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“You’re a werewolf!” Mason exclaimed, eyes widening. A grin stretched across his face.
Liam scrunched his eyebrows together, confused at his friend’s reaction. He tilted his head, curious. With the turn of his head, he searched for the sound he needed to hear before he could continue his conversation with his friend—the retreating paws of the wolf that has chased them through the halls of the high school. He heard the scrape of the animal’s claws against the sidewalk, signaling the wolf’s departure.
He’d have to tell Scott about it. Were there normally wolves in California? He’d thought he’d heard somewhere that there weren’t. He figured it would be easier to wait till morning to tell him considering his Alpha wasn’t too happy with him or Stiles after their Theo stalking adventure earlier this evening.
He turned his attention back to what he could take care of. The fear raked through his body as he met Mason’s eyes. Would his best friend turn on him? Would he shoot him with something silver? Would he be afraid of him?
Through the fear, he thought back to the earlier events of the night. Stiles and Scott were best friends—they had been friends through his change. From what they’ve told him, Stiles nearly broke his back multiple times trying to help Scott in gaining control in the beginning. What if that was something Mason could help with? Would he be that type of friend? They’d been attached at the hip since kindergarten.
He’d gotten permission from Scott and Stiles months ago to tell Mason what was going on. They could see the pain that flashed across his face whenever he’d have to abandon plans with his best friend for pack business. They all agreed it would be easier for him to be in the know about things—that maybe it could help Liam in his struggle to maintain control.
“Can we talk somewhere else? I don’t know if there’s anyone still here…” Liam said, trailing off as he looked around the hallway. Did teachers stay this late to grade papers or do…whatever it was teachers did in their spare time?
Mason’s eyes were still wide, but he merely nodded.
“Uh…yeah. My cars through those doors. We can go there. And I’ll take you home.” Mason said, talking quickly. He started to move forward but turned back to see if his friend was really going to go with him.
“Are you really coming this time?” Mason said, lingering.
Liam looked up at his friend, glanced at the doors, and nodded.
-
It was once they entered the car that the grilling really started.
“When did it happen? How did it happen? Did you get bitten? Or were you born into it? Oh, my God, have you been keeping this secret for years? Is your mom a werewolf too?” Mason asked, turning to Liam in excitement as he started the car. He thought his friend’s eyes were going to bug out of his head.
“Mason, calm down!” Liam said, eyes widening. He looked around the parking lot in case anyone was around to hear his yelling. He’d only been involved with the supernatural for a few months, but he learned to know better than to not check his surroundings for prying ears. “No! My mom is not a werewolf and she can’t find out about this. I…can’t tell her. I’ve had enough of a hard time trying to tell you over the past few months. Yes, I’m a werewolf. I was…bitten a few months ago. You turn into a werewolf if you’re bitten by an alpha werewolf…you become a beta werewolf. That’s what I am.”
“You’re a beta? I read about that! Wow, does that mean you’re in a pack? Are there others here? You met an actual alpha? I’ve only read about them…I’ve heard they can be dangerous! Powerful! This is so…intense.” Mason said back.
“Yeah, I have a pack too…I—”
“Wait! You have a pack? Is that who McCall and Stiles are? And Lydia? And Malia! And Kira! An entire pack of werewolves at the school!” Mason exclaimed.
“…Yeah. They’re my pack—but not all of them are werewolves. Stiles is human, he’s just really smart. Lydia is a banshee. Kira is a Kitsune, and Malia is a were-coyote.”
“A were-coyote?”
“Yep.”
“And Scott? He’s a werewolf too?”
“Yeah…Scott’s a werewolf. He’s…the werewolf, the Alpha. It’s his pack. He bit me.” Liam said, looking over at his friend.
“Wait a second, Scott McCall? Hot lacrosse captain, popular jock-type Scott McCall? Is an Alpha werewolf?” Mason said, his eyes widening as he stared at the road.
“That’s the guy, thanks for your wonderful description.” Liam responded sarcastically. He could hardly wait till he found out about Brett Talbot being a werewolf.
“It’s true. And he bit you? Woah! Did he like…see you at practice and think you’d make a nice addition to his pack? How does that work?” Mason asked.
“Well…” Liam started, looking down at his hands. He wasn’t sure where to start. The night he got bitten was still a bit blurry in his head despite Scott’s attempts at explaining.
“Or did he just do it? Not give you a choice?” Mason said, his voice getting dark.
“Well, I definitely didn’t have a choice, but it was for the better.” Liam admitted.
Mason’s expression changed, a glint of anger in his eye, “he bit you without asking you?”
“He didn’t have a choice either…well I guess he did, but the other option wouldn’t have been optimal for anyone.”
Mason drew his eyebrows together in confusion.
“Remember the time I broke my leg at lacrosse tryouts? At the start of the year? I went up against him and Stiles at practice and landed wrong on my foot. Scott felt bad, so they took me to the hospital. Scott said he could get me in quick because his mom worked there. He didn’t know my stepdad worked there either. Anyway, after I got checked in and my dad wanted to get x-rays, I didn’t know Scott hung around to see if I was okay. Stiles left for some reason. Anyway, I was waiting, and I heard this really strange noise—screaming almost. I went out of my room to check on it…it sounded like someone was hurt.”
“It was this kid—he looked about our age, but his mouth was huge with lots of teeth that literally looked like razor blades. He was covered in blood and yelling about being hungry. He looked murderous. I knew that definitely was not normal…and I was scared, so even with my leg hurt, I tried to get away. He chased me all the way up to the roof of the hospital. Scott told me he was called a Wendigo. There was a whole family of them…they’re these creatures that are cannibals. They eat people!”
“There are Wendigos in Beacon Hills? I thought those things only existed in video games!” Mason exclaimed. He listened to every word Liam said with great interest.
“He tried to tackle me, and we wrestled on the roof. It was scary…I thought I was going to die. Then, all of a sudden, I heard the door to the roof open again and saw this…another creature. It was Scott…I recognized him because he was wearing the same jacket and…it didn’t totally look so different from him. I thought he was…going to help the Wendigo, but he started to fight it, tried to get it off of me. The Wendigo tossed me so he could fight Scott and I went over the edge. I tried to hold on for as long as I could…but I was going to fall off. I knew it. I was slipping but Scott caught me. The Wendigo was hurting him though…it grabbed him from behind and tried to get him to let go. And he did, but he caught me with his teeth. So, the choice was taking the bite or die…Scott kinda made that decision on his own. Stiles jokes that we just really needed another good player for the Lacrosse team and Scott didn’t want to risk losing “the best meat on the team.”
“Anyway, something else happened that is still fuzzy to me…the Wendigo got killed by someone else. An assassin…for the Dead Pool, but I’ll get to that later. I was a little too busy writhing in pain from the bite.”
“So, Scott saved your life?” Mason said, smiling.
“Yeah…he really did. And he’s been there for me…through this whole thing. I’m his first and only…bitten Beta.” Liam nodded.
“So that’s why you have been so strange the past few months. Bailing on things…it was for pack related things?” Mason asked.
.
“Yeah…for the most part. There’s some other stuff I’ll tell you about, but yeah. I missed our weekend trip a few months ago because we had to go to Mexico to save Scott and Kira from the Berserkers. They were kidnapped and taken to Texcatlipoca.” Liam said.
“Holy shit. You’ve been there? Those Berserkers…man they’re something else! Lydia didn’t seem super phased by it!”
“Well now I guess we know why Scott kind of pulled you into his little circle…I thought it was weird…a freshman hanging out with a bunch of juniors and Scott always seemed so protective of you, always pulling you away or helping you in Lacrosse. It all makes sense now.”
“Yeah, he can be I suppose, but he’s one of my best friends now. Learning control…of this…isn’t easy. It’s hard, especially me. Six months in and Scott and Stiles had to chain me to a tree the other night. You should have seen the look on their faces a few months ago when I told them about my anger diagnosis.”
Liam’s phone chimed that moment, lighting up the dark car as they pulled up to his house.
Speak of the devil.
Get home okay? Still recovering from falling in a hole? – Scott
Not yet…something happened. I’ll tell you about it in the AM. Mason knows.- Liam
Okay. Go ahead and bring him before school, if it makes it easier. Text when you get home so I know you’re good. I’m crashing for the night. See ya tomorrow. Call if your “something” turns urgent. – Scott
“See? Overprotective.” Liam showed him the text as proof.
“I think it’s awesome. It’s probably like that…pack mentality! I read about that! Alpha’s sometimes can be bonded with their betas! I thought it was a myth, but it makes so much sense now! All of this is making sense! What does he mean by bring me tomorrow?”
“Something like that. Derek, who was Scott’s mentor, said it’s an Alpha-Beta thing. We have check ins in the morning, not every day, but if there’s stuff going on.”
“And is there stuff going on?”
“Yeah, a lot of stuff. You can come tomorrow if you want and…meet everyone. Officially. I just spent the last few hours helping Stiles spy on Theo.”
“Theo? That new kid?”
“Yeah, he’s a werewolf too.”
“Ooh, is it like a territory thing? Is Scott protective of the area or something?”
“No, it’s not like that at all. Scott actually really likes him. It’s Stiles that doesn’t.”
“Intense.”
That was Mason’s catch phrase before the gears in his head started turning. Was he taking a moment to soak it all in?
“You know, now that I know that about them. I’m connecting other things…things I’ve heard about them. You weren’t here last semester when we all started…but they all hung out together, Scott and his friends, I mean. My other friends and I had the same lunch as them. There were more with them though…. three other boys, a blonde guy and a set of twins. Ethan and Aiden, I think were their names. I don’t know the other guy’s name. Then, there was the other girl, Allison.” Mason started, turning to glance at Liam.
“I don’t remember much but a few of the guys at our table said Scott and Allison used to date, but it was weird because they still hung out after. After the accident over Christmas break, nobody has said anything about it, though most of them are gone now. I wonder if it has to do with the supernatural. Did they give you a pack history lesson or anything?”
“Uh…kinda. What accident last semester?” Liam said, confused.
“You didn’t hear about it? I would have thought it would have made it to Devenford Prep. Maybe nobody knew her…anyway, McCall’s friend group went out to a concert in the city and got robbed and attacked. That Allison girl got stabbed and she didn’t make it.” Mason explained.
“I didn’t know that version. Yeah…that was a cover story for something supernatural. Yeah…Allison died and so did Aiden. I don’t know the details, they don’t really like talking about it.” He said grimly. He understood why they didn’t talk about it. It would be strange to lose members of the pack, not to mention friends. Despite his short time and the rocky start they got off too, Liam didn’t know what he would do without Stiles, Scott, or even Lydia and Malia.
“The other twin, Ethan, left after his brother died. The blonde guy, Isaac, was really close with Allison and went to France with her dad. He and Scott are still good friends, he used to live with them, actually. I don’t know many details about that anyway. Scott, Stiles, and Lydia are the only ones that really knew them. They don’t talk about them. I’ve heard their names maybe once in the entire time I’ve been a werewolf.” Liam continued, trying to push his thoughts away.
“Wow. Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”
“I don’t really have a choice anymore, Mason. They’re my friends. Scott’s a great Alpha…he’s a True Alpha.”
“Scott McCall is a True Alpha? What the hell is that?”
“I’m not entirely sure. Brett told me that it just meant he didn’t have to kill anyone to take the Alpha power, he just kind of had it and earned it. It’s a power of will kind of thing. It’s really rare I guess.”
“Well, that’s good I suppose. I couldn’t really picture Scott killing anyone, except with those killer brown eyes.”
“Mason!”
“And did you say Brett? Hot Brett wanted to turn you into hockey turf Brett?”
“Yeah, Brett Talbot. He’s a werewolf too.” Liam admitted, waiting for his friend’s excitement.
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Mason said, smiling as Liam scoffed and got out of the car.