𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒, liam dunbar

xi.

"it's a dead pool."
teddy moved away from the window suddenly as scott looked back in her direction.
her brother had told teddy to go home, but, for the first time ever, she had refused.
something in teddy make her want to be.. involved, this time.
something made her want to help.
maybe, it was liam.
maybe it wasn't.
scott went on talking to the sheriff.
"a hit list of supernatural creatures."
the alpha wolf reached down to his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
he unfolded it as he spoke.
"this is only part of it. the rest still has to be decoded."
scott placed the list on the desk in front of sheriff stilinski.
the sheriffs eyes scanned over the paper.
"who found this list?"
"lydia."
stiles said hastily.
"how?"
the sheriff furrowed a brow at his son.
"she wrote it."
stiles blanked.
the boy explained himself to the confused face of his father.
"actually, she transcribed it. without realising it."
"banshee?"
the sheriff asked.
stiles confirmed.
"banshee."
"beautiful."
the sheriff rolled his eyes, much like his sarcastic son would have.
teddy found herself hitching her breath in order to hear their confidential conversation.
"alright, what are these numbers next to the names?"
noah continued to fire questions at the teenagers.
"we're getting to that."
stiles said.
"first, you need to know that the code was broken with a cipher key."
the sheriffs forehead creased.
"wait, you mean like a key word?"
"it's actually a name."
stiles said slowly.
"allison."
teddy's heart clenched as she heard her brother speak that name.
not only had allison been scott's lover, but she had been teddy's best, and only, friend.
she had always been kind to teddy, and tried to convince scott to include her.
allison had even been giving teddy archery lessons before that fatal night.
teddy sighed into the silence before the conversation continued.
"her name broke a third of the list."
the young stilinski said solemnly, wanting to change the subject.
"and now we think there's two other cipher keys."
scott went along with the conversation, not eager to relive that painful memory.
"which will give us the rest of the names."
the sheriff nodded.
"okay."
he sighed, looking back down at the desk.
"so how do we get the cipher keys?"
stiles opened his mouth to speak but then closed it.
eventually, he spoke.
"same way we got the code."
scott spoke up.
"lydia. she's been at the lake house all weekend trying to find the other two key words."
teddy heard the scribbling of a pen after silence.
the new part of her ached to hear more of what was going on.
a dead pool?
with her brother and all his friends on it?
someone was getting paid to kill supernaturals.
but, unwillingly, teddy's mind wandered back to the other day.
whatever had happened to her, lydia had thought it was supernatural.
maybe she was on that list, too.
teddy was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a voice again; the sheriffs.
"you didn't know about demarco or carrie, huh?"
teddy wondered who them people were.
she had heard them briefly mentioned before in the conversation.
the youngest mccall kept listening.
"and what about these other two names on the list? uh, kayleen bettcher and elias town. they werewolves too?"
"i don't know."
scott said.
"but deaton said that the nemeton would draw supernatural creatures here."
"here being beacon hills?"
the sheriff questioned.
"or beacon county?"
he paused.
"the population of beacon hills is just under thirty thousand—"
"and dropping."
stiles cut in.
noah frowned.
"but if we're talking beacon county, then you're looking at closer to five hundred thousand."
the sheriff shook his head before sitting down.
"look, how many werewolves, banshees, kitsunes, and whatever the hell else is out there are we talking about?"
neither teenager had an answer, so sheriff stilinski continued.
"and what happens if the next cipher key uncovers not twelve names, but a hundred?"
"we don't think they'll be that many. there's a limit."
stiles spoke up.
"because of the numbers."
scott added.
"we think that once we decode all the names, the numbers will add up to a hundred and seventeen."
"a hundred and seventeen what?"
noah spoke up.
scott paused for a moment before speaking.
"million."
teddy heard the rustling of pen on paper, and saw stiles scribbling letters she couldn't make out onto the list of names.
the sheriff stood up.
when he was done, stiles stepped back.
"one hundred and seventeen million dollars, dad. stolen from the hale vault and is being used by someone to finance all these murders."
teddy's heart jumped when she heard the name hale.
she hadn't seen derek since he was fifteen again.
if derek was involved, maybe he would help teddy understand.
the two had always had a pretty strong friendship.
she continued to eavesdrop as her brother spoke up.
"someone who wants all the supernaturals in beacon hills dead."
the sheriff spoke after a minute of silence.
"so. the coded list goes out. and somehow, these professional assassins get that list."
"and the cipher key."
stiles butted in.
noah continued.
"and then they go after the names on the list. they being killers with no mouths, tomohawks, thermo-cut wires that can take your head off."
teddy took in all the information, her ears still pricked as she peaked over the ledge of the window from her chair situated outside.
stiles took another look at the pictures.
"let me see. carrie was also stabbed."
he pointed something out.
"what's this mark?"
"we're not sure yet, we're still waiting on the ME's report."
the sheriff shook his head.
"there's one other thing i don't get. how did the new assassin know that demarco was gonna be at the lake house?"
"everyone knows he delivers kegs to teenagers for a little extra cash."
scott said.
"ah. so whoever ordered that keg killed demarco."
"someone at the party."
stiles said.
"a student."
as they spoke, something was buzzing inside teddy.
she had a sudden urge to scream.
suddenly, she found herself swinging open the door and standing in the doorway.
all three sets of eyes were on her as she spoke, completely abrupt and unexpected.
the words slipped out of teddy's mouth before she could do anything to stop it.
"i don't know who ordered the keg, but i know who paid for it!"
at the sudden interruption, scott scowled.
"teddy! were you listening in?"
teddy nodded slowly, all eyes trained on her.
"garrett."
she said quietly as scott stood up to remove her from the room.
"it was garrett."
><
"teddy, i can't believe you!"
scott held his sisters arm as he dragged her out the sheriffs station.
"why were you listening in to our private conversation?"
"because,"
teddy said, pulling her arm away from her brother roughly.
"i want to help."
"you can't help!"
scott said, stepping straight in front of his younger sister.
"it's dangerous."
"and?"
teddy challenged.
"you do it!"
scott looked taken aback by his sisters behaviour.
eveasdropping, wanting to help, taking back?
this didn't sound like the teddy mccall he knew at all.
"is this because of liam?"
scott sighed.
teddy's scowl deepened.
"no, it's not because of liam!"
she paused for a moment, her lips pursed.
"okay, it might partly be to do with liam. but there's something else! why is it always you risking your life?"
scott laughed a little at his sister as the pair began walking again.
"because. i'm a werewolf."
"stiles' human!"
teddy shot back.
scott rolled his eyes.
"look, i don't want you getting hurt."
he said seriously.
"promise me, no more listening in to our conversations. you never used to do that."
"well, i've changed."
teddy smirked and scott nodded.
"and the new me can't promise anything now."
><
"hey, scott?"
teddy asked as the bell rang, signalling the end of a period.
"have you—uh, have you seen liam?"
scott sighed, shifting his shoulders, and teddy wondered what he had said to his young beta the previous night.
stiles appeared by scott's side before he could answer.
"what's this?"
the junior smiled crazily.
"looking for liam?"
teddy nodded.
"i saw him headed to the gym."
stiles said, nodding in the locations general direction.
teddy nodded again.
"uh—thanks."
she bid both boys goodbye before making her way towards where stiles had indicated.
teddy reached the heavy white door and pushed it open without a thought.
it stunk of sweat, and loud music was blaring through the speakers.
teddy walked in without considering anything, which was unlike her.
then she stopped, and looked around.
the gym was filled with boys.
dozens of masculine teenagers in tank tops and shorts with perspiration dripping from their foreheads turned to look at teddy,
liam and mason included.
liam looked away hastily.
teddy felt her cheeks redden and increase in temperature drastically.
a week ago, even a few days ago, teddy would've turned and ran.
buy something was different inside teddy mccall.
whether it was her brothers persistence to keep her as far away from the supernatural as possible, or the fact that liam was now involved, or the fact that teddy, like the others, had just lost allison, she wouldn't back down.
teddy was here to speak to her friend.
maybe it was that fact alone that stopped her turning and fleeing the scene.
she had a friend.
teddy marched forwards with confidence and stood next to the weights liam was lifting.
she crossed her arms and planted her feet to show she wasn't leaving.
soon enough, all the boys turned back to whatever they were doing previously, and teddy turned to liam.
"hey?"
she questioned, unsure if the blonde boy was mad at her, or hated her.
"hey."
he said bluntly, neither confirming or denying teddy's suspicions.
mason greeted the girl before looking at her as if to say, just leave him.
teddy pulled over a chair and took a seat as liam began to lift his bar again.
"you know,"
mason said, lifting his own weights whilst stood up.
"how i keep reminding garrett to give me back my hoodie?"
teddy's ears perked up at the mention of the potential assassin.
liam stood up with a simple,
"yeah,"
towards mason and picked up another weight.
teddy raised a brow, impressed.
"well, i remembered you said he lived in that housing development on spaulding. so i went there, and guess what? that housing development, is still in development."
liam picked up two more weights and placed them on his bar before laying back down.
teddy made a mental note to tell her brother about what she was overhearing.
"so?"
liam asked, beginning his lifting again.
"there are no houses yet!"
mason said, trying to get his point across.
"so, unless the dude lives in some backhoe,
there's something he's not telling us."
liam ignored mason and continued lifting.
mason raised both his eyebrows.
"and then there's this other dude, man.. he's been acting really strange. right, teddy?"
teddy's eyes widened, unaware of who mason was inferring.
"uh— yeah, i guess."
she said, watching smitten as liam lifted his weights, looking extremely hot.
mason followed her gaze and sighed.
"running to school for no reason, disappearing at parties.."
finally, teddy caught on, and her breath got caught in her throat.
she coughed a little, worrying for all she was worth.
liam couldn't tell mason.
not without telling scott.
in all fairness, part of teddy wanted to tell mason.
and why should she need her brothers approval for everything she did?
but teddy knew this wasn't hers to tell.
so she kept quiet, eyes wide and fixed on liam.
liam clicked in two more weights on either side of the bar as mason finished.
"used to be my best friend."
liam sighed.
"uh-huh."
"and—"
mason said, stopping lifting and staring at liam.
"he was apparently on steroids."
"what?"
liam asked, glancing over at mason.
"you're not actually going to try to lift that, are you?"
teddy remained silent, and liam sat up.
the blue eyed boy looked back at the bar he was about to attempt to lift.
mason sat down beside him.
"are you alright? i mean, is this about the game tonight?"
"i'm fine."
liam said harshly.
"it's just a scrimmage."
"you know who you're playing, right?"
mason cocked a brow.
"yeah.."
liam said uncertainly.
"i mean no. i guess i missed the announcement."
teddy walked forwards to join the two boys.
"it's devenford prep."
she said, not seeing the problem.
"liam."
mason said slowly, as liam didn't seem to pick up on the words teddy spoke.
"it's your old school."
liam's face crumpled into one of rage and fear.
mason nodded at teddy.
"devenford prep."