—

Relief.

That's what Isaac felt the moment Ryder, Austin, Scott, and Stiles walked into his bedroom.

He had been lounging in bed, seemingly waiting for their arrival.

"Honestly, I didn't expect the makeup to be this quick." He admitted lowly.

Austin raised his brows. "You wanted longer?"

He, himself, couldn't bear the thought of the awkward tension between the two. Despite them putting their differences aside, the tension was still there. Austin could barely handle it.

Isaac gave a loose shrug. "The peace was nice."

"We need your help." Stiles said, stuffing his mouth with the cookies Jenn offered them the second they walked through the door.

Isaac grimaced at him, not liking the way the crumbs fell from his face and onto the carpet.

"I figured you would." He eyed the Stilinski in disgust. "Seeing as no one else is present, I assume I'm the fourth recruit?"

Scott nodded softly.

"Right. So you went to Ryder's house to get Ryder and Austin and only returned with Ryder and Austin?"

Austin's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we need everyone that's a part of the pack, and you left Josie at home?"

Ryder's lips pulled back with a wince. She had gotten so used to keeping Josie out of the drama that she forgot she was an honorary member of the pack.

When all eyes landed on her, she waved a dismissive hand, "We'll make a quick stop."

•••

"They're alive. I mean the Chimeras. Some of them, not all of them."

"I know."

"Oh, you do?"

"Yeah. I... I'm sorry, I can't talk right now, Liam."

Liam, desperate, stammered for a response, "It was Theo. He's the one who brought them back, and now they're with him. Like they're his pack."

"I know."

"Hayden's one of them."

"She's okay?"

"She's alive. I'm not sure she's totally okay, but she's definitely alive."

Scott seemingly sighed in relief, "That's good."

"Where are you guys going?" The blue-eyed teen asked.

"To get Kira. Her dad told us that her mom took her out to New Mexico, to this place called Shiprock. They're trying to figure out a way to help her, but it's dangerous. So we're going to go find her and bring her back." He explained as quickly and vaguely as he could.

Liam perked up, "I'll come with you."

"Nah, you can't."

"Let me help. Let me do something. Just tell me what I can do." He practically pleaded with the older teen.

"Don't do anything."

—

Ryder broke her silence, unintentionally cutting in between the conversation the two boys on either side of her were having.

"Liam's here." Ryder informed her boyfriend, feeling he would want to know. She realized that Isaac wasn't too bothered to know what was taking the McCall so long, so she decided to eavesdrop.

She, Austin, and Isaac were sitting in the backseat of Stiles' jeep while waiting for Scott. The Stilinski was prepping Roscoe for the few-hour-long drive they were about to take to go save Kira.

Ryder had made the executive decision to wait to involve her little sister again until they returned from their adventure. Simply because she knew if she told her now, there was no doubt that Josie would've been right behind Liam.

Austin hadn't heard from the younger teen in what felt like forever. He truly wished he had taken the time to check up on Liam given everything that's been going on.

He had been so focused on everyone else that he hadn't even thought about the Dunbar.

He felt terrible.

"Is he okay?" The George teen couldn't help but ask.

Ryder tilted her head side to side, not really knowing the answer to that question. She decided to carry on, "Hayden's alive."

Austin hummed with a nod, "That's good."

"He wants to help."

"That's even better."

"Scott won't let him."

"...What?"

"Did you forget that Liam tried to kill Scott?" Isaac shook his head with a scoff. He, personally, didn't care what Liam had done to the McCall. But had he been in Scott's position, he too would've been hesitant to allow the person who almost skinned him alive to tag along.

"Big deal." Austin made a face. "After everything that's happened, Stiles is letting Scott come. I don't understand the difference in those situations."

"The difference is, Stiles is far too forgiving, and Scott is a hypocrite." Ryder made a point to raise her voice slightly.

"Yeah, I can hear you." The Stilinski perked up, his eyes narrowing on the girl who sat in between her boyfriend and best friend.

"Good. You should know how easy it is to manipulate you."

Before anyone could say anything further, Scott walked out.

Stiles looked away from Ryder and over to the McCall, who made himself useful and adjusted the light so Stiles could see better. "So, what did he want?"

"To help."

Stiles raised his brows. "You going to let him?"

Scott shrugged lazily, "Eventually, I guess."

Austin rolled his eyes, "That's code for: when I'm ready to stop being so sensitive."

"We'll never see Liam again." Isaac spoke before he could stop himself, sending the three into a fit of laughter.

Stiles rolled his eyes at their childlike behavior, "Okay, but shouldn't he be a little higher on your priority list right now? I mean, since he's the only other actual werewolf, your only actual Beta."

It was no secret that Isaac and Ryder weren't one hundred percent on Scott's side. Ryder was there for Stiles, and Isaac was there for Ryder. Neither of the two fully forgave Scott for essentially ruining their friend group.

For two people who claimed to be unbothered, they were handling things very much like they cared.

"You didn't see the way that he came at me. You didn't see the look in his eyes." Scott said.

"Well, I've been with you on a full moon, so I've seen that look." Stiles sighed, "You want to get the band back together, Scott, you don't leave out the drummer."

"If Liam's the drummer, then what am I?" Isaac wondered aloud.

Ryder and Austin shared a thoughtful hum before speaking in unison, "The flutist."

Isaac was annoyed at that not only did they think the exact same thing, but they also wasted less than a second to answer his question. The deadpan look the Lahey gave resulted in a hearty laugh from the Anders girl.

Acknowledging their aligned thinking, Austin squeezed his girlfriend's hand excitedly, swiftly kissing the side of her head.

The roar of the engine startled the group into silence for a few seconds before Stiles broke it.

"Success! Yes!" His fist rose in victory. "It's a minor leak. Very minor."

—