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Bullets clinged and clanged off the walls as Liam and Lori ran, getting ever closer. The hunters had found them, and Liam wasn’t sure they were going to escape this time.
—-
It had been slow at first, but the pack had noticed almost immediately. Hunter activity was increasing, and they were getting closer to Beacon Hills. Nothing obvious, of course, but enough to be a threat.
Strangely enough, it had started with Alec. The hunters had been investigating his old pack, despite the fact that they’d killed them all.
Or so they thought.
Alec hadn’t known this, but a few others had been able to escape the massacre. The hunters had tracked them down and slaughtered them, in broad daylight.
It was an obvious message to the pack: Leave us alone, or this will get worse.
Scott had been concerned, and had offered to come back, as had the rest of the older pack. Even Jackson had offered, and he rarely saw them. Liam had, by some miracle, managed to assure them it would be fine, and that he could handle it. He had to.
Alec had been devastated; his glimmer of hope had been stripped away in an instant. He’d locked himself away from the rest of the pack. They’d all been worried about him, and nothing had tried had worked. He’d been getting worse as the hunters got bolder, and closer.
Nolan had decided to stay with him, after Theo broke into his apartment. He was the most emotive of all of them, and the one most experienced with grief, having lost pretty much everyone he was close to, so he was the best choice to leave. Plus, he wasn’t much of a fighter, which meant it was safer to leave him behind while the rest of the pack investigated.
They understood the risks of investigating, of course, but the hunters were right on their borders now, and something needed to be done.
Mason and Corey, who also weren’t fighters, had gone with Sheriff Stilinski to a meeting with Agent McCall, which Stiles was also apparently attending, to try and explore a legal way to
get them to back off. Not that they thought it would work, but they needed to try.
Which left, Liam, Theo, Brett and Lori.
They’d been investigating the tunnels where the Dread Doctors’ lair was, because of course the hunters were looking into them too.
Theo had led them down there, showing them each secret tunnel and half- finished experiment. He’d been… off. Which wasn’t surprising, considering these were quite literally the people who kidnapped and tortured him.
Who stole his life.
And Liam was worried.
Scared, even.
So, yeah it was fair to say he’d been distracted. And that he definitely hadn’t reacted quickly enough when the wall slid down, separating Liam and Lori from Brett and Theo.
Theo had reeked of confusion and guilt as he yelled to them that he hadn’t known that wall was there and that this was definitely a trap, which didn’t make Liam feel any better. Brett yelled through too, telling Liam and Lori to breathe and to find a way out their way so they could meet.
Liam hated this. The small space and cold, stone walls reminded him of the well. He was going to be sick.
Lori sensed his discomfort and grabbed his arm, smiling softly. “Come on, let’s find a way out.”
They’d started walking, through what felt like miles of endless twists and turns until they’d started to go upwards. That was where they’d ran into the hunters.
Which led them to now, when they were fleeing for their lives.
They turned a corner and skidded to a halt; they were at a dead end. Typical.
Liam turned, but it was too late. They were trapped. Surrounded by a mob of hunters who wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.
There was no way out this time.
There were too many to fight.
Liam pulled Lori closer, where she was almost completely behind him, mirroring what Brett had done that night.
When both Brett and Lori thought they were going to die.
When Liam saved them.
When Liam nearly didn’t save them.
And this time, he couldn’t save them. He couldn’t save anyone.
Or could he?
There were footsteps heading their way, with the unmistakable scents of Theo and Brett. The hunters were going to shoot, but maybe they didn’t have to shoot Lori.
The bullets came without a word, from the lead hunter. Before she could react, Liam had shoved Lori backwards, sending her crashing into the stone wall as the bullets crashed into his body.
Three of them.
Ow.
Theo’s agonised roar echoed through the tunnels as Liam crashed to the ground. This was excruciating.
Pain washed over him in waves as his head spun. Blood was everywhere, coating his fingers and his stomach and his new t shirt, but everything felt… numb. Like the excruciating pain wasn’t real.
Don’t faint. Don’t faint. Don’t faint.
He repeated the mantra in his head, taking deep, shaky breaths and, suddenly, Lori was in front of him. Tears were streaming down her face and her hands were soaked in blood.
Liam’s blood.
Lori was saying something, almost screaming it, but Liam couldn’t hear her over the rushing in his ears.
Was he going to die?
Brett was there. He had his arm around Lori’s shoulder, but his face was panic-stricken and there was blood all over his hands too. Both of them had black running up their veins as they attempted to take Liam’s pain, but it wasn’t enough.
Wait, how had Brett got through all the hunters?
Liam turned his head slowly, carefully, and what he saw made his breath stop. Most of the hunters had scattered, but the few that remained were on the floor, completely still. Blood was spattered all up the walls, and in the middle of all the carnage was Theo, still fighting the last hunter. His chemosignals were all over the place, and Liam couldn’t even begin to translate them.
But he’d gone ballistic.
The hunters weren’t dead, surprisingly, but scene in front of him looked almost like a massacre. He had made Theo do this. This was his fault.
Lori saw what he was looking at, and moved to sit in front of him, blocking his view. She was speaking quickly to Brett, both of their usually calm voices filled with fear and worry.
It hurt.
No, it burned.
Theo was there now and Liam managed to catch something about wolfsbane. That would explain the burning. But, it also meant more burning.
Lori had a lighter in her hand, and Theo and Brett had moved to hold him down; Brett was at his head, pressing down on his shoulders, and Theo was at his legs, trying to avoid the bullet in his thigh. This was going to hurt, even with Theo and Brett taking his pain.
She held the lighter over his arm first, using her knee to hold his now-clawed hand down. He growled and struggled as she quickly moved on to his stomach. His growls were screams now, and he struggled more, but the iron grips didn’t shift. By the time Lori got to his leg, he was sobbing. She was whispering apologies as Liam blindly flailed. This was agony.
He must have blacked out after that because the next thing he knew, he was on the metal table in the animal clinic. His entire body ached, though the pain was considerably better than what it had been earlier.
A chair scraped from the corner of the room, and Theo was walking towards him, arms crossed over his chest. How long had he been there?
“Don’t ever fucking do that to me again Dunbar.”
Liam smiled weakly. “Worth it.”
Theo frowned. “How the fuck was it worth it?”
Liam struggled to sit upwards, wincing in pain as he did so. Theo grabbed his arm, Liam’s pain turning his veins black. Liam tried to pull away, but Theo held on tighter, fixing him with a firm look. Eventually, he let go and took a step back.
“Answer me.”
“What?”
“How was it worth it?”
Oh. He’d forgotten he’d said that.
“Was only me that got hurt.” he muttered.
Theo’s frown deepened. “So? You nearly died, Liam. We weren’t even sure if you’d wake up.”
Liam flopped back down to the table. “Better me than anyone else.”
The only response he got to that was Theo’s sharp intake of breath and his mutter of “fuck this” before the door slammed.
Great. Now he’d pissed Theo off so much he’d stormed out.
What if he went back to living in his car?
What if he hated Liam forever?
What if the whole pack hated Liam forever?
Why did he have to fuck everything up?
The door slammed back open, which was strange. Liam was sure everyone was mad at him. He looked up in confusion to see Theo practically chucking Brett and Lori, who were still stained with tears and blood, at him.
“Tell him he matters.” he growled.
Brett whipped around to Theo in bewilderment as Lori rushed over to Liam, helping him to sit up while simultaneously burying her head in his shoulders.
“What’s going on?” Brett asked, more to Theo than anyone else.
“Someone,” Theo said, pointedly glaring at Liam, “is absolutely fine with the fact that he got shot and almost fucking died, and doesn’t think it would have mattered if he died.”
“What the fuck?” Brett said, as Lori stared at Liam, stunned.
“Want to explain Liam?” Theo asked.
Liam looked down at the floor, avoiding eye contact and twisting his hands together.
“I didn’t say that, it’s just…. it’s my fault you two almost died, and it’s my fault you were homeless Theo, and even with the rest of the pack, they’ve all been hurt, or almost killed, and that all leads back to me too. So, it was better for me to get shot than one of you. I couldn’t watch one of you almost die again, because of me.”
“I don’t understand.” Lori said tentatively. “How was any of that your fault? Surely it was the hunters actively trying to kill us?”
“Including you.” Theo muttered, staring at Liam.
Brett’s frown deepened. “What about us, Liam? We had to watch you almost die.”
The care in his voice was so serious and un-Brett like that it caught Liam off guard.
“I’m sorry.” he whispered.
Nobody said anything for a while after that, almost like they didn’t know what to say. After all, they were just teenagers, constantly having to fight and flee for their lives.
So, they stayed at the table in the clinic, together. Lori’s head had gone back to resting on Liam’s shoulder. Brett had one arm around her, and the other around Liam’s back. Even Theo had moved closer, pressing his side against Liam’s uninjured one.
Eventually, Brett moved, clapping his hands together. “We better go. Mason’s demanded a mandatory movie night, and I don’t know about you, but he scares me sometimes.”
“We better not be late then.” Theo’s trademark smirk was back.
Lori looked up suddenly. “We need to get there before Alec. He is not picking the movie again.”
Theo helped Liam up, keeping an arm looped around his shoulders to help him as he limped, and they walked out of the clinic.
Together.