—

"He covered you in gasoline?" Derek asked in disbelief. The Hale man was currently stood in a circle with Scott, Lydia, Ryder, Austin and Deputy Jordan Parrish.

Lydia had went to Scott after Parrish went to her expressing his shock that a fellow Deputy —Deputy Haigh— tried to kill him. That lead to Scott going to Ryder who suggested he went to Derek. Ryder had no intentions of going, but Parrish not immediately losing his life was enough to gain her interest.

Austin was just a tag along. He wasn't too bothered by it, he loved spending time with his girlfriend, it didn't even bother him that they would probably be spending their day with people neither of them really liked. He knew exactly what he signed up for the minute he found out she was  werewolf, he was used to it.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Austin snorted, earning a playful nudge from Ryder.

"It's the hair and nails, isn't it? The parts of the body that are essentially dead." Lydia said.

Derek eyed Parrish, "Well, they should be gone."

Parrish scoffed, "I was set on fire. All of me should be gone."

"That is true." Ryder nodded.

"Not if you're like us." Scott shook his head.

Parrish was confused, rightfully so, "Like you?"

"I don't think he's like us." Derek denied.

"Definitely not. I hate to bring back, you know, bad memories but the last time werewolves were set on fire, it didn't really end well. It ended with only four people living and shit tone of trauma." Ryder said, earning a questioning look from Parrish and a small glare from Derek. She raised her hands to mock defense, "Just saying."

Lydia glanced at Derek, "Then what is he?"

"Sorry, but I have no idea."

"But you knew about Jackson and Kira." Scott pointed out.

"This is a little out of my experience. There might be something in the bestiary. Did you try Argent?"

Scott shrugged, "I don't know where he is."

"Did you try Ramona?" He deadpanned.

Scott furrowed his brows, "Didn't think about that one."

"Of course you didn't." Derek muttered. He found a bit weird how everyone came to him about new supernaturals instead someone who's lived a lot longer than he has and has more experience with things like this.

"Okay, hold on. What's a bestiary? Actually, that's not even my first question." Jordan took back, "Just... Just tell me one thing. Are all of you like Lydia? Are you all psychic?"

"Psychic?" Derek and Ryder frown in unison. Of all things, Lydia came up with physic?

"I wish." Austin muttered, gaining a look of amusement from the girl next to him.

"Yeah. Not exactly."

"Okay." He sighed, "Then what are you?"

Ryder leaned her head back, the action catching Austin's attention. He watched her jaw clench as she began to realize that story time was about to take place.

•••

"What's a Kanima?"

"We'll get back to that." Scott waved Parrish's question off, "Just know that everyone like us, everyone with some kind of supernatural ability is on the dead pool."

"But I don't even know what I am."

Derek rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure they don't care."

"If you aren't human, you aren't safe." Ryder told him, "And even if you are, you'll probably get caught up."

"How many professional assassins are we talking about?"

"We're starting to lose count." Lydia sighed softly.

"But is it still just professionals?"

"I doubt it." Austin shook his head, his mind going back to the literal teenagers that tried to kill Liam.

"I don't think Haigh's ever tried anything like this. I think he was taking a chance." Parrish told them.

"That means anyone with the dead pool could take a chance."

"But if Haigh had it, then who else does? How easy is it to get this thing now?"

•••

"Liam! Hey." Mason called out to his friend as he and Josie walked up to him, "Am I gonna see you at the bonfire tonight?"

"I'm thinking about skipping it." Liam brushed them off. Unknown to him, Josie instantly took note of his fidgety mood. The way he looked around cautiously before focusing his attention of them was enough for her to know something was going on.

"You can't skip it." Josie winced.

Mason nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you're not skipping."

"Why not?" Liam frowned.

"Because you're on the lacrosse team. Don't you have to go?"

"I don't, uh...I don't think I can make it."

"You're coming. And we're gonna find you a nice girl that you can embarrass yourself in front of and find me a lacrosse player. Because statistically speaking, someone on your team has gotta be on my team. And we'll find someone for Josie too. All right?"

Josie's breath hitched at the mention of Liam finding a girl -that wasn't her- to embarrass himself in front of.

Despite having just met, the two teens had managed to grow rather close in their journey to avoid getting killed. Call her crazy, but the Ander's girl was convinced that their friendship could turn into something more.

Mason nudges him, noticing how the blue eyed boy zoned out, "Liam?"

"Okay. I'll be there."

Mason and Josie share a look, the girl sighing softly before speaking, "I'll talk to him."

"Liam!" She ran after him, causing the beta to stop in his tracks.

"What?" He huffed.

"Are you okay?" Her soft voice was enough to make him feel bad for being annoyed.

He looked down at his shoes before eventually shaking his head, "No."

Josie looked a little shocked to hear him admit it, "Oh. Uhm—Do you want to talk about it?"

She watched as the Dunbar nodded his head timidly, directing them over to the empty stair case so they could speak, glancing at their fellow students every once in  while to ensure no one was listening to them.

"What's going on?"

Liam's jaw clenched. It wasn't normal for him to feel so comfortable with expressing why he was upset, especially not with someone he just met. He was used to fighting through his problems either on his own, or punching someone in the face.

But Josie was such a kind hearted person from the start of their friendship, and the doe-like look in her eyes was enough for him to poor his heart out to her completely.

He expressed his concerns and struggles with being a new werewolf, he told her about the nightmares he was having of the Bersekers. He told her everything he was feeling in the moment.

Liam didn't expect her to understand where he was coming from. She wasn't a werewolf, she didn't have anger problems and she certainly wasn't having any nightmares. Hell, she had just found out that her older sister was about to share the same last name as her. Josie was practically on cloud nine.

But that didn't stop her from pulling Liam into a much needed and comforting hug. He was glad that she couldn't hear the intense pounding of his heart, because God knows that she'd find a way to tease him if she did.

It was in that moment that Liam could admit to himself that he was beginning to see Josie as more than just a friend.

—
A/N: three more episodes until season 5 !!!
i usually despise slow burns but unfortunately enough, i don't think i'll get josie and liam together as quickly as i did ry and austin 😔✌️