This was the stupidest idea. The. Stupidest.

 

Shawn tripped over his own feet as he pushed back on the door, trying to get the lock in place before five-hundred pounds and eight feet of pissed off werewolf broke through and eviscerated him.

 

Oh yeah, poke me with a sharp two-inch pocket knife, said Miles. It'll be great and not at all dumb and kill you, said Miles.

 

“Last time I listen to your stu-pid ideas! Oh my god.” Shawn's voice jumped when he heard a low, rumbling growl from outside the bathroom. Call Naomi. Naomi can deal with him. She's basically his boss or like... werewolf mother?

 

Another growl from outside, rumbling Shawn's ribcage uncomfortably. Okay, nope, no time for weird werewolf semantics.

 

Shawn scrambled for his phone, thanking every deity out there that he'd remembered to put it into his pocket before they did this stupid experiment. He slid down to his contacts to call Naomi, again thanking every god and holy spirit in existence that he'd actually put her number into his phone.

 

“Shawn?”

 

Shawn opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off by a roar from outside that was definitely heard by every person in the hotel. Naomi was silent for a few seconds before she sighed in aggravation. “You two, are idiots.”

 

“It was not my idea!” Shawn argued. “I didn't want to have anything to do with poking him with a flimsy little pocket knife! I said it was stupid! Miles is the idiot!”

 

“You're, I'm assuming, hiding in the bathroom from a pissed off werewolf that you effectively poked with a sharp stick, am I correct?” Shawn didn't answer. “Then you, too, are an idiot.”

 

“Just... help! Please!”

 

Naomi sighed. “I'm on my...” Suddenly Naomi's voice trailed off, and Shawn's heart jumped into his throat.

 

“What?”

 

“Shut up...” She was quiet for a few more moments. Shawn strained his ears, trying to hear if there was anything on the other side of the door he was missing.

 

The growling had died down... actually, no... it had drawn away from the door. There was something else distracting Miles in the room.

 

“That's not Miles on the other side of the door...” Shawn's heart dropped, hearing Naomi mutter those words into the phone just before the line went dead.

 

Then... what was on the other side of the door?

 

It was quiet for another few moments before Shawn heard a different growling from the direction he'd left Miles in, higher pitch than the other he'd been hearing the past few minutes.

 

So... that's Miles... But... then... where did this big wolf come from?

 

Shawn saw a brief glance of the large wolf as he was ducking into the bathroom. Thinking on it, Miles seemed more surprised than pissed when he was leaving, not focusing on the little poke that Shawn did with the knife. He figured it was Miles just focusing on not shifting. But... still, where did the wolf come from?

 

The door behind him bulged and Shawn involuntarily yelped, his stomach dropping out. He heard the lock groan, the sound of giving metal accompanied by Miles' throaty, strained voice, slurring slightly as he spoke. “Leave him alone! I'm the one who got away from you!”

 

An idea flitted into Shawn's head, a really stupid idea, but... an idea. He glanced down to the lock of the door, nearing its limit, the screws bending wildly out of place, he wouldn't have much time... and he'd have to pray that the monster was in the right place for him to do this. If he could get out of the enclosed room he could get Miles and himself onto the fire escape.

 

“Please, don't let me die like this...” Shawn whispered, just before he jumped away from the door, allowing it to give in. The Alpha stumbled, skidding on the broken door into the room, bowed down on his front legs just enough to give Shawn enough room to run up its back and out of the room.

 

He tried it, stomping particularly hard onto its massive hand as he propelled himself onto its back. Of course, just then he had to slip. It had much slicker fur than he'd expected...

 

Shawn fell onto the creatures back, riding it for a moment before it reared up, roaring, thrashing around until Shawn was slammed into the wall, knocking the air from his lungs.

 

“SHAWN!” Miles shouted, sounding more infuriated than Shawn had ever heard him.

 

Shawn looked up, wincing in pain as a muscle in his shoulder throbbed with the action, to see two towering beasts. Shawn drew his attention to the slightly smaller one, his mouth hanging open as he realized that was Miles. Miles had... shifted? Fully?

 

He was... a lot less monstrous than any werewolf he'd ever seen. He was tall, maybe around six-eight, seven feet, but he was built with lean muscle, sleek fur that matched his dark hair. He had massive hands tipped with lethal looking claws, and dagger-like fangs in a long, snarling muzzle. But... he was definitely Miles. Those familiar dark gray eyes looked exactly the same, just... surrounded by a lot of dark hair.

 

Miles pounced, more agile than anything that giant should be, slashing into the other wolf's face, catching it in the neck. The larger beast barely reacted, just flinching then growling and snapping at Miles. Miles yelped as his wrist was caught, red bursting over his arm and hand. He swung around, kicking the Alpha with all the force he had available with one arm being pinned in the other creature’s jaws, still with enough force to get it to release him and skid into the door.

 

Shawn shook his head, attempting to get up, feeling a little dizzy from the knock into the wall, his skull and almost the entirety of his back buzzing with pain. If their lives weren't still in immediate danger, Shawn would be worried about a concussion.

 

“Shawn.”

 

Shawn jumped out of his skin, wincing and crying out as the movement made everything ache. Miles deep growling voice was much closer than he expected.

 

“Shawn. Up.” Miles rumbled. He was slowly shifting back, his limbs returning back to human awkwardly. Oh... oh crap. Miles was losing his concentration. Shawn glanced over to the other werewolf. At the moment, it was shaking it's giant, shaggy head, gathering itself from the ground, growl steadily increasing. They were super dead if they couldn't get out of here right now.

 

Shawn scrambled to his feet, ignoring every bruise and throb of his muscles and skull. He grabbed onto Miles for support, nodding toward the window for them to get down the fire escape. If they could get outside they could get to Naomi, and the three of them could draw the thing away until they could figure out a way to bring it down. Maybe Naomi had some connections to help bring a rogue werewolf like this down.

 

The window was littered with broken glass, the blinds and curtains ripped to shreds. It made escaping a lot messier, Miles pushing Shawn through onto the steel steps to avoid the loose glass, then hopping over himself, hissing in pain as he used his injured arm to vault the window sill.

 

Shawn swallowed, seeing the massive wolf inside gathering itself up on all fours. He grabbed Miles, both to steady himself and get the older man moving, and started down the fire escape. About two flights down Shawn made the mistake of looking down, seeing just how high up they were.

 

He froze up, gripping onto Miles tightly, his heart trying to escape through his throat. He didn't want to think how many stories up they were. He knew their rooms were near the top, which... up until the point they were standing on a small bit of steel with a threat of an enormous monster that could start following them at any minute, it wasn't too much of an issue.

 

Now, big issue.

 

“Shawn, it's fine, we're fine.” Miles soothed, grabbing Shawn and turning him to the inside of the rail, closer to the building. “We just gotta keep going down, nice and steady.”

 

Shawn tried to speak, tell Miles he couldn't move, tell Miles that if that heavy werewolf came following after them on this it'd probably fall with them on it, but he couldn't. He couldn't make a single sound. He felt his breath catch in his chest and he shook his head, dizzy and nauseous from just the thought of moving a single inch.

 

Miles looked over Shawn then nodded. “Okay, close your eyes. I'll get us down.” That was the absolute last thing Shawn wanted to do. Closing his eyes just made his stomach spin even worse than it was already doing. But... he listened, for Miles. He trusted Miles. Even if Miles was really stupid sometimes, or risked his own life sometimes, he trusted him.

 

Shawn closed his eyes and gripped on to Miles, probably a little too tight for the werewolf's comfort. Miles simply squat down, sweeping Shawn up into his arms and started down the stairs. Shawn yelped, every internal organ twisting about in anxiety as they went down the first step. “It's fine, you're fine... just breathe, Shawn. You're okay.”

 

Shawn obeyed, inhaling a shaky, tight breath. He heard the steel creak above them and squeezed his arms tight around Miles neck. His heart thumped, for a different reason than his fear of heights.

 

We're... really close. Shawn was suddenly hyper aware of every point of contact between the both of them. One of Miles arms cradling his back, the other under his knees, strong hands gripping him securely. Miles was keeping Shawn as close as possible to his chest, probably to make him feel more stable as they descended the side of the building. Miles lips were so close to Shawn's neck, every breath wisp against his ear and jawline. Shawn shivered, gasping, his heart thundering in his chest.

 

“Hey, it's alright.” Miles reassured, tightening his hold on Shawn. “We're almost there.”

 

Miles thought he was panicking over the heights... Of course, he would. Shawn squeezed his eyes a little tighter closed, spots of color popping up behind his lids. Shawn... really needed to figure himself out. Ever since their last life or death situation Shawn's just been... weird. His relationship with Miles has just been weird since he'd thought Miles was gonna die.

 

Miles was... Miles was basically his brother. So why was Shawn feeling like this with him?

 

“One more flight. You still have your phone, right?” Miles paused, readjusting Shawn in his hold. Shawn bit back a sound as his arm brushed against Miles' stubble in the shift. “We should probably call Naomi. The other Alpha hasn't followed us, but he might also still be in the room.” He cleared his throat. “I should probably have her get me a shirt.”

 

Shawn's eyes popped open and he looked over to Miles, realizing just what that meant. Fortunately, Miles seemed to have slipped on some very loose sweatpants before they started their escape, but now that Miles had returned fully to his much smaller human form, the only thing keeping them up seemed to be the messy knot in the tightly drawn drawstring. Shawn swallowed, looking away, ignoring how hot his face was feeling now. “Y-yeah. I do.” Shawn managed, trying to focus instead on how much closer they were getting to the ground. That was at least easier to think about than... whatever this was.

 

At least tomorrow he could have the time to himself to figure it out. Some time away from Miles should keep his head clear enough to sort through that mess.