EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

SIXTEEN

"What the hell are you talking about?" Katherine frowned, tilting her head up to look at him.

"I don't know how to explain it, but..." Liam trailed off with a shaky exhale. "Do you see that guy over there?" Following his gaze, Katherine eye's locked onto a boy their age with darker skin and cropped brown hair.

He looked normal enough at first glance, but as she looked closer, she couldn't help but feel unnerved. The way he was moving, and the crowd subconsciously parted for him, it was almost...predatory.

"Shit," Katherine mumbled, gripping tightly to the sleeve of Liams shirt.

"Yeah, that's right," Liam breathed. He slid his sleeve from her fingers and replaced it with his hand. Katherine felt her breath hitch. "Come on, let's go see if Brett noticed anything."

Moving slowly through the crowd, Katherine did her best to keep from panicking. Crowded places filled with innocent civilians and a possibly homicidal supernatural creature were not her favourite places.

She looked around the room uneasily as Liam talked to Brett, chewing nervously on the skin around her thumbnail. Her stomach felt queasy, and as she closed her eyes and tried to convince herself she was somewhere else, she couldn't help but silently ask for Stiles.

"No, I didn't catch anything," Brett shook his head with a small frown.

Liam sighed. "No one else in here is like us?"

"I don't know, dude, maybe," Brett huffed, unconsciously setting a hand down on Katherine's shoulder. She leaned into it. "It's Beacon Hills, what's the difference?"

"It felt different," Liam huffed, glaring at Brett's hand.

Brett glance between the two before raising a brow. "What do you mean?" He asked carefully.

"It felt off," Liam answered vaguely.

"It felt wrong," Katherine agreed, biting down harshly on her bottom lip. "It still does. I don't like it. Not at all."

Both Katherine and Liam looked around anxiously, trying to find the boy they'd seen earlier. Noticing this — or more than likely smelling Katherine's anxiety — Brett patted Liam on the shoulder and gave Katherine's a light squeeze.

Then Liam dragged Katherine off towards the side of the room, where they would have more space. Before they could reach the wall, Liam stopped. Again. But as she looked up at him, she couldn't hide the surprise on his face when she noticed his eyes glow their brilliant yellow. "What is it now," Katherine mumbled, her brown eyes scanning the area around her.

"I don't know," Liam huffed, reaching out to grab Katherine's hand and squeeze it for comfort. "I just got this waft of...I don't know...follow me, okay?"

"It's not like I could turn around if I wanted to," Katherine grumbled, ignoring the way her heart skipped a beat at the sight of her hand in his.

He turned to look at her with furrowed brows. "You okay? Your heart kind of stopped for a second there."

Trying to mask the look of pure terror that washed over her face, Katherine made a face and rapidly shook her head. "I'm all good, nothing's wrong, nope — I just — I'm just a little, uh — I'm a little scared right now, that's it, yeah," she stumbled over her words with wide brown eyes, inhaling sharply at the end. Jesus Christ, she silently cursed. You're just as smooth as chunky peanut butter today, aren't you Katherine?

"You'll be fine," Liam promised, looking down at her with a soft smile etched on his face. "I won't let anything happen to you, you know that; remember my Superman moment last year?"