Cruel || The Banshee and the Beta ➼ TEEN WOLF

Chapter 26 - It's a trap

Stiles and Lexie pulled up to the edge of the forest in the Jeep. They slammed the doors shut, greeted by Sabrina and Scott who leapt off his bike. Shortly after, Isaac, Lydia and Allison followed. "Anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?"

"We're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter." Scott reminded not just Lydia, but all of them. They stood at the edge of the woods worriedly, Lexie felt Stiles slip his hand into hers and she gave it a quick squeeze. 

But the moment soon passed when Isaac opened his mouth to express his pessimism. "Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote who is actually his daughter, who we don't know how to change from a coyote back to his daughter."

"And again with the not helping."

"Did you bring it?" Sabrina interrupted Stiles and Isaac's bickering by turning to the huntress who stood at the trunk of her car. She nodded and lifted out the tranquilizer gun, holding it out in front of her, her hands shaking ever so slightly. "Let's go." 

So they set off in groups, Lexie trailing behind Stiles as he took long strides and talked to his dad on the phone. "It took the doll again? What the hell is so important about this doll?"

Lexie was breathing heavily as she imagined Stiles' father telling him some important information on the other end of the line, because then he stopped. "It's the doll. It's the doll?"

"What's the doll?" Lexie asked, finally coming to his side and looking over at his confused face. Eventually the two ended up remaining in that clearing of the woods. Stiles pacing the ground, leaves crinkling beneath his soles as Lexie took a seat on a nearby boulder. She straightened out her plaid pleated skirt that had become creased in the process of jogging after Stiles and his long legs. 

"All right, but why would it go all the way to the school and then all the way back to the house just for a doll? One that was in the car wreck in the first place. We didn't find it in the coyote den."

"Maybe it has some other kind of meaning. Sentimental meaning." Lexie suggested pulling her denim jacket closer around her body because even though it wasn't cold out, there a was slight breeze in the air and it made her shiver. That's when she realised it wasn't the temperature at all, it was something to do with Malia. "Wait, What kind of doll is it?"

"I don't know. It's a doll, you know. It's got little arms, a big baby head and dead, soulless eyes." he stared into space, traumatised by the toy. Lexie tilted her head to look at him before he slipped his phone out of his pocket. "Actually, I took a pic. Here."

In the photo, there were two girls, an older one with a teal coat and a younger one holding the baby doll. "That's Malia?" Lexie asked pointing to the older girl. 

"Yeah, that's the jacket and the scarf we found in the den."

"Stiles," Lexie swallowed the lump in her throat as she pieced together the events that were unfolding. "she's not holding the doll."

"That's Malia's younger sister. It's her doll." They both turned to each other, both of them knowing what Malia was going to do. "I know what she's doing."

"She's taking it back."

"Back to the car."

Further into the woods, Sabrina and Scott were on the search for Malia, Scott opted for his bike, but Sabrina had decided to go by foot. She was running as fast as she could, only just being able to keep up with the speed of Scott's bike. As she got a lock on Malia's scent, knowing she was getting closer to the werecoyote, she heard something. 

A cry for help. From a beta. 

Her pack was in danger. The growl was ear-piercing and caused the girl to stop in her tracks, her head spun back and worry was etched across her features. "Isaac," she muttered before turning back around and spotting her brother swerving and falling of his bike. "Scott!"