Brother || Teen Wolf

Chapter 42 - Beta meets Alpha

The piercing sound of a whistle ended the game, the Beacon Hills Cyclones erupting in cheers to celebrate their victory. Scott was among them, but he was not cheering, his mind so preoccupied with other concerns it was nothing short of a miracle he had managed to play at all. He looked around him, his eyes finding Stiles, but there was still no sign of Jamie. It had been a day since they last saw him, their blond friend never coming back from Derek's house. They had looked for him, of course, but the ruins were desperately empty, and no one, not even Lydia, had received a single text from him. It was only a matter of time before Henry Tate notified the police, despite the lies Scott and Stiles were feeding him to keep him in the dark.

Scott sighed and made his way to the locker room, dragging his feet behind him in a way that betrayed his tired state. He could tell Kate and Chris Argent were looking at him from afar, their ice cold eyes following him on his slow walk to the locker room. Scott had no doubt they suspected him of being a werewolf, although lately he was having troubles discerning reasonable fears from paranoid ones. The only good news of the day was that Allison had spoken to him and it had been fantastic, just like when they were dating, making him hope a reunion was possible. He needed to be patient and leave her time and space, no matter how much it cost him. It was with such thoughts that Scott finally reached the smelly locker room and changed, taking his time and ending up alone, his teammates long gone, with the exception of Stiles who was staring at him and silently ordering him to get a move on. Scott was lacing his right shoe when the door was slammed open, a tall silhouette on the other side.

"I really don't get Lacrosse," the man stated, his tone cold. Scott and Stiles stared at the stranger, Scott feeling dread creep up his chest. This was the Alpha, he could feel it in his bones. He put a hand on Stiles' chest and hid him behind him, determined to protect his friend no matter what.

"It's you..." Scott breathed, doing his very best to conceal his trembling hands.

"When I was in high school, we played basketball. There's a real sport," the Alpha continued, completely ignoring the teens in the room. "Still, I read somewhere that Lacrosse comes from native American tribes and that they played it to resolve conflict. I have that right?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested in the topic. Scott and Stiles remained silent, leading him to shake his head, "Hmm. I have l little conflict of my own to resolve, Scott. But I need your help to do it."

"I'm not helping you kill people," Scot blurted out. He wanted nothing to do with a psychotic killer, but maybe hiding his intense distaste for the man would have been wiser for now. They were locked inside a small room, everyone else was gone and they knew the Alpha was much, much stronger than them.

"Well, I don't want to kill all of them," the Alpha scoffed like it was obvious, "Just the responsible ones. And that doesn't have to include..."

"Allison," Derek filled in the blank, joining the Alpha and standing at his side. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and glared at the teens, making it clear which side he was taking.

"You're on his side?" Scott gasped.

"Yeah, are you forgetting the part where he killed your sister?" Stiles thought clever to add, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"It was a mistake," Derek said though gritted teeth. "It happens."

"Scott, I think you're getting the wrong impression of us," the Alpha intervened, his head cocked to the side and his expression much softer than just a few seconds before. "We really just want to help you reach your full potential."

"By killing my friends," Scott retorted.

"Sometimes the people closest to you..." he paused, his gaze settling on Stiles, "...can be the ones holding you back the most."

"If they're holding me back from becoming a psychotic nut job like you, I'm okay with that."

"Agreed," Stiles chimed in.

"Maybe you could try and see things from my perspective," the Alpha whispered, menacingly taking a step towards Scott. 

Scott would have loved getting away from the monster in front of him, but there was no escape. His heart was beating too fast, betraying his terror as the sound was easily picked up by werewolf ears. But Scott's heart thumping in his chest was not the sound that caught the werewolves' attention, as they heard the thundering noise of someone running in the corridors, coming closer and closer to them. The door was slammed open again and Scott feared yet another predatory creature was about to make an entrance, sealing their fate. But that was not the case, the reality much worse in Scott's eyes. Jamie was here, facing two men who had killed before, armed with nothing but a big, fake smile.

"Hey, Dad!" he exclaimed in an overly joyous tone, his smile not reaching his eyes. Scott and Stiles exchanged a look, what was their friend playing at? The Alpha sneered at Jamie, but that was not enough to intimidate him. "You know, it wasn't very nice, leaving me stranded like that. I thought we had bonded," he pouted with shameless irreverence, openly mocking the wolves.

"You are not my son," the Alpha spat with venom, his entire body trembling in rage. If it hadn't been for Derek holding him back, he would have probably jumped at the teen in front of him. His face crunched up in disgust, "How could you be? You're not even a werewolf."

"Oh, Peter," Jamie sighed, "DNA tests don't lie. Now, enough of you threatening my friends. Off you go, come on!"

"This is not over," Peter squinted his eyes at the three teens, his face contorted in anger.

"Wasn't counting on it."

Derek led the Alpha out of the room, throwing one last warning look at the teenagers he had once thought to protect. A heavy silence settled between the trio once the threat had passed, none of them knowing what to say. For once, it wasn't Stiles who broke the silence, but Scott.

"I'm glad you're back," he said, patting his friend's shoulder. He looked at him timidly, only then noticing the resemblance between Jamie and Peter. "So... What you said earlier, about the Alpha... It was true?"

"Yeah, I..." Jamie started, suddenly assailed by doubts. He looked at his two friends, a hint of fear on his face, dreading their reaction.

"So that's why you were so preoccupied lately!" Scott exclaimed, taking Jamie by surprise. He didn't look disgusted or fearful, or like Jamie had imagined he would look right after learning one of his best friends was the son of the psychotic killer who had turned him into a werewolf. "But why didn't you tell me?"

Jamie opened his mouth to answer but no words came out. Instead, he simply engulfed his friend into a tight hug, one that meant 'thank you'. Scott seemed quite lost but hugged his friend back anyway, using his sense of smell to guess what Jamie was feeling. He was overwhelmed with a sweet yet light scent that he identified immediately. Relief. Stiles sniffed as well, not to smell anyone, but to remind the other two he was there as well. His friends laughed and Jamie pulled away, a small smile on his face.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Stiles answered, suddenly sheepish, "My father left the Hale case file on his desk and I may have looked at it. And Peter wasn't lying, all these attacks, they all had something in common. The victims were suspected of starting the Hale fire."

Revenge, the teens understood, revenge was the motive behind all this bloodshed. Peter wanted whoever had killed his family and put him in a vegetative state for six years to pay for their crimes, and to do that he was more than ready to commit a few crimes of his own. The Alpha would have found it naive, but the teens knew killing everyone involved certainly wasn't the solution.

"So, how about we stop my psycho killer Dad from hurting anyone else?"

Nods were exchanged, the trio full of determination. This needed to end, soon.