saw Jackson stumble beside him, his own hand shooting up to the back of his neck, but Lydia was there to steady him and they were all moving forward again. They burst onto the third floor and went as quietly and quickly as they could to the nearest classroom; turning the small latch and placing the tiny chair against the door; that seemed grossly inadequate.
"Enough, tell us what you know!" Allison demanded in a harsh whisper, staring down Scott with determination. "You're a horrible liar Scott and you've been lying to us all night, now tell me what you know. Why can't we call the cops?"
“You don’t understand. What’s out there isn’t something the cops can help with, you’ll only get them all killed.”
“You said you didn’t know who it was!”
“I don’t know who, but I know what.” Scott said at last, feeling the heavy weight in his stomach. Was he really going to do this?
He glanced at Stiles to see him looking surprised but clearly ready to support him. Scott turned back to Allison to see her arms around herself in comfort, looking confused and upset, yet trusting in whatever he had to say.
“What’s out there… is a werewolf.” Allison’s face shuttered down though was clearly upset.
“That’s ridiculous!” She snapped and turned to Jackson and Lydia for support. Jackson had turned pale and was looking at the ground; Lydia met her eyes for a moment and then turned away as well, both remembering their own strange experiences of late. “But…” She looked to Stiles but he just gave her a sympathetic smile. “That’s not possible.” Allison denied.
Scott stepped closer, taking hold of her arms to give some comfort.
“It is Allison, I’m sorry.” He told her, regretting having to put that look of fear in her eyes, but knowing he was only putting them all in more danger by keeping this quiet.
“How? Why? What does it want?”
Scott glanced at Stiles for help with this one but got an uneasy look in return. “Me. He wants me, because he bit me.”
“Bit?” She questions uncertainly and stepped away from him. He couldn’t describe the pain of her arms slipping out of his hands as she stared at him in fear. Lydia’s eyes were also wide and had stepped back. Jackson on the other hand had wide eyes and a look of understanding. All his puzzle pieces suddenly falling into place.
"Allison..." Scott said reaching out to her but she stepped back farther out of reach.
"No, no, this is absurd." She said, shaking her head in denial.
Scott stepped back, feeling crushed. It's not like he expected her to take it extremely well but... Scott let out a heavy sigh, he wasn't even sure what he had been hoping for. "Listen. The Alpha wants me. I'll distract it while you get out."
"What? No, how are we even supposed to get out?" Stiles demanded.
"That back door." Scott said, drawing everyone attention to the door in the back of the class. "It leads to the roof, then you can take the fire escape down to Jackson's car and get out of here."
Jackson walked quickly to the door and tried it but the handle stuck.
"It's locked."
"Let me." Scott said, happy for an excuse to turn away and avoid Allison's eyes. He stood in front of the door and focused for a moment, calling to the wolf inside of him. He could feel the others closing in around him, making him want to turn around and snarl at them, but held back. He felt his nails grow, his sight and hearing vastly improve and knew his eyes were a burning gold. He reached out for the handle, ignoring the small gasps, probably at the sight of his claws, and gave a sharp shove down, feeling the lock break beneath his hands.
He took another moment to pull the wolf in and change back before stepping away and letting Jackson test the door which swung open easily.
No one made a move to head out, all still looking at Scott who couldn't meet their gaze.
"And what about you?" Allison asked, hesitantly but she still kept her distance, her arms wrapped around herself trying to find some comfort.
"I'll be fine." Scott reassured softly, and tried to will all the truth behind it he could.
A snort of derision from behind him certainly didn't help.
"Fine?" Stiles sneered. "Have you forgotten what Derek said would happen the next time you met the Alpha."
"Derek?" Jackson questioned, his interest piqued again.
"What?" Allison asked. She looked at Scott with such wide-eyed innocence he knew he wouldn't be able to lie to her.
"We don't know that for sure." He tried to hedge around it but the look on her face said clearly that she didn't accept that answer and was going nowhere without one. "He said that the next time I meet the Alpha I had to either join it, or it would kill me."
"No, you're coming with us. You are not going towards this thing."
Scott winced slightly, since that would also define him as a 'thing' but pushed that thought away.
"We won't make it without some kind of distraction."
"Isn't there someone we can call?" Lydia asked, seeming to have regained her confidence.
Scott hesitated and then glanced to Stiles to see if he was thinking the same thing, there was someone they knew who was an expert and could handle this.
"Would you two stop doing that silent talk thing and share with everyone else!" Jackson snapped.
Sharing one last look of agreement with Stiles, Scott turned back to face Allison, hopefully this revelation went better than the last.
"Your dad, Allison... he doesn't sell guns. Or maybe he does on the side." Scott conceded. "He hunts and kills werewolves, professionally."
Allison opened and closed her mouth a few times, but nothing came out. She turned away from the group to try and wrap her mind around this new idea. Suddenly some of the things she saw, the hints her aunt had been leaving, were making more sense.
"Wait, you knew her dad hunted werewolves and you chose to go out with her!?" Jackson asked incredulous.
"Well, I didn't know at the time it was her dad and... well."
"Dad." Allison voice rang into the room, drawing everyone's attention back to Allison who had her phone up to her ear. "I need you to tell me the truth, do you hunt werewolves?" She was silent for a second, listening to what the other person was saying. "No, just answer me!" She was silent for another moment before taking a heavy sigh of defeat. "I need your help. Scott, Stiles, Jackson, Lydia and I are at the school; there's a werewolf here trying to kill us.... I don't know... but... ok, love you too." She hung up and turned to the silent group. "He'll be here in two minutes. He said to keep moving, and get down to the Lacrosse field, he'll meet us there."
"Ok, you guys go up to the roof, I'll draw it..."
"No." Allison interrupted Scott with a furious look, "you're coming with us too."
"I..."
"Scott." Stiles interrupted giving him the look.
"Ok." Scott conceded. Allison smiled at him and took his hand once more. Scott smiled back, feeling some relief but there was a tension there, something was off.
With a gentle tug the two of them took point and led the group up the back stairs. The squeak of the door leading to the roof seemed horribly loud in the calm night. They moved quickly, staying low to the roof. He called up more of the wolf, opening his senses so that they would have some warning of the Alpha being near. The scent of fear hit him hard and he wasn't sure whose was stronger. He shared another uneasy look with Stiles. They both remembered the Alpha sitting calmly on the roof, watching them. They knew he could get to the roof, the only question was if he was up here now. When they reached the fire escape Jackson started down first, the girls next and then Stiles last while Scott kept an eye out. The constant noise from the rattling ladder with every step that was taken made Scott cringe, surely the Alpha could hear that! With a glace down to the other's progress he saw that Stiles was over half way down and without hesitation decided to jump off the building. He had tested falling from greater heights without problem, plus this was faster and much quieter.
"Scott!" He heard squeaked and turned to Allison confused.
"What?"
She smacked his arm, annoyed at being so scared when he was clearly fine. "Don't do that! Or at least some warning so I don't think you're falling to your death!"
“Oh,” Scott looked down sheepishly. "Sorry." he muttered.
"Let's go." Jackson hissed, breaking up their ‘moment’ now that everyone was on the ground. Scott opened his mouth to respond when a deep growl behind them practically vibrated the very ground.
Slowly they all turned to see the Alpha coming around the end of the building, red eyes glowing with hunger at the sight of them.
"Go to the field, don't run until you're around the corner, just back up quickly."
"But Scott..."
"No Allison," he said, giving her hand one last squeeze, not sure if he would be seeing her again, "you need to go. I can't keep you safe and defend myself against him." He felt her hand tighten, could smell the growing fear of the entire group. "Stiles." He hissed, keeping his eyes locked with the Alpha’s who was slowly creeping forward, completely focused on Scott.
"I got her." He heard his friend say and then felt Allison's hand slip out of his.
He didn't turn to see them go, he could hear their steps backing away but had to keep the Alpha focused on him. Its eyes shifted to the humans behind him for a moment, Scott could see its muscles bunching in preparation. He stepped forward and let out a snarl of his own, drawing the attention back. Scott knew what he would have to do if he was going to have any chance. Derek had talked to him about opening up to the wolf and allowing the full transformation, he needed to accept and work with the wolf, they couldn't be fighting each other and survive this.
With a heavy breath he pushed away any hopes he had of retaining some semblance of humanity, of even being free of the werewolf curse, and let go of the barriers he had been holding. Instantly he could feel the power of the wolf rush into him, filling every nerve in his body with a rush of fire. He screamed and fell to his knees, the cry turning into a snarl of pain and rage as he felt his bones break and his skin rip apart. He heard the Alpha call to him, the noise vibrating in his bones but he and the wolf snarled in return. They were one and protecting their pack, they wouldn't be controlled.
When the haze of pain cleared they looked up from their paws at the red eyes of the Alpha. It was watching them hesitantly, waiting for their next move. It was easily larger than them but it didn't matter. They didn't need to wait, they knew their decision. Scottwolf lunged at the Alpha's neck, an uncontrollable hunger to sink their jaws into that soft flesh and relish in the blood filling their mouth clouding their mind. A huge paw smacked into them, tossing them a few feet before they slammed into the cement.
Move! The wolf thought and Scott desperately agreed, pushing their already healing body to scramble back to its paws and dart to the right.
They felt the rush of air and heard the crack of cement as the Alpha landed where they had been. The snap of jaws in their direction spurred them on faster as their claws scrambled along the ground, taking them out of the Alpha’s reach.
Scott felt panic growing in his mind. What was he doing? This was an Alpha! Someone who had been a werewolf for who knew how long, who had strength he could never hope to match, and he thought he could take it?!
Protect pack. Wolf told him, no doubt, fear, or hesitation in its thoughts.
Allison, Stiles. Even Lydia and Jackson were his pack. He just needed to stall long enough, give them time for the hunters to come Scott agreed and turned again to face the Alpha.
Hunters. Wolf snarled with absolute hate at the very word, overwhelming Scott's thoughts. He pushed their mind back to focus on the Alpha which Wolf allowed grudgingly.
The Alpha snarled at him, growling, shifting its weight, and though it wasn't words the body language spoke to him just as clearly. Join me, kill the humans, killers, betrayers, kill them!
Pack. Pack.
Wolf and Scott both thought in reply and that was all that was needed. They would never turn on their pack, even if it was a group of humans.
The Alpha snarled in rage and charged them. Scottwolf moved, tried to dodge to the side of its attack but felt claws slice open their flank. Ignoring the wound they lunged. Teeth and claws scrambled at the Alpha but they couldn't get a good hold. They felt the Alpha's jaw close over their back leg, the sound of the bone snapping reaching them before the tearing pain of the teeth ripping them apart. The Alpha swung its head around, jerking the tenuous hold their claws had away from its side and sending them sailing through the air to brutally slam into the side of the brick building. Their back hit first. They didn't even get a moment to comprehend what the snap of their spine meant when their skull followed and everything went black.
They couldn't have been out long and opened their eyes to see the Alpha breathing inches from their neck, teeth bared. They could barely focus, agony was engulfing their body but they had to fight. They tried to move. Their right front paw twitched and a wave of spots filled their vision but even that much brought an all new round of pain, causing whimpers to escape them.
The Alpha gave a huffing laugh at their pitiful attempt, lips pulled back to show more teeth and...
"Dad!"
Allison's shout easily reached their ears.
The Alpha turned away to look in the direction the shout came from, a growl growing from deep in its chest.
Scottwolf gave a pitiful growl in warning, but wasn't able to make any move against the Alpha.
Without even another glance at Scottwolf the Alpha sprinted away towards the voice leaving the other werewolf behind to claw uselessly at the ground while its blood continued to spread across the pavement.
-^-^-^- (a few moments ago) -^-^-^-^-
Stiles tugged Allison along feeling frustrated with her. It wasn't like he wanted to leave Scott behind either, but he knew that they would be no help against the Alpha and would only get Scott killed.
He still had chills over his skin from that first scream of pain he'd heard that turned into growls. When they first started running, once around the corner, they could still hear the snarls and growls but now their ears couldn't pick up anything which was so much worse.
There was a choked sob from beside him and he glanced over to see tears running down Allison's face. He let go some of his annoyance with her, knowing how many huge shocks she'd had that night.
"Dad!" Allison yelled. Stiles followed her line of sight to see her father running towards them, a gun in hand and another over his back. A young blond woman was jogging just a step behind him, an assault riffle in her hands. Damn that's hot. Stiles thought before managing to focus again.
"Allison, where is it?" He asked once the two groups meet in the middle of the field, gun pointed in the direction the children had run from.
"It's over there," she said pointing to the side of the building they had come around, "but dad, don't hurt Scott." She begged.
"Scott? Where is he?"
The four teenagers shared an uneasy glance making Mr. Argent worry.
"He's stalling it so that we could get here." Allison explained.
The two older Argent siblings shared a look saying the same thing, 'the boys dead'.
"He's not dead!" Allison insisted, able to read her dad and aunt just as easily.
"Allison..."
"He's a werewolf..." She blurted making Stiles wince and begin to worry for his friend's life even if he did survive the alpha.
"What?!"
"...and you're not going to hurt him!"
"Allison, werewolves aren't peaceful, they all need to be killed."
"No! Scott..."
A howl interrupted the argument of the group and drew their attention to the Alpha running towards them.
"Not Scott!" Stiles pointed out with a yelp. "Shoot it! Shoot it! Shoot it!"
Both hunters quickly aimed and fired at the Alpha bearing down on them.
Stiles watched with terrified amazement as the Alpha easily dodged the shots from the hunters, and the ones he allowed to graze didn't even slow him down.
Before the humans could do anything it was on top of them. It used its weight to slam into Allison's dad, sending him flying back in the air 10 feet. It then turned on Kate. This close to it she couldn't adjust her aim in time to fire a shot. It smacked the gun away with its large paw, the force of the blow and the gun ripping out of her hands snapped her wrist and a few fingers as it was torn away.
Stiles dove for her, knocking her down and out of the way of the alpha's next swing that would have torn her face off.
The other three teenagers stood just feet away completely helpless as the Alpha advanced on Kate and Stiles.
Just as it was about to lunge and ravage the two humans a blur came from the side, slamming into the Alpha and sending it skidding across the field.
Another werewolf stood crouched and ready to attack, where the Alpha had been, protecting the humans. Its eyes burned an icy blue as it snarled furiously at the other werewolf.
"Scott?" Allison questioned uncertainly.
"No, Derek." Stiles corrected her, extremely glad at that moment that the other man was alive.
"Derek Hale?" Kate questioned softly, shocked and confused that a werewolf was protecting them, but even more so that it was this particular werewolf was, when just the other day she had taunted it about killing its family.
The Alpha let out another of those loud reverberating howls that made everyone cringe and chills go up their spines, but Derek only let out an answering roar as the two stared off.
The click of a gun loading was easily heard by everyone on that field, and they all turned to see Chris Argent, still on the ground, but with his shot gun aimed at the Alpha, only a few feet away.
The large werewolf turned to the human, he might get off a shot, but that would still barely slow the Alpha down, and in another second it would be ripping out the humans’ throat. The Alpha took a step, ready to take this threat out when another growl came from just behind the human holding the gun.
-^-^-^-^-^-
Chris Argent remained still with his gun aimed on the Alpha. He had no doubt that this move would get him killed, and he hated that it would be in front of Allison. But it should give Kate enough time to get to her rifle that had the monkshood bullets. A growl from right behind him sent his stomach plummeting.
Another werewolf?
He could hear its footsteps slowly coming closer but he couldn't turn. There would be no time, he was dead. He waited for the sudden pain that would end him, spared time to glance at Allison one last time, but was confused by what he saw. Her expression was all wrong, she looked like she was about to cry yet was also relieved.
The crunch of grass beside him had him glancing over to his side to see the werewolf only inches away. Dear Gods it wasn't growling at him, it was staring down the Alpha! In one night he had come across two werewolves that would protect humans from an Alpha?! His entire world was turned upside down.
He took a chance to take in the new wolf. This one had glowing gold eyes and was in bad shape, very bad. Most of the head was matted in blood. It continued to advance forward, getting between the hunter and Alpha werewolf, allowing him to see that it wasn't using one of its back legs at all and that area was also completely covered in blood. Despite all that, its snarls back at the Alpha were no less intimidating.
This was Scott. The boy he had over to his house for dinner, the one dating his daughter. Who had been alone with her who knows how many times! A werewolf! And yet as it stood between him and the Alpha werewolf he wasn't nearly as appalled by that knowledge as he should have been.
The other werewolf, Derek Hale, moved closer, cutting of the Alpha from the humans completely.
With a final snarl of furry the Alpha sprinted off across the field.
Chris laid there stunned for a second, still feeling his heart beating a mile a minute. He heard Kate scrambling for her gun, but by the time she was standing, gun awkwardly in her left hand, the Alpha was out of sight.
"Damn." She hissed.
The blue eyed werewolf gave a soft warning growl at seeing the gun still in her hand, uncertain now what the humans were going to do but too used to being betrayed by them, especially hunters, especially these hunters.
Kate looked over to the werewolf but didn't turn her gun on it. After debating for a minute she lowered her gun to the ground. Grimacing internally at the thought of not attacking them, but assured herself it was only until there were less civilians around.
At that moment the gold-eyed werewolf that had protected Chris Argent crumpled to the ground. It had all been a bluff. Chris doubted the werewolf could have lunged at the Alpha let alone actually fought it.
"Scott!" Allison yelled, making a move to go to the werewolf.
Chris quickly got to his feet, ignoring the pain all along his back, grabbing his daughter, and pulling her away from the downed werewolf. The blue-eyed wolf had quickly stepped protectively over the younger one, snarling threateningly once more at the humans.
"Stop Allison."
"But he's hurt!" She complained, still struggling from her father's hold.
"Enough Allison." Her father snapped, grabbing her shoulders and making her face him. "They’re werewolves! Those two might have more control than I've ever seen, and they might have no interest in hurting humans, but a large part of them is still a wild animal and you wouldn't go near an injured wolf in the wild. His instincts will only see you as a threat and tell him to attack."
Allison let out a little sob but stopped fighting her father. The blue-eyed wolf had calmed down as well and moved from his guarding position. He crouched down by the other wolf’s head, giving soft whimpers and nudges. The injured werewolf closed its eyes, its breath slowing into a stead rhythm. Slowly the young wolf struggled back to its feet, but was leaning heavily on the other.
Derek slowly guided Scott in the direction of the forest. His instincts did not like being so vulnerable in the open and he was barely keeping control around the hunters as things were. He had to get them both back to his place, and quickly, the longer Scott stayed like this, the larger the chance he would never be human.