Beacon Hills had a way of pretending nothing was wrong.
Morning sunlight spilled over the school parking lot, students drifted toward class with half-zipped bags and unfinished conversations, and teachers moved through the halls as if the town hadn't spent the last few weeks circling blood, secrets, and monsters.
But beneath that ordinary surface, the tension had sharpened.
Aiden felt it the moment he stepped onto campus.
This time, it wasn't supernatural.
It was human.
Calculated.
Hunter-made.
His gaze moved across the lot and landed on a black SUV parked near the far end.
Tinted windows.
Argent.
Of course.
He closed his locker with a soft click and turned just as Stiles came rushing down the hallway toward him and Scott.
"Okay," Stiles said, slightly out of breath, "I have what I would like to officially classify as deeply concerning information."
Scott looked up from his books. "When do you ever have any other kind?"
Stiles pointed dramatically toward the parking lot window.
"Kate. She's here."
Scott froze.
Aiden's expression didn't change.
But Scott noticed the shift in his eyes.
"She came to school?"
"Worse," Stiles said. "She came smiling."
That earned a brief look from Aiden.
"Where's Allison?"
Scott glanced down the corridor.
"Not here yet."
As if summoned by the question, Allison appeared at the far end of the hallway.
She was walking beside Lydia, but something about her posture gave everything away.
She was tense.
Not scared.
Conflicted.
The moment she saw Aiden, her pace slowed.
Lydia, of course, noticed immediately.
Her gaze moved from Allison to Aiden, and the faintest, most knowing smile touched her lips before she quietly peeled away.
Smart.
She knew when something wasn't meant for witnesses.
Allison stopped in front of him.
"I need to talk to you."
Stiles looked between them, then at Scott.
"Oh wow, we are definitely leaving."
Scott didn't even argue.
Within seconds, the two of them were gone, though Stiles still looked like he desperately wanted to stay.
Once they were alone, Allison exhaled.
"My aunt's not letting this go."
Aiden leaned lightly against the locker beside him.
"I know."
Her brows pulled together.
"You know?"
"She made that clear last night."
Allison hesitated, then lowered her voice.
"She's asking questions about you. About what happened in the tunnels. About Peter."
Aiden watched her quietly.
"And what did you tell her?"
Her eyes met his.
"Nothing."
That mattered.
More than she probably realized.
Aiden studied her for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"Good."
The word should have sounded cold.
Instead, it landed like trust.
Allison's expression softened.
But before either of them could say more, a voice cut across the hallway.
"Well, now this is interesting."
Kate.
She stood at the far end of the corridor in a fitted dark jacket, utterly out of place among fluorescent lights and school lockers.
And yet somehow, she looked like she belonged.
Danger had a way of doing that.
Her heels clicked softly against the floor as she approached.
"Shouldn't adults need permission to just walk into schools?" Stiles muttered from somewhere around the corner.
Scott immediately hissed, "Shut up."
Kate stopped a few feet away.
Her gaze went first to Allison.
Then to Aiden.
Sharp.
Measured.
Entertained.
"Allison, sweetheart, I think your father would like to know you're skipping first period."
Allison's jaw tightened.
"I'm not a child."
Kate smiled.
"No, but you are family."
Then her attention shifted fully to Aiden.
"And you…"
Her eyes lingered.
"…are becoming a problem."
Aiden didn't move.
"That sounds familiar."
Kate laughed softly.
"Oh, I like the confidence."
The hallway had gone quieter now.
Students were noticing.
Watching.
Whispering.
Kate tilted her head.
"Walk with me."
It wasn't a request.
Aiden looked at Allison once, then stepped away from the lockers.
"Fine."
They crossed into the nearly empty gym corridor, where the sounds of the school faded into distant echoes.
Kate stopped near the trophy cases, arms folded.
For a moment, she simply looked at him.
Not like a woman looking at a teenage boy.
Like a hunter assessing an unknown animal.
"You're not a wolf," she said at last.
Aiden said nothing.
She smiled faintly.
"That silence tells me I'm right."
He met her gaze evenly.
"You didn't bring me here to guess."
"No," Kate admitted. "I brought you here because I want to understand what my niece is risking."
That line made him still.
Not outwardly.
But internally, something sharpened.
"She's not at risk with me."
Kate's expression shifted.
For the first time, the amusement faded.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to determine."
She took a step closer.
"You're strong. Too strong for someone who just arrived in town and somehow landed in the center of every major incident."
Her voice lowered.
"Peter Hale. The school tunnels. My family."
A pause.
"Now Allison."
Aiden's eyes darkened slightly.
"Say what you actually mean."
Kate smiled again.
This time, it was dangerous.
"I mean that people like you either become allies…"
Her gaze locked onto his.
"…or targets."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Aiden stepped closer too.
Close enough that the air itself seemed to tighten.
"I don't become either."
For the first time, Kate's expression truly changed.
Not fear.
Interest.
Real interest.
Because that wasn't bravado.
He meant it.
And she could tell.
Before she could respond, the fire alarm suddenly screamed through the building.
Students burst out of classrooms in confusion.
The corridor lights flickered.
Then went dark.
Aiden's head turned sharply.
This wasn't random.
He felt it instantly.
Supernatural.
A familiar scent hit the air.
Blood.
Scott.
The locker room was chaos.
By the time Aiden reached it, Scott and Stiles were already there.
Jackson was backed against the wall, clutching his shoulder.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
"What happened?" Allison asked as she arrived just behind Aiden.
Scott's eyes flashed yellow for a second.
"It was Derek."
The words hit like a stone.
Stiles blinked.
"Wait, what?"
Scott nodded grimly.
"He came out of nowhere, grabbed Jackson, then vanished."
Aiden's gaze narrowed.
No.
This didn't fit.
Derek was many things.
Reckless.
Harsh.
But not careless.
"Why Jackson?" Allison asked.
Stiles answered first.
"Because he's still connected to the bite."
That was true.
Jackson was still part of the main line.
Still unstable.
Still a loose thread in the original plot.
Aiden looked at the blood on the floor.
Fresh.
Still warm.
Then he caught something else.
A scent.
Not Derek.
Another wolf.
His expression sharpened.
"This wasn't Derek."
Scott stared at him.
"What?"
Aiden looked toward the open locker room window.
"It's a setup."
The realization hit all of them at once.
Kate.
The alarm.
The timing.
Someone wanted Derek blamed.
And someone wanted the Argents pointed directly at him.
Which meant—
"They're going hunting tonight," Aiden said.
Allison's face changed instantly.
"My father."
Scott swore under his breath.
"If they go after Derek—"
"They'll kill him," Stiles finished.
Aiden turned toward the exit.
"Then we get there first."
Kate was waiting just outside the corridor, leaning against the wall as if she had all the time in the world.
Her smile told him everything.
This had been deliberate.
A push.
A test.
She wanted to see where he would stand.
With hunters.
With wolves.
With Allison.
Aiden stopped in front of her.
"You set this up."
Kate didn't deny it.
"I created an opportunity."
Her eyes gleamed.
"Now let's see who you choose."
For a moment, the hallway seemed to go silent around them.
Aiden's gaze hardened.
Then he stepped past her.
Kate watched him go, smile widening.
Because now the story had truly returned to its core.
Hunters.
Wolves.
Allison caught between blood and feeling.
Scott caught between fear and leadership.
And at the center—
Aiden.
Exactly where she wanted him.
Because tonight, Beacon Hills would decide whether he was part of the pack…
Or the prey.