Into the Flames → Liam Dunbar [2]

Chapter Twenty-Two

Addison leaned her head against the window. They arrived at the McCall household a few minutes of silence later. She slowly followed him out into his house before going to the garage where Stiles was. He was bent over the front of the jeep, trying to fix however many problems there were with it. Addy wished her brother was there. They could get the thing back to new if they were given the time.

"One day I'll get this thing back into shape for you," Addy promised, startling him. "Unless you decide to let her go: saves a lot of time."

"I'm sticking with this jeep till the day I die, which hopefully won't be as soon as it probably will be." Stiles frowned. He was only human in a world filled with the supernatural. It made him nervous some days but he knew that his friends would always be there to protect him, even if it didn't seem like it most days. 

"You're not going to die, Stiles. I'm not going to let it happen," Addy promised. She nudged his ribs before helping him with the engine. The old thing was barely salvageable, but between the two, they could get it running long enough to save Kira.

Stiles refrained from saying anything else. He could have gone on about how last time she tried saving people she died. He could have told her to worry about her own safety first. He could have said that Addy was nearly number one on the wanted list from the Dread Doctors; she and Theo were the only ones that didn't die from mercury. But he didn't, because Stiles knew Addy was a stubborn person like him.

After ten minutes of the two trying to figure out how they could get the rust bucket to work and Addy debating whether she should purposely ruin the thing so he could just get a new car, she stopped all together. "You hear that?" she asked Stiles. It sounded like voices, but last time she checked, Scott was the only other person in the house.

"Hear what?" Stiles furrowed his eyebrows. Addy strained to hear inside the house, but managed to listen in on the conversation clearly. She gasped quietly, sending him into a momentary panic.

"Liam's here."

"What?"

"Shh. I can hear them talking," Addy shushed him. She set down the wrench in her hand and got closer to the door. Stiles couldn't hear them at all, but she could hear them perfectly.

"I'm not sure if she's okay, but she's definitely alive." He must have been talking about Hayden. Who else was there that died and was brought back? Tracy? It wasn't like he cared about her, but Hayden was a whole different story. He cared about her a lot. Liam stopped for a moment, sniffing the air and catching the one scent he knew by heart. "Is Addy here?"

He stepped forward to pass Scott, but his alpha stopped him. "No, Liam."

"I just want to talk to her, just for a few minutes," Liam begged. He looked around Scott without moving, but couldn't get a glimpse of her. Addy hadn't answered his calls last night, and he was tempted to go over and see her. Liam knew that she would just slam the door in his face, and it would just cause a ruckus.

"No, Liam. She doesn't want to talk, not yet," Scott defended her. In the garage, Addy's jaw was clenched. Stiles moved beside her and kept a hand on her lower back. He didn't know what was going on, but she looked like she was going to flip out any second.

"Then let me help," Liam bargained. Maybe he couldn't talk with them, but maybe he could prove that he was sorry. "Where are you guys going?"

"To get Kira back, and no, you can't," Scott denied.

"Let me help. Let me do something. Just tell me what to do."

"Don't do anything."

Addy's back slid down the wall. She wasn't particularly sad or angry, or even happy, but the emotions coming off of her made Scott's nose twitch. When he arrived at the jeep, he saw Addy down on the ground and knelt down beside her. "You gonna be okay? You don't have to come with us."