CHAPTER 166

The wind slowly picked up while everyone stood, waiting for Jennifer to make her appearance. The air was so charged up with hostility that even the humans like Stiles, Chris and Allison could feel it. The wolves were feral.

As abrupt as the wind came and blew strongly, so also did it suddenly disappear in the wake of Jennifer's appearance who stood on the other end of the circle, wasting no time in stepping in.

"I don't know if I should feel flattered or terrified in the presence of such an assembly." Jennifer said with a bemused look, fully in the protection of the mountain ash.

Chris scoffed, a gun raised at her, with Allison pointing an arrowhead in her direction. "You're surrounded Jennifer. Let the Sheriff go."

Jennifer chuckled at the man's words but her eyes never betrayed the cold gleam it was sparking with since the beginning. "I don't think you understand, I don't think any of you understand. You think I'm the enemy?"

"It doesn't matter what they think you are, Jennifer. What matters now is that you are the one who's wronged all these people." Deucalion said.

He took a step forward and Jennifer couldn't help but flinch a step backward, which brought an amused smirk on his face.

She turned to Derek and Scott, trying to convince them instead. "I don't know what he's told you Scott, but he's lying. Derek, who tried killing your betas because they wanted you in their pack? It's what he makes all his Alphas do, every single one of them. So either way, he's going to have you and Tristan kill off your pack just to have a place in his. That's why he's still trying to kill me to this day."

"How about you do not spin poorly woven tales-"

"Then tell them I'm lying. Say it!" She scoffed at him. "The both of you know what I'm saying is the truth, that's why he can't deny it."

"Then what about the part where you're trying to kill me?" Tristan asked, abruptly silencing Jennifer right in her tracks. "Or do you want to lie about that too?"

"I won't. You can say it's a conflict of interest, but if you help me against Deucalion, also given how I've broken quite a few rules myself, I don't mind making a binding vow not to come after you in any way."

The teenager and teacher stared at each other in silence before the former slowly shook his head. "I would have accepted that if you didn't try to kill me. And something tells me that you're not going to stick with your words."

This time she let out a full blown laugh with her finger pointing at Tristan before going to the others around him. "And you're all here to kill me?"

"Let the Sheriff go, Jennifer!" Argent said before stepping through the mountain ash barrier and cutting off her laugh into something quiet and sinister.

"You have no idea what you're doing."

"No, you don't. Nothing you're doing, vengeance or revenge, should be a reason to involve innocent lives." Chris was about to scatter the line when he caught eye of Jennifer smirking at him. "I suppose you somehow find this funny, don't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But you might wanna call your wife. And you too Scott – does your mother know that you'll be out this late?"

Everyone was stunned with Allison and Scott straight up panicking as they fished out their phones and started dialing their respective mothers only for the call to be put straight to voicemail even after they kept calling for a few more times.

"What. Did. You. Do?" Chris asked through gritted teeth as he leveled his gun at Jennifer.

"Insurance." She replied easily. "So what are you going to do now, Chris?"

Off to the side, Tristan watched as Deucalion held his walking stick fondly in his hands, silently watching the dramatic exchange currently going on.

He too was wondering how Jennifer intended to run away from the encirclement of Alphas around her. Maybe she'll put out another druidic mojo and be gone in a poof of smoke?

He could feel the rage simmering from Argent's body and the sinking gut wrenching feeling from Allison, from Scott it felt like a murky bottomless pit.

"Chris, open the barrier." He heard Satomi say for the first time. "We'll try our best to secure the safety of your wife."

"-If you find her."

"We will." Satomi confidently replied. "Tierney, you'll go with the boy's friend." She said, pointing at Stiles who looked reluctant but said nothing against it.

"Go with them, Isaac." Derek said, surprising his beta.

Isaac looked grieved but he eventually gave a nod and turned around to leave with Tierney and Stiles.

"Now where were we?" Deucalion said, nodding to himself, "Yes. Argent, would you mind breaking that circle?"

Jennifer looked at Chris and then at Deucalion, a hint of fear in her eyes. "Don't do it. Your wife is safe. All I need is a little help with killing Deucalion and you know I'm right."

"I do." Chris chuckled but there was no amusement in his voice. "That's why I think you both can go to hell." And with that he kicked the circle open.

Jennifer immediately lashed at Chris in anger, his bullets not doing anything other than flesh wounds to her. Luckily for him, before her hands grabbed his throat, something wrapped around him and pulled him back just in the nick of time.

Everybody stopped, no one moving an inch, as they began sizing each other up and who to attack first. Obviously, most eyes were on Jennifer but she wasn't the only ones who had enemies. Deucalion and his pack was also under hostile gazes.

"We are now at a crossroad, I see." Deucalion remarked as he felt everyone's gaze being directed towards him. "If I remember correctly, my only fight here is with Jennifer-"

"Cut the bullshit Deucalion, no one is buying it. She might have been part of the reason you came to Beacon Hills but she isn't why you stayed." Derek interjected sharply.

"Grandma…"

"Tristan, I'm afraid we have no choice." She answered before addressing Deucalion. "If she dies, are you still planning on staying in Beacon Hills?"

"Well, it's my home. Why wouldn't I stay?" He pulled down his glasses and stared at Satomi with a blank expression on his face. "The question I should be asking is if you're going to stand between me and Jennifer."

"You're not deceiving anyone any longer, Deucalion. You can't hide your greed from me."

Deucalion said nothing, simply removing his coat and throwing to the side.

"I know we have the numerical advantage, but for some reason I think we are the ones outnumbered." Jiang said as he saw the two shifted Alphas on Deucalion's side staring at them with pairs of glowing red eyes.

"Understatement of the decade there man." Brett said.

On Deucalion's side were three Alphas, the exact number of the Alphas on Satomi's side but that didn't mean anything if Tristan and Satomi had to fight Deucalion. If they left Deucalion to fight Jennifer, which was the best play in their favor, Deucalion would still fight them after killing Jennifer because it was already clear that he wanted Scott and Tristan in his pack, by any means necessary.

Except,

"Scott, Derek, all I need is for you to help me hold him back so I can kill him and I swear I won't do anything to your parents." And she meant it. Honestly, it would have made everything easier if only she also didn't want to kill Tristan.

Everyone was an enemy of the other and no one knew who to fully trust.

If Derek, Scott and Argent were to face Jennifer, the only people remaining to face the two Alphas were the betas; Brett, Lori, Malia, Jiang and Allison. It wasn't a favorable odds by any standard.

Malia and Brett turned out to be the most impatient of the bunch as they were the first to launch an attack on one of the twins while Lori, Jiang and Allison were left to deal with the other one.

It was a scene of pandemonium and all it took was a few seconds before bodies started flying through the air.

Derek, Scott and Chris were automatically left to face Jennifer as they were the closest to her.

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