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Theo stares harshly at the moving trees from the bridge, locked on the smell of wolfsbane and Liam swirling in the air. He knows, without a doubt, that Liam is somewhere to the right, maybe a ten minute jog, or a five minute walk, depending on if he has to move left or right. But the wolfsbane…
He can smell Liam's blood with the wolfsbane.
That is a problem.
Theo has to be careful because if there's wolfsbane, and blood, that means there are active hunters here. He has to get Liam without screwing them both by getting caught.
He has to be on his guard.
So, Theo crouches down and carefully makes his way through the cluster of trees that are to his right. He can't go high, that's where most hunters out here usually hide.
It's a better vantage point, and unfortunately, even the supernatural hunters have taken to following the lead of deer hunters.
Theo glares as his eyes glow yellow, and he takes his chances looking up, trying to see what he can see from his spot in the middle of the cluster.
Nothing.
He sees nothing.
Just branches, leaves, and the moonlight that filters in despite not seeing the moon anywhere.
Theo keeps moving, slowly, careful of every step he takes because traps are still a thing, and he's not going to deal with that unless he has to.
This is what he gets for being the one to suggest searching the forest because Liam disappeared while on a run through the damn preserve. Theo told him to see if Corey or Alec would go for a run with him so he wasn't alone because there have been more hunters spotted.
But Liam did what Liam does, and he straight up ignored it as per usual.
The only good thing is that Theo has the pack coming because he caught Liam's scent. The bad thing is, he just figured out where the hunters were hiding.
Not in the trees, no, he's staring down a damn arrow sticking out of a log right now.
He hears nothing though, not even the thud of a heartbeat, so Theo's eyes narrow sharply before he wraps his hand around the bow and tugs until it gently comes free.
It's clearly meant for mobile use considering just how easy it was to free it.
"Do you have any idea just how much I want to kill that stupid mutt?"
Theo's head whips to the side at the low sneer, and he finds two hunters making their way towards him, knives glinting with blood from the flashlight sticking out of one of their mouths.
Theo is half-tempted to shoot them both with the damn arrow, but instead, he shoves it under the log, and carefully maneuvers around to the opposite side. He can't kill them, no matter how badly he'd like to, so he will have to knock them out and then tie them up for the rest of the pack.
"Honestly, we should just go back and do it. Not like anyone is going to know until later, right?"
"Well, true, but that's only if he's not part of a pack."
"He's not. No way that mutt has a pack that would let him run freely through the woods like that. This hasn't been a protected space since the Hale pack lived here, and it never will be again now that there's no pack here. Beacon Hills is ours."
"Are you sure there's not a pack here?"
"Haven't heard any rumblings of a new pack making space in Beacon Hills, so I'm pretty sure."
"And I'm pretty sure you've been living under a goddamn rock because the McCall Pack is very loud and very messy," says Theo as he stands and kicks the fight off by tackling one of the hunters while slashing at the other with his claws, just to knock him off his feet as well. "Dumbass hunters."
It takes him a good five minutes, he has newly healing wounds lacing his abdomen, but they are tied up with their mouths ductaped. Now, he's on the trail again to where they've got Liam.
They said he was hanging upside down with three wolfsbane arrows in his back, but they also said that they were the only ones out here because their group won't be there again until sunrise.
Which is maybe an hour away, so Theo has to work fast and hope that the McCall Pack is almost there.
It doesn't take long, after some jogging and hesitant stops to check that he's still alone after hearing a howl, before he stumbles upon Liam who is whimpering and doing his best to claw his feet free.
"Liam, stop! Let me help you down so we can fix this, don't push those arrows further in!" exclaims Theo as he rushes forward so Liam can see him, then he runs at the tree and kicks off of it to claw the rope to tatters.
Liam manages to land on his feet, but Theo has to catch him when he sways ahead of falling backwards.
"Theo," wheezes Liam as he tilts his head back, struggling to breathe. "Wolfsbane, shutting down."
"I've got you, just stay as quiet as you can because this is going to hurt like a bitch," mutters Theo with a wince as he carefully removes the arrows and tugs a lighter out of his pocket to cauterize the wounds and burn the wolfsbane out.
Liam howls in pain, but he bites down on it after a minute, and Theo wants to whimper into it. He knows how badly this shit hurts.
"Thank you, Theo," breathes Liam as he lifts his head up enough to look Theo in the eye properly.
"No thanks needed, Liam," murmurs Theo as he shoves the lighter back into his pocket and turns his attention to baby blues.
The pack finds them then, bringing safety with them, and their breaths come easier once again.