Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Thirty Four

"Please forget I ever said that." Lily hid her face behind her hair, hoping her flushing cheeks died down quickly. "But why are you here?"

"To see you, of course."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And why now? Why not earlier when I needed my friends? You've been avoiding me all week."

Ryan sighed, leaning against the sofa. "I wanted to see you, Lily." He admitted. "I really did, but I just couldn't see you in pain."

"I'm fine Ryan." Lily said. "I'm not in pain, but...is that really the reason you didn't visit?"

Ryan licked his lips. "I can't get last weekend out of my head."

Lily blinked. He couldn't get the events of the storm out of his head? What about her? "What about it exactly?" She asked instead, watching him carefully while Jacob's warning started to echo in her mind. It's infected their minds.

"You were in Yuric's clutches." Ryan's eyes glazed over as he remembered the events of the weekend. "We were scared for you, I was terrified. No one knew what he would do to you, if you'd escape and come back to us, if you were even okay."

Ryan's gaze snapped to Lily, clearing. "And then we walked into that graveyard and you were just fine. You didn't need us at all - you weren't tied up, you...you were fine."

Lily's stomach hardened, all anxiety fading as her instinct braced herself. Jacob's words repeated in her ear and she started to realise the old supernova might be telling the truth. Not that he was a liar, but seeing how hesitant and cautious Ryan was, and how he flinched as their fingers brushed, the pieces were starting to slot together.

"I'm was so glad to everyone there though." Lily said, twisting Rio's ring on her finger, finding her sister's courage.

"But you didn't need us to be."

"I was terrified." Lily whispered. "I did need you guys because up until then I was alone. And...and...the rogues had tried to..."

She couldn't get the words out. She couldn't talk about how she almost died. "I'm grateful everyone was there, Ryan, honestly."

Ryan didn't stop looking into her dark eyes, he could stare into them forever. "I was expecting a fight on our hands with the rogues. I wasn't expecting you to not need us, not need me, and walk away without a scratch, you know?"

"Hang on," Lily drew back, "I didn't walk away without a scratch, my shoulder is shredded and my arm doesn't work."

"That's not what I meant-"

"What did you mean then?"

"I went in that forest to save you Lily!" Ryan ran his hand over the back of his neck, irritation prickling his spine. "Andrew gathered all the wolves that could fight, even the school got the vampires and witches and fairies involved in the search for you, and it was all a waste because you didn't need us!"

Lily lost her words for a moment, gobsmacked at his answer, and didn't know what to say. Why didn't he understand she did need her friends there? That she wouldn't have got out of that forest without them?

Ryan took her silence as permission to keep talking. "Look, I know you don't know what you are, but whatever it is you don't need us. You don't need a pack. Your creature scares me, okay? We walked into that clearing and you literally had lightning around your hands. Rogues had bowed to you Lily and you walked out of that forest alive."

Lily felt a part of her shatter. They don't understand what you are. They only understand what you can do. "Ryan, I don't have a creature. I am my creature, like a witch is her magic. What you're really afraid of...is me."