No one in the warehouse spoke for a long time after
Jax left.
Scott stood frozen, replaying every detail—the
boots, the steady walk, the way Deucalion bowed without hesitation.
Derek leaned against a concrete pillar, breathing
slower than normal, eyes sharp and distant.
Isaac sat on a broken crate, head in his hands.
Nobody knew what to say.
And that was the problem.
Scott finally broke the silence.
"He… he didn't feel like a monster."
Isaac snapped his head up. "Scott, he threw Ennis
into a wall like he was a baseball."
"He didn't kill him," Scott shot back. "He
could've."
Derek's jaw tightened. "That's exactly what makes
him dangerous."
Scott turned toward him. "How?"
"Because," Derek said quietly, "the strongest people
don't have to show strength. They don't need to."
He exhaled, frustrated.
"Deucalion bows to no one. Not hunters. Not other
Alphas. Not anyone."
He met Scott's eyes.
"And he bowed to Jax like he'd been doing it his
whole life."
Scott froze.
When Derek phrased it like that, it changed
everything.
Isaac stood and paced.
"Okay, but maybe it was just a weird power move. A
trick. Something to psych us out."
Derek shook his head immediately.
"No. There was no trick. No dominance display. Jax
didn't even show his eyes until he wanted to prove a point."
Scott nodded slowly.
"And when he did? They weren't normal Alpha eyes."
Isaac swallowed hard. "What were they?"
Derek and Scott exchanged a look they both wished
they didn't understand.
"Stronger," Scott said.
"Older," Derek added.
"That's not possible!" Isaac hissed. "Deucalion was
one of the strongest Alphas ever."
Scott nodded. "That was before tonight."
Isaac's voice dropped to a whisper.
"So Jax is what? Stronger than the Demon Wolf?"
Scott looked down at his hands.
"Yeah," he whispered. "He is."
Derek pushed off the pillar, pacing himself now,
sharp and controlled.
"We have to assume he's a threat."
"Why?" Scott asked.
"Because he came out of nowhere," Derek said.
"Because we know nothing about him. Because he's tied to Deucalion. And because
power like that doesn't show up without a reason."
Scott shook his head. "But he didn't attack anyone."
"He didn't have to," Derek said. "That's the point."
Isaac ran his hands through his hair. "I don't get
it. If he's so dangerous, why help us?"
Scott looked toward the door Jax walked out of.
"He said he didn't want Beacon Hills becoming a
graveyard."
"Words," Derek muttered.
Scott shook his head. "No. It was the way he said
it. Like he cares. Like he already knows what could happen."
Derek stopped walking.
"Scott, caring doesn't make him safe."
Scott's eyes hardened.
"No. But it makes him different."
Isaac sat again, finally processing.
"So what do we do?"
Derek took a long breath.
"We do what we always do. We stay alert, protect
each other, watch our backs."
"And Jax?" Isaac asked.
Derek's voice dropped low.
"We watch him too."
Scott looked toward the open doorway once more—at
the darkness Jax and Deucalion had disappeared into.
"He said I was the reason he came," Scott whispered.
Isaac choked. "Why you?!"
Scott didn't have an answer.
Derek watched him closely.
"Scott…"
Scott finally turned.
"I don't think he wants to hurt us."
Derek narrowed his eyes. "You don't know that."
"Yeah," Scott said softly. "But I know he could've."
That silence hit harder than anything.
Because they all knew it was true.
Jax had walked into a room full of Alphas and didn't
even break a sweat.
He could've ripped any of them apart.
Could've killed Derek.
Could've killed Scott.
He didn't.
He simply left.
Like none of them were worth killing.
That terrified all three of them more than violence
ever could.
Derek crossed his arms. "We need to figure out who
he is."
Scott nodded.
"We will."
Isaac stared out through the gaps in the warehouse
walls.
"Guys…?"
Scott and Derek looked at him.
Isaac pointed into the trees.
"I think he already knows who we are."
Because somewhere in the dark, someone was watching
them.
A pair of calm, storm-gray eyes.
And a soft Texas drawl drifted through the night:
"Y'all sure talk a lot."