The buzzing of my phone was what caused me to open my eyes. As I rolled over to grab my phone I realized I was being held down by something-more like someone. I turned my head to see Liam, his armed draped over me, his chest rising and falling with every breath he took.

A smile spread onto my lips as I carefully lifted his armed from my waist. Sitting up, I grabbed my phone and answered the call. It was my mom on the other end, calling to tell me that Sheriff was going to be okay. Apparently Stiles had figured out what was poisoning him. 

I felt myself let out a sigh of relief as I thanked my mom for calling, saying a quick goodbye before hanging up the phone. 

As I lowered the phone from my ear, Liam sat up with a smile. "Hey." he whispered, studying my face. 

I gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry," I mumbled, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Liam shook his head as kept his eyes locked on me, "I was already awake." he promised.

I held up my phone, "That was my mom," I explained, "Sheriff's going to be okay."

A smile spread across his face, "That's great." he breathed.

I nodded before pulling myself from the warmth of his bed. "I should probably get going." I announced, "My brother is expecting me to be at home."

Liam's face fell slightly at the mention of Scott, but he quickly covered it, giving me a small nod instead.

"Thank you," I mumbled as I made my way to the door, "For letting me stay here." I added. 

Silence filled the air before Liam's shaky voice stopped me, "Syd, wait." he called, pulling himself from the bed as well. 

My hand froze on the door knob as I turned to face him. My heart rate increasing, nervous at what he wanted to say. 

Liam looked down for a moment, shaking his head, "Hayden, she-" he cut himself off, looking back up at me, "She's alive."

My face fell as I took a small step back. "What-but- how?" I questioned in shock, "My mom said she was-"

He cut me off, looking just as lost as I did, "I know. I thought she was dead too. But I saw her, last night after I left your house. I caught her scent, and followed it." he explained. 

"How is that possible?" I asked, my heart pounding against my ribcage. 

Liam shook his head, "I'm not sure yet." he admitted, "But I just want you to know that it doesn't change anything between you and I." he promised.

I forced a smile onto my face as I pulled open the door, "Yeah." I whispered, stepping into the hall, "I'll talk to you later." I assured, turning to make my way out of the house. 

As I walked out of Liam's house and toward my car, I couldn't help but feel anxiety rising in my chest. Hayden was alive. I wasn't sure how, but I feared that her being back posed another obstacle between Liam and I being together. No matter how many times he told me he loved me, there was always that thought in the back of my mind that maybe, he didn't 

---

As I unlocked the door to my house I was met with silence. "Hello?" I called kicking off my shoes. "Scott?"

Nothing.

I let out a sigh as I dropped my bag. Letting out a yawn I slowly made my way up the stairs and into my bathroom. I locked the door before turning on the shower, peeling off the clothes I had been wearing for the past two days. 

As  I stepped in, I let the warm water relax my tense muscles. All the stress that had been building up over the past couple of days seemed to fade away.

After spending close to 30 minutes in the shower, I finally shut off the water and stepped out.

Wrapping a towel around myself, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, almost not recognizing myself.

My wet hair clung to my neck making me look like a wet dog, My eyes were red, large bags visible under them. My stare then landed on the large red finger prints on my neck from where Theo had tried to strangle me.

I let out a sob as the impact of this finally hit me. And I didn't even have the worst of it. Scott died and then came back to life, and is now not healing, Stiles almost lost his dad, Lydia is non responsive, Malia is searching for her mother who tried to kill her 9 years ago, Kira is fighting a fox inside of her and Liam is dealing with the guilt of trying to kill is alpha.

All in all our pack is not looking very strong at the moment.

The ringing of my phone caused me to snap out of my thoughts. I cleared my throat, attempting to not make it sound like I was just sobbing my eyes out. "Hello?"

"Hey Syd." his voice was soft, and I could already tell he knew that I was upset, just by my voice.

"Liam," I breathed, moving to turn off the exhaust fan so I could hear him better,  "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," he promised, shuffling around on the other end,  "I was just wondering can you meet Mason and I at the school?"

"Yeah, just give me 20 minutes."

---

As I pulled into the parking lot I saw a number of cars, which was odd considering it was Saturday. Sure, some teachers came in on the weekends but this many?

Nonetheless, I approached the font doors and entered the school. As I walked in I was immediately greeted by Mason and Liam.

"I'm glad you came." Liam said, giving me a small smile as I joined the two of them. 

I returned, shoving my hands into the pocket of my hoodie. "So what's going on?" I asked looking between the two boys.

"Okay," Liam started,  "So you know how I told you Hayden was alive?"

How could I forget? "Yeah." I mumbled crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well-"

Before Liam could finish he was cut off by the doors to the school flying open. All three of us turned to see Corey strolling in. My eyes grew wide as I watched the boy that had died only days before walk towards us.

"Hey!" he greeted,  "Are you guys here for the library clean up too!?" A large grin spread across his face.

All three of us exchanged looks. "Uh-yeah," Liam finally nodded after stumbling over his words. "Yeah, we are."

"Great!" Corey smiled before walking towards the library.

I turned to Liam with and gave him a surprised look. He nodded,  "Yeah, that's what I wanted you to talk about."

"How is that possible?" I questioned as we followed Corey to the library.

"It's not just Hayden and Corey," Liam explained, "Josh, he's alive too, I saw him the other night with Theo." That meant at least three different Chimeras had somehow risen from the dead.

"So it's Theo?" I hissed, trying to avoid having Corey listening in. My blood boiled even at the thought of the boy who had tricked and manipulated all of us, almost killing my brother in the process.

"It's like he's building a Chimera army." Mason commented as we approached the doors.

"Great, just what we need." I grumbled pulling open the doors.

As the familiar sight of the library met my eyes, memories from the other night came flooding into the mind. I quickly clamped my eyes shut, focusing on blocking out the dark thoughts.

"Sydney!"

My eyes flew open to see Sophia running towards me, her arms open. Before I had a chance to prepare for the blow, she came crashing into me, her arms circling around my body.

"You heard?" I muttered, my face buried in her hair.

"Mason called me." she explained, pulling back to study my expression. Her eyes fell to my neck. Although I had attempted to cover the marks, they were still visible, "How are you?"

I forced a fake smile onto my face as I nodded, "I'm okay." I promised.

As Sophia began to speak again, my eyes travelled to the back of the library where Holden stood, his eyes fixed on me.

I felt guilt overwhelm my body as I realized that today was Saturday and my movie date with Holden was supposed to be yesterday.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath, watching as Holden left the library,  "Soph, I gotta go." I mumbled.

"I'll come with you!" she offered, already beginning to follow me.

"No, I need to go alone." I answered, turning toward the door, "I'll be fine I promise."

Sophia let out a sigh as I raced out of the library in pursuit of Holden. He hadn't made it very far by the time I caught up.

"Holden wait!" I called as I watched him walked off down the hall, "Holden!" I repeated.

"What the hell do you want Sydney?" He snapped turning around to face me. 

My face fell as I took a small step toward him, "I just want to talk." I explained, guilt dripping from my words. 

He shook his head, letting out a bitter laugh, "I waited for hours for you to show up. Hours Sydney!"

I let out a sad sigh, "I know and I'm sorry-"

"Sorry for what?" he snapped,  "For standing me up, or running back to that Dunbar kid right after you told me you weren't looking for a relationship?"

I furrowed my brow, "I'm sorry." I repeated, "I was dealing with something yesterday." I explained, "But, Liam has nothing to do with this, okay?"

Holden scoffed, "Oh yeah, is that why he was giving googly eyes the entire time you were in the library?" his eyes were angry as he took a step toward me. 

"Holden just -" I trailed off as he stomped over to me.

"I tried to be nice." he basically growled, his eyes darkening as he stopped right in front of me, "I tried to be nice and you humiliated me." he yelled, "Was that your plan all along? Lead me on and then stand me up?"

"What?" I questioned, "No! Of course not just-"

My words fell silent as he shoved me toward the locker. By the look on his face I was afraid he was going to hit me. 

"HEY!" A voice shouted from down the hall. I turned my head to see Liam and Mason sprinting down the hall towards us. Liam's eyes were wild with anger. "Get the hell off of her!" he spat grabbing a hold of Holden and sending him across the hall to the opposite set of lockers.

Mason rushed to my side, ensuring I was okay before we both turned to Liam who currently had a handful of Holden's shirt in his hand as he pinned him up against the locker. I watched as Liam slowly lifted Holden from the ground, raising his other fist, ready to hit him.

"Liam!" I yelled, rushing over to him. "Stop!" I ordered, grabbing a hold of his arm, "He's not worth it, come on." I pleaded.

Liam looked at me before turning back to Holden, "If you ever come near her again, I will kill you." He growled, dropping him to the floor.

As Holden scrambled to his feet and took off down the hall, Liam turned to me, cupping my cheeks in his hands. "Are you okay?" He whispered.

I nodded, pulling out of his grasp, "I'm fine." I assured, "But we should go."

"Corey isn't responding to my texts." Mason announced looking at us with worry.

Liam's hand found refuge on my waist as he pulled me close to him,"That's because he left with Theo."

"Theo was here?" I asked, my heart rate speeding up.

"Yeah." Liam sighed, his eyes flashing in anger once again. 

"We should do something, right?" Mason asked, walking over to Liam and I.

Liam looked down, his face falling. I knew it was because 'doing something' meant talking to the rest of the pack. And right now, I knew Liam did not want to speak to any of them, especially my brother. It seemed that Liam was too ashamed to even say his name.

"We should tell someone." Mason pressured, looking between Liam and I with an urgent look on his face. 

Liam opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again.

"Liam , you have to tell him." Mason ordered.

"You think he'll even talk to me?" Liam's voice was quiet.

"You're his beta, doesn't he have to?" Mason asked.

Liam shook his head, "Where do I even start? 'Sorry for trying to kill you'? 'Sorry for leaving you for dead so Theo can kill you? 'Sorry for almost getting your sister killed?'"

"Liam." I sighed, "None of that was your fault."

"Just start off with sorry, the rest probably won't even matter." Mason pointed out.

"He's right." I mumbled softly.

Liam let out a sigh as he pulled me toward the door, "Come on let's get you home."

okay holy crap, holden is absolutely insane but on the bright side what about protective liam?*heart eyes*

let me know what you though of this chapter!! :)

ily guys :))

-maddy xox