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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥

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Meilani felt like the universe just had a fun time with making her life quite literally a living hell. She thought things were at its peak because she had bitten Liam and gained herself a new beta. Or a new son as Isaac so enjoyed to call him. She was so sure that her life couldn't get any more messy or complicated than having to teach a fully new wolf with anger issues to keep calm and not shift left and right.

No, the universe decided to raise its middle finger even higher at her and throw a dead pool at her. A dead pool that not only had her name on it, but also Derek's and Isaac's and every other supernatural creature that lived in Beacon Hills. All of her friends ━ besides Scott and Stiles, of course ━ were on that list and Meilani didn't even know where to begin in trying to figure out how to stop whoever was killing people off the list. 

Apparently, the mouthless and hairless man that Meilani had seen on the roof of the hospital was even called The Mute. Not that he mattered anymore now that Peter Hale had killed him. Noah and Derek had gone to the high school that work out some lead Noah had found, but they had all but walked into a trap that was set for Derek. Derek had noticed the bomb placed inside the classroom and had moved Noah out of the way before his head could be taken off by a tomahawk. The Mute's all time favorite choice of weapon. The same weapon he had used to kill Sean Walcott when he was a ravenous mess on top of Meilani's back.

"It's a dead pool," Meilani explained to Noah, who she stood in his office with Stiles. The two had rushed over to the sheriff's station once Lydia had given them all of the information that she possibly had so far on everything. She held out a piece of paper with a list of names on it for Noah to take and look at. "A hit list of supernatural creatures. This is only part of it. The rest still has to be decoded."

"Who found this list?" Noah asked, eyes scanning down the front of the page at the names that were printed across it. Most of the names already crossed off so Meilani and Stiles knew who was still left and who they needed to save still.

"Lydia."

Noah's eyebrows furrowed and tore his gaze from the paper to look at his son. He looked like he both wanted to know and also didn't want to know at the same time. "How?"

"She wrote it," Stiles answered, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, actually she transcribed it. Without realizing it.  Banshee, Dad."

"Alright," Noah sighed, shaking his head and focusing his attention back on the main focus at the moment. "So what are these numbers next to all the names?"

"We're getting to that," Stiles spoke up, pointing to the paper that still rested in Noah's hands. "First, you need to know that the code was broken with a cipher key."

Noah froze and he glanced back up from the list again with a calculating gaze. The same gaze that mirrored Stiles' whenever his mind was running at a mile a minute. "Wait, you mean like . . . like a keyword?"

"It's actually a name.

Meilani frowned and suddenly found the small scratch in Noah's wooden desk fascinating as she picked at it. She still felt a bit of guilt filled nausea bubble in her stomach whenever she had to mention the name. She was slowly getting better and reminding herself that the person wouldn't want her to be kicking herself for something she couldn't stop. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself that she could have stopped it. "It was Allison."

Stiles noticed his girlfriend's shift in demeanor and pulled her into his side, rubbing her arm comfortingly. "Her name broke a third of the list and now we think there's two other cipher keys."

Noah nodded in understanding and placed the list down on his desk. "Which will give us the rest of the names. Okay . . . so how do we get the cipher keys?"

"Same way we got the code ━ Lydia," Stiles informed.

"She's been at the lake house all weekend with Kira and Malia trying to find the other two key words," Meilani added.

Noah was quiet for a long moment as he grabbed the crime scene photos from the two recent supernatural deaths. The keg delivery guy who had brought the keg and bottle of wine to the party at the lake house and a girl named Carrie Hudson who had been killed just the night before. "You didn't know about Demarco or Carrie. Hmm? What about these other two names on the list? Uh . . . Kayleen Bettcher and Elias Town. Are they werewolves, too?"

"I'm not sure, but Deaton said that the Nemeton would draw supernatural creatures here. We restarted its power when Stiles, Allison and I sacrificed ourselves to save you, Chris and my mom," Meilani responded, leaning more into Stiles' side as the exhaustion from the long weekend she'd already been having starting to slam into her the more she talked about all the new supernatural drama. 

"Here being Beacon Hills or Beacon County? The population of Beacon Hills is just under thirty thousand."

Stiles scoffed softly and his arm moved up to wrap around Meilani's shoulders as the girl buried herself deeper into his side. "And dropping."

Noah gave Stiles a look to show that he wasn't amused in the slightest about Stiles' comment. "Anyways, if we're talking Beacon County, then you're looking at close to five hundred thousand." He paused for a moment to shake his head of whatever thoughts had came to his mind and dropped into his desk chair behind him. "Look, how many werewolves, banshees, kitsunes, and whatever the hell else is out there are we talking about here? And what happens if the next cipher key uncovers not twelve names but a hundred?"

"We don't think there would be that many. There's a limit."

"Because of the numbers," Meilani clarified more for Noah when he looked even more confused than he already was that there was a limit. "We that once we decode the names, the numbers will add up one hundred and seventeen."

"A hundred seventeen what?"

"Million."

Stiles took the list from Noah's desk along with a pen and wrote either K or M next to the row of prices next to the names. "A hundred and seventeen million dollars, Dad. Stoles from the Hale vault and is being used by someone to finance all these murders."

Meilani puffed out her cheeks with a heavy sigh and gestured to the list of names, her's being the one to stand out to her the most. "Someone who wants every supernatural in Beacon Hills dead."

Noah ran a tired hand over his face as he tried to process everything that the two teens before him were dishing out to him. "So . . . this list goes out and somehow these professional assassins get that list. Then they go after the names on the list. They being killers with no mouths, tomahawks, thermo-cut wires that can take your head off."

Stiles removed his arm from around Meilani to shift through the photos that still rested on top of Noah's desk. Meilani tried exceptionally hard to not look at the decapitated photo of Demarco and glanced over Stiles' shoulder at the stab wounds on Carrie's neck. There was some sort of shape around Carrie's wounds that Meilani couldn't quite tell what it was meant to symbolize. "What's this mark on Carrie's wound?"

"We're not sure yet. We're waiting on the ME's report," Noah answered, pushing himself back to his feet as Stiles continued to shift through the photos. "There is still one thing that I don't get. How did this new assassin know that Demarco was going to be at the lake house?"

Meilani scrunched up her nose sheepishly and tore her eyes away from a significantly graphic photo of Demarco. "Everyone knows Demarco delivers kegs to teenagers for a little extra cash."

Noah merely nodded, clearly not wanting to get into that since Demarco obviously would no longer be giving alcohol to underage teenagers. "So whoever ordered that keg killed Demarco."

"Yeah, it was someone at the party."

"A student."

The next day, Meilani had tried to get through the school day without drowning in all the things that piled up on her plate. Between watching out for Liam in the hallways whenever she could actually find him ━ much to Stiles' and Isaac's annoyance because they didn't want to watch over Liam like he was a child ━ and worrying about the rest of the names that would come up on the dead pool, Meilani literally felt like she was suffocating. While simultaneously feeling like a mother because Liam at the current moment was her biggest concern since she couldn't do much about the dead pool while at school.

So Meilani had called in an extra reinforcement for advice. Derek hadn't even needed convincing in coming to help her out with Liam. He told her he'd get Liam angry to see how far you actually had to push the kid before he'd shift. Apparently, all it had taken was snapping a lacrosse stick in half that Liam thought was his to set the boy into wolf mode. Liam had barely lashed at Derek before Derek grabbed him by the throat and held him up against the lockers in the boys' locker room. 

Meilani had entered the locker room when she heard the slam of the lockers and Liam's incessant growls at Derek with Liam's actual lacrosse stick in her hand. She called his name and it echoed around the vast room, the younger boy instantly shifting back at her voice. Liam had glanced over to her with a pleading look to punch Derek in the face, but she merely shot him a look to tell him Derek was okay.

"You're right. He is angry," Derek mused, suddenly dropping his hand from around Liam's throat and dropping the boy back to his feet.

Meilani held up Liam's stick for the boy to see that he still had a stick to play with at the game. "Your stick is right here."

Liam caught the lacrosse stick when Meilani gently tossed it to him. He turned to shoot an annoyed glare at Derek just as the bell rang for the next round of classes to begin.

"Get to class, Liam," Meilani ordered gently, jerking her head behind her to show she wasn't playing. She lightly pushed his head as he passed, earning her a low huff from the boy. "Don't rip anyone's head off while you're at it." Her gaze fell back towards Derek who looked at her with a small smile on his face that she couldn't read or figure out why it was there. With it being Derek, she didn't even know where to begin with figuring out what he was thinking. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Derek's smile only grew at Meilani's, almost like he was proud of her. "You're gonna be good at this."

Meilani scoffed softly and slapped a hand to her side, looking in the direction that Liam had just walked in to exit the locker room before he was late to class. She had been struggling so hard with this new responsibility and she didn't want to let the poor freshman boy down by messing up. "Derek, are you kidding me? I'm so totally unprepared for this. Remember how you said you could teach me a few things? I think, right now I could use a full-on training manual."

Derek chuckled and ducked his head for a moment before he glanced back up at Meilani. "You'll be fine, Meilani. I will tell you one thing, though. That anger's he got? It'll make him strong."

"And dangerous," Meilani reminded Derek.

"Very."

Meilani closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, feeling the crushing weight of anxiety creeping up for the dozenth time that day. She walked over to the bench next to Derek and dropped down onto it, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "Derek, this was supposed to be the semester that I could finally just focus on school. Void is gone. The alpha pack is gone. We got you back. There was finally nothing else to focus on. But now Kate is back and I have a new beta that is practically like raising a freaking child. Now there's this freaking dead pool."

Derek walked over to sit down on the bench next to Meilani and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. "Hey, if all of our names are on that list, then that's what we should be focused on. I won't let you go through this alone with The Three Muske-dorks and the girls. Do you think Lydia can get that second key?"

"Yeah, she's working on it right now."

"See, so just focus on that. Just try and get through the rest of the school day, okay?"

Easier said than done.

"Economic disparity exists in all forms. Well, take sports, for example. Some teams have better training facilities," Finstock lectured from the front of the class, tossing a small lacrosse stick back and forth between his hands. "Some have better equipment. Unlike Beacon Hills that can barely afford the duct tape to keep our equipment together." 

Meilani rolled her lips into her mouth when she saw Finstock stop next to Stiles' desk who had been buried in the crime scene photos that he stole from Noah. He had been so focused on trying to figure out more about this dead pool ordeal than anything else all day. Meilani was honestly lucky she even got a few words out of him before he went right back to staring at the photos. Though, it seemed like Meilani wasn't the only one that had noticed Stiles' diverted attention when Finstock slammed his lacrosse stick down on Stiles' desk, scaring the boy out of his thoughts.

"You know, Stilinski," Finstock began, leaning down so he could pick up one of the many crime scene photos that covered Stiles' desk and eyed it oddly. "If I could grade you on how profoundly you disturb me, you'd be an A plus student."

"Thanks, Coach."

"Put those pictures away. Better McCall, keep your boyfriend in check and I'll give you an A plus for dealing with him," Finstock ordered, earning an amused grin from Meilani.

"Anything for my favorite coach," Meilani mused.

Finstock pat Meilani's shoulder and went to turn away when Stiles suddenly grabbed Coach's stick, staring at the end of stick with wide eyes. "Stilinski!"

Stiles ignored Finstock's protests and tugs to get the stick back and pulled the white piece off the bottom of the lacrosse stick to reveal a hollow inside of the stick. He flipped to one of the photos on his desk and suddenly released his grip on the stick when he found what he was looking for. His eyes slowly drifted over to Meilani, Isaac and Scott who all looked at him confusion. 

"It's a lacrosse player. The killer is on the freaking team."

Meilani paced the length of Coach's office as Stiles, Scott, Stiles and Kira all barreled through the sticks that Finstock kept in his office. They pulled off the white tips at the bottom of the sticks to look for any stick that had a knife or sharp end that could kill someone without giving themselves away. The pack had gone through practically every single stick and still came up with nothing.

"Okay, seriously, this is pointless," Meilani huffed, slapping her hands to her sides and turning to face her friends. "Most of the team plays with their own gear."

"Maybe instead of trying to find a lacrosse stick with a hidden dagger in it, we should be trying to get the game canceled?" Kira suggested.

"No, the game is the best way to catch him red-handed," Isaac countered.

"Okay, but what if he's red-handed 'cause his hands are covered in the blood of the person that he just stabbed to death?" Stiles intoned next, flailing his hands around in the air around him. "Which, by the way, could be my girlfriend or Kira!"

"Or Liam," Scott reminded, earning him confused looks from everyone since Liam's name hadn't been there in the first place. "Well, we don't have the whole list and he could be on the other two lists. If they know Meilani is a true alpha and that Kira is a Kitsune, then they have to already know that Liam is Meilani's beta if The Mute was on the roof when he got bit."

"We don't know anything about that list. How it's made, how it's updated. I mean, who's been out taking a supernatural census anyway?" Stiles quipped, throwing his hands to the sides to show that he thought the idea of Liam being on a list was insane.

Kira chewed on the inside of her lip as she leant her hands on the end of Coach's desk that wasn't filled with lacrosse sticks. "How do they even know about me?"

Meilani sighed heavily and ran her hands over her face. "They know about everyone."

"Look, I think Kira is right. We should stop the game," Scott spoke up, earning everyone's attention again. "It's not safe for you guys to be out on a field when you can get killed."

Meilani muddled through all her thoughts for a moment as she tried to plot the best way to go about everything. They needed to track down who on the lacrosse team was a professional assassin and stop them before they could get to anyone else. Meilani wasn't necessarily afraid of the assassins because she was confident in her abilities to put up a good fight against them. She'd only be showing the fear that she doesn't have by canceling the game. "No, I'm not afraid. I'm going to play."

Kira looked over to Meilani and offered her a small smile. "Neither am I."

"Well, I'm terrified and I'm not even on the list!" Stiles snapped at the two girls, sounding less than pleased that the girls wanted to play still. "Guys, these are professional killers. It's their profession. One of them's got a thermo-cut wire that cuts heads off. Who knows what else they have?"

"Yeah, and Meilani's got us. That's way better than thermo-cut wires and weaponized lacrosse sticks," Isaac boasted, turning to Meilani with a cocky grin. "We'll kick their asses tonight."

Meilani smiled gratefully at Isaac's positive attitude and she just silently prayed that Isaac was right.

Once the school day was over, Devenford Prep had showed up in a massive bus to get ready for the scrimmage game that was set for that night. Half the student population had stood in the back of the school where the buses usually stayed to watch the rich prep kids get off the bus with their usual cocky smirks on their faces and upturned noses at the public school they had to be in for the next few hours until the game started.

Meilani had stood off to the side with Isaac, Scott and Stiles to keep an eye on Liam who had been right in the front of the crowd until the Devenford kids stepped off the bus and he made a beeline straight for the tall, pretty looking boy that stood in front of everyone like he owned the place. She watched with bated breath as her eyes followed Liam's tense and angry form confront the boy before him. 

"I just wanted to say . . ." Liam trailed off, slowly raising his hand in front of him for a hand shake. "Have a good game."

The boy in front of Liam began to laugh hysterically at Liam as the other boys around him began to laugh along with him. Meilani could already hear Liam's heart rate begin to spike dangerously and she silently prayed to every god out there that Liam would keep his cool and not shift in front of everyone. "Is that what they told you to say in Anger Management? Apologize and everything's fine? You demolished Coach's car."

Liam glared darkly up at the boy in front of him, his chest heaving up and down slightly as his anger only continued to grow. "I paid for it."

"Yeah, you're going to pay for it. We're gonna break you in half out there and it's gonna be all your fault," the boy threatened, getting close to Liam's face with a taunting grin on his face.

Meilani's eyes widened when she noticed Liam's hand ball into a tight fist at his side and small drops of blood begin to dribble down between the gaps in his finger. She cursed under her breath and pushed away from the boys to rush over to Liam before he could shift in front of everyone. She quickly pulled Liam into her side and away from the Devenford boys while Stiles and Isaac stood in front of them. 

"Hey, what's going on prep students? Welcome to our little public high school. How you doing?" Stiles rambled, holding his hand up for a handshake that the Devenford boys didn't return. "Wow, that is a firm handshake you got there, buddy. I'm Stiles."

"Anyways," Isaac said loudly over Stiles' rambling to shut the boy before he made the situation worse. "We can't wait to play you in the scrimmage tonight. I hope you boys brought your A-game, but we will be keeping things clean, alright? No maiming anyone out on the field."

Meilani shot Scott a look to help her and he rushed over to help her haul Liam away from the prying eyes of everyone and back into the school. She could hear the distant squeaking of Isaac and Stiles' shoes behind her and Scott as they all but burst into the boys' locker room. Meilani turned on the shower as she and Scott forced Liam up against the wall and let the freezing cold water hit Liam, instantly soaking him through.

Liam growled and roared at the twins as he snapped his canines at them to try and get them off him. Isaac had instantly stepped in to take over Scott's spot so Isaac could stay pressed up against the wall without going anywhere now that he had two wolf strengths on him. Meilani made sure to keep a thrashing Liam underneath the freezing water until he slowly began to lose his fight and his head dropped down, his breathing ragged.

"Okay, Meilani, I'm okay," Liam whined, pushing her and Isaac's hands away weakly. He shut the shower water off before he stumbled to the other side so he could drop down onto the part of the floor that wasn't soaked with shower water.

Meilani shook out the sleeve of her jean jacket that had gotten stuck in the onslaught of shower water. She stepped away from the shower head with Isaac and stopped before Liam with her head tilted. "The car you smashed. I thought you said that was your teacher's."

Liam panted as he propped himself up against the wall behind him with his arm wrapped around the knee that he pulled towards his chest. "He was also my coach. He benched me the entire season."

Isaac raised his eyebrows in curiosity and crossed his arms. "What did you do?"

Liam diverted his gaze from the four older teens before him and focused it on his knee. "I . . . I, uh, got a couple of red cards."

"Just a couple?" Stiles remarked.

"Stiles, stop," Meilani snapped at her boyfriend, squatting down so she was eye level with Stiles. "Look, Liam, you have to be honest with us, okay? What else happened?"

"Nothing!" Liam stressed, but quickly backpedaled when he saw the stern look on Meilani's face. "Okay, okay, I got kicked out of school. They sent me to a psychologist for evaluation. She said I had Intermittent Explosive Disorder."

Stiles balked and stared at Liam in disbelief. "I.E.D? You're literally an I.E.D? That's just fucking great. Congratulations, babe, you gave your powers to a walking time bomb."

Isaac sent a sarcastic pout over Meilani's head to Stiles who gave his girlfriend a thumbs up. "Aw, that's no way to talk to your new son, Stilinski."

"He's not my son."

"You learn to ignore them," Meilani said to Liam who eyed Isaac and Stiles weirdly. "Did they give you anything for it?"

Liam's eyes drifted back over to Meilani and he brought his other knee up so he could hug both of his knees close to his chest. He was practically curled up like a small, defenseless, scared child and Meilani's heart ached for the poor boy. "Risperdal. It's an antipsychotic, but I don't take it. I can't play lacrosse when I do. It makes me too tired."

"Okay, I think you should bail out of the game. Tell Coach your leg still hurts," Meilani suggested, not wanting Liam to do something he'd regret on the field. That or suddenly shift in front of everyone since his anger was raised tenfold now that he had a beast living inside of him for the rest of his life.

"No!" Liam gasped, scrambling to his feet with a pleading look on his face. "Meilani, I wanna play. I promise I can do this, especially if you're there."

Meilani nearly melted on sight when Liam looked up at her with literal puppy dog eyes. She thought she was done and over those looks now that she was quite literally a wolf, but seeing it on Liam was nearly debilitating. Was that was it was like to have small children? "I - no. Liam, this isn't just about the game. We think whoever killed Demarco might be on the team."

"Who's Demarco?"

"The one who brought the beer to the party. The guy who was beheaded," Scott clarified.

"We think the person who ordered the keg killed Demarco," Isaac concluded, his head tilting when he noticed Liam's face drop at the new information. "What, do you know something?"

"I don't know who ordered the keg, but I know who paid for it. It was Garrett."

Night had fallen fairly quickly over the town of Beacon Hills and the stands on the lacrosse field filled up significantly with excited students and parents from both Devenford Prep and Beacon Hills High School. Meilani had sat down on the bench with Kira and Scott while she tried to keep an eye on Garrett from the corner of her eye where he sat on the other bench.

"Shouldn't we be doing something now?" Kira asked Meilani, tearing her gaze from the blonde boy who joked around with a few of the guys on the team.

"I mean, we can't. We're still not really sure that it's him. If we're wrong, then the real assassins get away and know that we're onto them," Meilani replied, exhaling heavily and glancing over to Kira who fiddled with her lacrosse stick. "You nervous?"

Kira plucked at the strings on her lacrosse stick that Scott had spent an hour teaching her to tie and tighten to her liking. Coach had asked her to join the time during try outs when she had all but saved Malia's face from being smashed in with a flying lacrosse ball. She had been excited to join the team and Meilani was really happy to see another girl on the team. "About someone trying to kill us? Or about playing my first game?"

"Both."

Kira's eyed the tall Devenford boys who passed by in their green jerseys as they wiggled their fingers tauntingly at the two girls. "Definitely both."

It wasn't long before the game was finally set to start and Finstock blew his whistle loudly for the starters to get out on the field so the game could begin. Meilani had noticed that Liam doing exercises to get himself ready for when it was his turn to go out and she skidded to a stop in front of Finstock. "Better McCall, I told you to get your ass on the field!"

"But Coach, Liam's leg is still healing. I don't think he should play," Meilani swiftly lied, hoping against all hope that Finstock would listen to her and have Liam sit out for the game. It wasn't that she didn't trust Liam, it was that she didn't trust the boys on Devenford Prep. They were all but ready to bury Liam into the ground and she didn't want them to trigger anything with Liam and have him turn into a ravenous mess for the second time that day.

"He said it's fine, Meilani."

"As captain, I am suggesting Liam sit out this game."

Finstock erupted into a fit of laughter at Meilani's suggestion and her face fell at his reaction. "And as, uh, president of the United States, I am vetoing that suggestion"

"What if he gets hurt, Coach?"

Before Finstock could offer a rebuttal, one of the boys on the other team yelled for Liam to think fast and chucked a lacrosse ball at him. Liam's hand came up effortlessly and he caught the ball like it was second nature to him.

"Oh, he plays!"

This was going to get real interesting.

The game had barely begun and Devenford already got a goal, earning a loud cheer from the stands that held all of the Devenford Prep fans. Meilani could already tell Liam was annoyed, but he was trying really hard to keep it reigned in so he could continue to play and prove to Meilani that he could handle the game. 

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Isaac queried, meeting up with Stiles, Meilani and Kira in the middle of the field. 

"Because we all know it usually does," Stiles responded in a duh tone.

"Alright, Kira, you keep an eye on Garrett. I'll watch out for Liam," Meilani instructed, earning an agreeing nod from Kira before she broke off from Meilani and the boys.

"What about us?"

Meilani began to walk backwards from Isaac and Stiles with a lame shrug. "I don't know. Something."

Stiles waved his hand in the air when Meilani turned back around to get into position and let it limply fall back to his side. "Yeah, we'll just play lacrosse! It's fine!"

Meilani eyed Garrett warily as she brushed past him to get in position for fighting for the ball when the whistle were to go off. She could see the wary look appear on Liam's face as well and she pat his chest twice to let him know she got his back and to stay calm. She bent down in the middle of the field in front of the boy, Brett, that had fought with Liam earlier. "Brett, I know you guys feel like you owe Liam some payback for what he did but could you just hold off for one night? Trust me. One night."

"Yeah, I can do that."

Meilani blinked rapidly for a second not expecting the boy to agree so suddenly and swiftly. "Wait . . . really?"

Brett chuckled mockingly at Meilani and flexed his hands on his lacrosse stick. "No."

The referee blew the whistle to start the next play and Brett scooped up the ball, rushing past Meilani and towards the net. He pounded his feet against the grassy field and Liam took off to try and stop him from scoring. However, before Liam could get close to Brett, two of the Devenford Prep boys shoved him to the ground and let Brett get close enough to the goal to score again.

Liam growled deep in his throat and shoved off his helmet and dropped his gloves, getting ready to launch himself at the two boys that had shoved him to the ground. Meilani was quicker than him and was pulling him back before he could get close enough to attack the two boys. Stiles had showed up to grab onto Liam's other shoulder while Isaac stood in between Liam and the two boys so they couldn't try anything.

Brett smirked in triumph at Meilani as he passed her by, making sure to bump his shoulder with hers as he did so.

The whistle blew once again to get the boys ━ and Kira and Meilani ━ back into their starting positions with Stiles fighting for the ball this play. Liam stood next to Meilani so she could make sure he didn't rip anyone's heads off and Kira stood across from Stiles. When the whistle blew a second time, Stiles scooped up the ball and quickly tossed it to Kira who caught it in her net without even having to move. She stared at the ball for a long second before she snapped out of her daze and took off down the field towards Devenford's net. 

The crowd erupted into encouraging cheers and chants for Kira as she barreled past the Devenford boys and ignored Coach's calls to pass the ball. She brought her stick forward when she was close enough to the net and the ball sailed right over the goalie's shoulder and into the back of the net making the game 1 - 2.

"Woo! Go, Kira!" Meilani cheered, running down the field towards Kira and tackling the girl into a hug. "You did it!"

"Yukimura!" Coach's voice boomed across the field, breaking the two girls apart and they turned to see Coach crooking his finger for Kira to come closer. "Get over here."

Kira removed her helmet and jogged over to Coach with a beaming smile on her face. "Yes, Coach?"

"Sit down. You're benched for the rest of the game. You didn't pass like I told you to."

"What?! I had an open shot."

"The play was for you to pass. This is a scrimmage, it's about teamwork, Yukimura. So, you're benched. Go sit with your boyfriend," Coach ordered, pointing over to Scott who gave Kira a sorrowful look.

Meilani deflated a bit as she watched Kira trudge over to sit next to Scott who had instantly pulled the Yukimura girl into his side and whisper encouraging words into her ear to try and make her feel better. When she went to turn to make her way back towards the field, she almost slammed into Garrett. The boy walked by her with a straight face, but Meilani could practically feel her skin prickle at the almost sinister appearance of it. It was almost like Garrett was silently saying that she'd better watch her back.

However, instead of watching her own back, Meilani should have been watching Liam more closely than Garrett. They were in the middle of a play when Liam toppled over the back of Brett and crashed to the grass with a howl of pain, gripping onto his arm while Brett laid out on the field with his eyes closed, not moving. The whistle was blown and the two teams huddled around the two fallen boys along with the coaches.

Meilani jogged over to Liam and helped him up to his feet and pulled him to the side while Stiles and Isaac covered the boy so they formed a small circle around the younger wolf. "How hard did you hit him, Liam?"

"Meilani, that's the thing. I didn't. He hit me," Liam corrected, holding up his arm to show the bone that was shifted out of place and pressed against his skin. 

"Oh my, God," Stiles whined and turned his head away from Liam's arm as he looked faint over the sight.

Meilani ignored her boyfriend's whines of protest and stepped closer to Liam, wrapping her hands around the protruding bone. She nodded at Liam that she was gonna snap it back into place and Liam closed his eyes just seconds before Meilani twisted the bone and it snapped back into where it was supposed to be, earning a cry of agony from Liam. "Sorry. I know that's no fun."

Brett suddenly cried out in pain much like Liam had when he first hit the ground. His coach and another one of the boys on Devenford helped the boy to stand up, his arms wrapped around both of their shoulders. Brett's right left trailed limply behind him as the coach and teammate helped him back over to the benches so he could sit down.

The sound of a dagger being sheathed back into a lacrosse stick alerted Meilani's attention and her eyes snapped over to where Garrett stood a few feet away, staring directly at Meilani. She cursed under her breath and began to frantically check over Liam for any cuts. "Liam, did Garrett get you? Did he cut you?"

"Meilani!" Liam cried, grabbing onto Meilani's hands as she continued her frantic search on Liam. "I'm okay."

"Then he missed?" Meilani breathed, glancing back over to Garrett who twisted his lacrosse stick back and forth in his hands. Almost like he was taunting Meilani with it. Almost like he knew that she knew.

"What do you mean?" Liam queried, eyes bouncing between Meilani and Garrett.

Meilani felt the world around her go quiet as she realized that Garrett wasn't staring at Meilani, but he was staring at Liam. Meilani wasn't the target . . . Liam was. "Liam, he's going after you. You're the one he wants."

The referee had yelled for the players to clear the field for a minute while the on-sight doctor checked on Brett's leg in the locker room to see if he can still play. Liam had ran off to talk to Coach about being hurt and not wanting to play anymore while Meilani stood nearby with Kira, Scott and Isaac. She had nearly chewed her thumbnail down to a stub until Isaac shoved lacrosse glove over her hand to stop her from ruining her nails. 

"I talked to Coach," Liam announced, walking back over from speaking to Finstock. "I'm out for the rest of the game."

"What are you gonna do now?" Scott asked his sister, who had almost found herself biting the tip of Isaac's glove and quickly pulled her hand away from her face.

"I don't know. Something still isn't right. I feel like we're missing something."

"Guys!" Stiles called, cutting off the pack's conversation and stopping in between Kira and Liam with his phone out in his hand. "Lydia just broke another third of the list."

"Am I on it?" Liam asked, pulling on Stiles' arm to look down at the phone.

Stiles grimaced slightly and scratched the back of his neck. "Um, no, but someone else is. It's Brett."

"You have to got to be kidding me," Meilani gasped, shoving Isaac's glove into his chest and taking off towards the boys' locker room where they had taken Brett to check on his legs.

The halls of the school were dimly lit with the flickering lights above and Meilani skidded to a stop down the hall from the locker room to see the dead on-sight doctor laid out in front of the door. She pushed herself down the hallway and into the locker room to see Brett laid out on the ground near the sinks. His head was turned towards Meilani with his eyes closed and his hands placed on either either side of his head. His eyes suddenly opened a moment later with a loud gasp, his eyes trained on something behind Meilani.

Meilani went to ask Brett what he saw when a wire tugged around Meilani's throat and she was pulled back with a grunt. She quickly grabbed onto the wire before it could sizzle her throat and let it sizzle her fingers instead.

"He said we shouldn't try it, but now I've got you. I got an Alpha."

Meilani's lips twitched up into a smirk and she roughly tugged on the wire and turned her head to face Garrett's girlfriend Violet, a pretty girl with long dark, curly hair. Her eyes glowed red and she growled threateningly in the girl's face, ripping the wire from the girl's hands and letting the wire that was made to look like a necklace fall around her neck where it stopped sizzling. She gripped onto the girl's throat and slammed her into the wall behind them, dropping her to the ground when she was knocked unconscious.

Stiles slid to a stop in the doorway of the locker room and his eyebrows lifted up in pride of his girlfriend. He stumbled over the body of the doctor and skirted around Violet's body. 

"Babe, I think you better call your dad."

AUTHORS NOTE

Hi hey hello

Welp, the cat's out of the bag. Meilani knows Garrett and Violet are two of the assassins and that the other key had been broken by Lydia. Things are getting REAL and I am so excited to get into this second half of Season 4 ahh! So many good things are coming up.

Also, does anyone else just really love Mama Meilani or is it just me? It's so precious like . . . UGH!