Theo continues to slumber, and, in his absence, Brett and Lori enters the chat. Liam has trouble with his anger and an ambush is set up by an unseen force in the Preserve...
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Chapter 18: A Sea of Eyes
The day after sleeping with Theo was stressful — Mainly, because, when Liam woke up, Theo was already gone — His spot where he slept was cold, and Liam was hurt by that.
Naturally, as an IED, the anger Liam felt by Theo's casual treatment as if he were just a bed to warm — It got to Liam.
He found himself shifting at ass-o-clock in morning by it.
Thankfully, the window was open and by the time he had lost himself to his anger, he was already out the upstairs window and halfway to the woods behind the house. He kept his window open specifically for these instances he's learned to prepare for since getting turned.
His bedroom already have many scars of his rage. He didn't need to add more from werewolf rage.
Of course, when Liam returned to himself, and got back home, he missed the bus and had to walk to school.
When he finally got to school, late (because of course), intending to give Theo a piece of his mind — It was to the face of his anger not being there.
That was the first red flag.
Throughout none of the classes nor football practice did Theo show up, which really had Liam beginning to worry.
Theo was an asshole but he would never miss Chemistry nor Biology — The guy, though an asshole, was an extreme nerd, who worried about perfect attendence almost as much as Mason did, possibly more so.
That was the second red flag.
As for Theo missing practice? Liam was sure something was up, because he knew Theo would never give up an opportunity to one-up Liam in practice. Never.
The third red flag....
It went on like that for days — Three in total with each day making Liam's wolf even more anxious than the last.
Her overall performance in school and practice began declining as his worry and anxiety began turning into a continuous sea of frustration that made his IED episodes increase — Which, for a werewolf, was not a good sign.
Isaac and Sean had to restrain him 6 times throughout those 3 days. Six!
He really needed to work on that.
On the bright side, Hazel had returned from her trip with her grandfather, so Liam wasn't alone during lunch period, ironically.
She shared his worry for Theo, though she did help him in redirecting that anxiety, for the most part, to studying for his classes in the Study Hall each evening. Liam was still iffy on her alternate personality and how she explicitly had him not mention anything about her to Hazel, but considering everything, he did his best to follow that promise to a T.
Still, Theo's absence was a constant lag — But it was on that fourth day that life really gave Liam the middle finger.
Why?
Because Brett and his sister, Lori, decided to transfer to Beacon Hills High School.
And worse? Not only had he decided to join the lacrosse team — But also the football team, too.
And Liam was not happy about it.
Brett was floored when he picked up the scent of werewolf coming off of Liam Dunbar — He was sure when the boy was at Davenport Prep, he hadn't been a wolf.
It was still fun to harass the brat though. He was easily irritated — And fast to anger — Though whether that was from his wolf or his IED, Brett had no clue.
All he knew was that after what he did to the coach's car, Brett wanted to make sure Liam's life was still Hell.
Lori wanting to be closer to Cora and Hazel at Beacon Hills High was just the icing on the cake. It also most certainly hadn't had anything to do with getting closer to Hazel whom Brett would swear he had no crush on.
No. Not at all.
Either way, Brett had also noticed that Liam was more distracted than usual — Even when Brett sat across from the angry beta, teasing him endlessly, he kept looking at the seat next to him — The empty one that remained empty somehow, frowning when he noticed its emptiness.
Seeing his distracted gaze because curious of who sat there — He wanted to know, not because he was jealous of whoever it belonged to or anything! He swears he doesn't also like Liam — It was just, curiosity. Nothing more, nothing less.
After asking around, Brett eventually learns of another — Someone with a connection to both Hazel and Liam. A close connection, apparently.
When he learned of this Theo character, his external appearance showed no change, but inside, he felt an anger that was just barely suppressed.
Of course, he double-down on teasing Liam — Just for the incident with Coach's car and most definitely not because he found Liam's anger as adorable as a puppy's face.
No, of course not.
Whenever Liam had actually got angry enough to shift, Sean Hale and Isaac Lahey were the first to steer him away from prying eyes. It didn't take a lot of effort to figure out who had bitten the boy — Not on Brett's end, anyway.
On one particular evening, after class, after practice, Brett decided to traverse the preserve — Lori had went over to Derek's loft with Cora and Brett was bored.
It was a long walk, with no initial direction or destination in mind.
Yet, as he were wandering, he narrowed his eyes as his nose picked up on Liam's scent.
Instantly, he was curious of why the Little Beta was this deep in the Preserve — A place no newly turned should be around this time of evening. He wouldn't verbally admit it, but Brett, a pang of worry for the beta — These woods wasn't safe at sunset. Everyone in the supernatural community of Beacon County knew that.
As Brett unconsciously followed the scent deeper in the Preserve, his ears — supernatural and sensitive — picked up on two other voices alongside growls that he could only assume to be Liam's.
"Dammit, Liam! Calm down!" Isaac's voice was heavy with strain, as he was presumptuously restraining the angry beta.
"Liam, for the love of god, please calm down," Sean's voice, though soothing, was audibly strained.
GRROWWLL!
He didn't seem to like that. The growls only intensified as the sound of struggle and restrainment increased.
Brett passed a corner, taking note of the visual situation: Sean and Isaac using their combined strength to pin a fully shifted, raging Liam to the thick bark of a great oak tree.
All three parties had cuts in their clothes, likely from restraining the angry beta for the first two and from being shoved against the hard bark of wood for Liam.
GROWL!
As Liam struggled, Brett watched... eventually deciding to take a step forward. Then another. And another.
Much to all present, Brett included, Brett found himself before the thrashing, barely restrained Liam, whose eyes glowed a brilliant gold.
GROWL.
He snapped at Brett. No one spoke. Isaac was mostly focused on maintaining his grip on the angry beta while Sean eyed Brett with a gaze of apprehension that vanished from his face as soon as it appeared, replaced by an emotionlessly blank expression.
All the while Liam growled and struggled in their hold.
Brett walked up to Liam, pulling out the triskeleion that he had snagged from Derek's loft last he visited. He raised it, silently, for Liam to see.
The beta, confused, watched as Brett grasped the back of his hand and placed the triskeleion in his palm.
"The three statuses of the wolf..." Brett kept a firm hold on the back of Liam's hand. "Alpha. Beta. Omega. Repeat it."
GRRR!
Liam seemed to surface — Or was beginning to. He still had a ways to go.
"Liam... 3 status of the wolf," Brett tried again. "What are they?"
Recognition seem to shine in his eyes, clearly recognizing the words.
Grr.
He seemed to be trying to say something. Brett softly touched up Liam's arm in a comforting pattern, keeping eye contact with the angry, calming beta. The move seemed to surprise Liam, who paused, his words at last audible.
"Alpha. Beta.... Omega...." Liam breathed out through fangs. "Alpha... Beta. Omega."
It took a moment for Liam to regain full control over his shifted form, but he did eventually become able to do it. But it was during this time that a presence no one had picked up on had made themselves known — A whole host, in fact....
[Sean Hale]:
Sean noticed them first: Eyes. So many damn eyes all around them. He counted 20 pairs in their immediate vicinity, but he could hear more than just 20 heartbeats hidden deeper in the darkness of the Preserve beyond.
"Look alive. We've got company," Sean stated, lengthening out his claws as his eyes begun glowing its amber-golden glow.
His words landed like a battle cry, instantly causing Isaac, Brett and Liam's eyes to glow vibrant gold as they all noticed the multitude of white glowing eyes like a sea of white in the forest around them. And, as some of the silhouettes came into the dwindling light of the setting Sun, it was then that Sean had realized that he had grossly underguessed the true numbers of eyes on them.
It wasn't even 20. Nor 30.
"Those are —?" Brett began, heart racing, not daring to complete his sentence.
He didn't need to.
They already knew.
As the silhouette of their opponents became visibly human forms with glowing white eyes and jaws that would make the shark look tame, Sean Hale realized the severity of the situation, especially in the fact that this hadn't happened in the original timeline.
Surrounding them in the dozens were the largest den of Wendigos Sean had ever seen. And they all had ravenous eyes on their menu.
"Fuck," was all Sean could get out before the man-eating monstrosities closed in like a swarm.