Give Me Courage (Give Me Series #4)

21 - Well, Well, Well

The doors of the jeep slammed shut with two loud bangs, seconds after the other. Heart pounding, I nearly ran to the back of the vehicle, hands desperately gripping at the lacrosse hoodie, the one that was my only lifeline to finding Liam. My eyes narrowed in on the the woods surrounding us in every direction as far as my eyes could see. They fluttered shut when I couldn't see any signs of what direction Liam was in. However, his scent led the three of us to the Beacon Hills Preserve, bringing us closer to wherever Garrett hid him.

Liam was here somewhere. I just knew it.

After taking a few deep breaths, I calmed my heart down to block the loud noise in my ears, focusing on all of the sounds around us; the sound of Isaac and Stiles' shoes crunching down on the dead leaves beneath them as they walked toward me, small animals hidden in bushes and trees, fallen leaves, water flowing in a small creek, rustling of tree branches above our heads.

"Anything?" Stiles asked after a few minutes of silence.

A sigh tumbled off of my lips as I opened my eyes, shaking my head. "No," I answered him, deflated. The dark hoodie in my grasp caught my attention as I glanced down at the dirt clinging to my shoes, frowning at the only piece I had to find Liam, and hoping I was able to find him before the wolfsbane reached his heart. "Here." I tossed the material to Isaac. "I've got a lock on his scent, and you need to get it, too."

Isaac easily caught the jacket in one hand. His ocean blue eyes lingered on mine, hesitating before he brought the hoodie to his nose, inhaling Liam's scent. Once he locked in on the familiar scent, his head snapped to the left, in the same direction I believed would lead us to my beta, the one who I first hated, and now, feared for his life because I cared for him more than I ever thought I would.

"His scent goes that way," Isaac bobbed his head in the air, gesturing in the direction we needed to go in.

I nodded once, agreeing with him. "Let's go."

Before I could move an inch to break into a sprint, the ringtone to my cell phone rang from my back pocket of my jeans, most likely another desperate call from Scott of an apology spewing from his lips in attempt to make it up to me for hiding Liam's disappearance from me for so long. My eyes automatically rolled, a light scoff striking off of my tongue as I reached for the ringing device. Without looking at the screen, already knowing who it was, I opened the back of the jeep, tossed my phone inside without a care of where it landed or knowing I'd have to search for it later.

None of that mattered in that moment. All I cared about was finding Liam. Alive.

Stiles glimpsed at the back of the jeep, grimacing when the window slammed shut with an unnecessary force. "What if he found Liam?" He asked, hesitantly, afraid to upset me any more than I already was.

"Then he'll call you," I deadpanned. "I don't want to talk to him right now and he knows that. You would think he'd take the hint after the fifth time I ignored his call."

Without another word, I took off in a slow jog in the direction Isaac and I determined was the way Liam's scent went in, solely focused on finding him instead of Scott's weak apologies. The only reason he was sorry now was because he realized just how in the wrong he was about hiding this from me, assuming he could do this on his own, forgetting both of us were the Alphas of our newly formed pack. Liam was our beta, not just his. I deserved to know about his disappearance as soon as Scott found out. If he had just told me in the first place, there was a major possibility I could have found Liam already after searching for him for over two hours, but Scott chose to be selfish and dumb instead, risking the life of our beta.

Liam's scent lead me further into the Beacon Hills Preserve. I let every guard down for my animal instinct take over, allowing me to see perfectly through the sheet of darkness of the woods and hear every sound my supernatural hearing allowed me to. Animals hid from our racing figures, some watching us from above our heads or on the ground behind trees and bushes. A few dead leaves detached from the branches they were attached to, crinkling all the way down until it landed on the woodsy floor.