by pebble/scifipony
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Characters: Scott McCall, Hayden Romero, Corey Bryant, Liam Dunbar, Malia Tate
Words: 2,244
Tags: McCall Pack, Werewolf Culture, Pack Bonding, Friendship, Post-S5
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: Takes place during the gap between Seasons 5 and 6. Watching the season two episode where Derek is "training" his new betas, I started to wonder if it's a normal part of werewolf culture for alphas to wrestle around with their betas to train them. Then that led to me wondering what that would look like in the McCall Pack, and how Scott would train his own betas. Also, I just think there's a general lack of fics that explore the McCall Pack dynamics, so this is me writing for my own enjoyment again lol.
Scott smirked as he crouched low, blending into the environment as best he could with the sparse winter vegetation as his only cover. His claws and fangs remained safely tucked away for now, but he still felt a thrill run down his spine — the thrill of a predator tracking down its prey.
There was a change in the air as a faint breeze began to pick up. That was okay. He’d already made sure to stay downwind of both his targets.
The moonlight was barely filtering through the treetops, leaving everything in deep shadow. He still waited until the last minute to switch to his wolf eyes, so the red glow wouldn’t give him away.
One growl of warning was all he gave them before leaping from cover. Landing in the center of the clearing, he ducked to avoid the claws that swiped at him. His leg swept out, knocking Hayden off her feet.
The younger teen snarled, ignoring the hand he offered to pull her back up. She pushed herself to her feet.
“Don’t get too frustrated with yourself,” Scott told her. “You’ll get the hang of it.”
“It’d be nice if I could get the hang of it a lot faster,” she grumbled.
“We can take a break if you want.”
Hayden shook her head, that familiar stubborn frown settling into place. “No, I’m good. Let’s keep going.”
A soft click filled the space between them as her claws came out. She widened her stance and crouched low as she braced to lunge at him. Scott grinned and sidestepped away from her attack. He kept clear of her claws, but didn’t lash out with his own yet, patiently waiting her out.
During a brief moment when Hayden was busy catching her breath, Scott reached behind him and grabbed Corey before the invisible teen could pounce on him. Moonlight shimmered off the air as Corey shifted back to visible.
“Okay, how did you smell me that time?” Corey asked. “I tried everything you said about scent masking.”
Scott huffed in amusement. “You stepped on a branch.”
The young chameleon deflated slightly. “Oh.”
To his credit, he didn’t give up completely this time. He tried a few wild swings that Scott blocked, then dodged around Scott’s arm and tackled him to the side unexpectedly. While maybe not as powerful as werewolves in other ways, chameleons were still strong and fast, and it was easy to forget that sometimes.
Scott rolled as soon as he hit the forest floor. Pushing himself clear, he sprang back to his feet. Corey was back up faster than he would have expected. What he lacked in actual fighting skill, he often managed to make up for in speed and stealth. He charged at Scott again. Turning himself invisible at the last moment was admittedly a good strategy, but his heart was still beating so wildly Scott had no trouble pinpointing his location. The alpha caught him easily and flipped him onto his back on the ground, careful to give him a soft landing in the thick leaf cover.
Corey held up his hands in surrender.
Just in time, as Hayden was back on her feet again and coming in for another try.
“Easy,” he said, catching her fist before it could make contact. “We don’t want any actual injuries.”
“Sorry.” Her face reddened, but she kept her guard up and continued circling, waiting for an opening. “It still feels weird. I’m pretty sure I’m stronger as a werewolf than I was as a chimera.”
He nodded. “Don’t worry, it takes time to get used to it. That’s why we’re out here.”
Hayden was a little easier to predict and react to than Corey. Ever since the night he bit her, there was a bright, burning thread linking them together. It was different from what he felt towards betas that were simply adopted into the pack. The protectiveness he felt towards both was the same, but there was an extra layer with betas of his own making. It was something that even he didn’t fully understand yet.
What existed between him and Hayden wasn’t quite the same as with Liam. He wondered sometimes if that was because Liam was his first bitten beta. There wasn’t any feeling like the intense fear that settled in his chest whenever Liam was in danger, or the pride when he made it through a full moon without shifting. He never got upset when Liam crawled through his window in the middle of the night, freaked out by a berserker nightmare and needing some company until he could fall asleep again.
His connection with Hayden wasn’t like that, but they did have a connection nonetheless. He could feel it even when they weren’t around each other. He knew on some instinctual level how easily he could follow that thread to get inside her head and control her the same way Peter had done to him. He’d rather die than do that.
Right now, it was creating a new certainty to their movements as they danced around each other. He ducked her attacks with ease; she grinned when she felt his approval at her attempt. A fluid back and forth, give and take. There was freedom in their newfound connection.
Eventually, he stepped back and called a time out.
“You both did great,” he said as he reached down to haul Corey to his feet.
“You still caught us,” Hayden said.
“That’s because I know these woods better than you do,” Scott told her. “And I’ve been doing this a lot longer.”
Corey sighed as he brushed dried leaves from his jacket. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I don’t think werewolf training is going to work on me. I tried everything that time.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not about winning. We’re only worried about helping you guys get a better handle over your powers.” He smiled as he guided them back over to the tree where their gear was stored. “And you did a good job, Corey. You just need a little more practice. Once you have the whole scent masking thing figured out, you won’t be as easy to find while invisible.”
He passed out the water bottles and checked his watch. Tomorrow was a school day, so he didn’t want to keep them out too late.
Hayden must have guessed where his thoughts were heading, because she immediately asked, “Can we try one more time?”
There was a pleading quality to her request that made Scott flash back to him and Stiles begging their parents for one more movie before bed during sleepover nights.
“Are you sure you aren’t tired? We’ve been going at it for a few hours already.”
Corey raised his hand. “I’m a bit tired.”
Hayden pushed his hand back down. “Come on, just once more?”
A snort of dry amusement drew his attention to his other two betas, watching from the sidelines. Malia was relaxing on the bed of dry leaves, her back against a tree and face lit up by the phone she was scrolling on. Beside her, Liam was standing with his shoulder propped up against the tree, watching Hayden with the sort of lovesick awe that reminded Scott of his own sophomore year.
Malia glanced up and caught his eyes, raising an eyebrow in the clearest expression of ‘you’ve got a lot of work cut out for you’ he’d ever seen. Scott didn’t entirely disagree.
The Dread Doctors hadn’t given the chimeras any kind of instructions on how to live with their new powers, and Theo had only been invested in them as far as what they could do to further his own goals. That was the motivation behind these weekly training sessions. Scott remembered all too well how it felt to be failed by his alpha and left to figure things out. He wanted to make sure Hayden and Corey never felt that lost.
“Alright,” he gave in. “Do you guys feel up to one more exercise?”
They both nodded immediately, but it was the eagerness carried on their scents that reassured him they were actually on board. The last thing he’d want would be to push them too hard. The entire point was to help them feel more comfortable with their new supernatural identities. It would defeat that purpose if they ended up getting hurt from overdoing it.
“Okay,” Scott said, flexing his fingers as he retracted his claws. “Let’s try something different this time. Corey, practice what I showed you for masking your scent and try to get to the creek without being caught. Hayden, try to track him using all of your senses — sound, scent, chemosignals, visual clues. We’ll see if Corey can make it to the creek before you catch him.”
Hayden’s eyes lit up with the excitement of a challenge. Corey looked less confident about the idea, but he nodded his agreement as well.
“Corey, you head out now. You get a minute head start and then Hayden will start.”
He gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement before shifting back to invisible and setting off. The rustling of dead leaves in his wake wasn’t an encouraging start, but Scott wasn’t going to call him out on it. They could work on that next week.
After both of the new betas were gone on their assignment, Scott set down his water bottle and prepared to set off after them. Maybe it was because they were still adjusting to their powers — or maybe it was because they had both died only a few weeks ago — but Scott didn’t like letting them wander the preserve alone at night. He probably didn’t need to monitor them while they were doing their challenge, but he’d definitely feel better if he did.
“You want me to come, too?” Liam asked, stretching his muscles as he moved from his spot by the tree. “If they got separated, it’ll be faster with two tracking them down.”
Scott shrugged. “Sure, it couldn’t hurt. Malia?”
She glanced up, slipping her phone into her pocket. “Fine. You realize they do have super strength, right? They don’t really need a bunch of babysitters. Especially out here.”
He wasn’t bothered by the criticism. Stiles had already called him out on the overprotectiveness several times. Scott was sure the worry would fade as things settled back to normal. Until then, though, he’d rather be considered paranoid than let something happen to them again without stopping it.
They packed up the gear and Malia slung the duffel bag over her shoulder. Scott took point, with the two betas fanning out to either side, Liam keeping close to his left.
Moonlight filtered through the dead branches overhead, creating haphazard checkered patterns over the forest floor. The three wolves glided over it in coordinated movement, easily dodging terrain as needed.
Scott let his fangs and claws grow out, tasting the scents of his betas on the air as they ran. The pale light reflecting off his exposed skin energized him. He could hear Malia’s breathing, with its low growly quality, reverberating off the trees to his right. Liam’s heavy footfalls on his left accompanied the younger teen’s excited chemosignals.
There was an energy humming under Scott’s skin that had nothing to do with the moonlight, he realized. He was restless in a way that felt inexplicably good. Being out here with the others — it somehow left him calmer than he’d felt in ages and simultaneously filled with a brand new vigor.
For the first time in a long while he was… happy.
It almost felt wrong. Maybe that said more about their lives than he wanted to dig into.
His senses were heightened beyond even his usual werewolf level, too, but that wasn’t unexpected. Ever since first befriending Isaac, he’d known how much stronger his powers could be when surrounded by other wolves — the strength of the pack being more than a figure of speech for their kind.
It had been easy to see how affected Hayden and Corey were by it. They weren’t used to the feeling yet. Their senses were in overdrive, and their speed and strength were heightened beyond what they’d experienced before. Scott remembered how much of a rush that could be, so he’d tried to remain patient as they struggled to keep their powers in check.
Liam and Malia were far more accustomed to both being in a pack and being around an alpha. Their contentment rested easy in the air, tasting sweet on every inhale.
Scott realized that that was the perfect word for the strange taste in his own chemosignals. Contentment. He was truly content and relaxed for the first time since senior year started. Since before awakening the Nemeton, if he was being honest.
He was comfortable. Safe. Home.
For a werewolf, pack was home in a way that no building ever could be. Scott had been drifting homeless for too long recently. It was good to be among pack again — to feel their united power surging through his veins. After everything they’d been through, it was good to feel the unity of pack again.
Not far ahead, he could now smell Hayden’s and Corey’s scents on the night breeze. Scott crouched low and ran faster, flying over the forest floor with ease. On either side, he could hear Liam and Malia do the same. The moonlight was their domain, and they were owning it.
Yeah, it was good to be home.
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