return • theo raeken [2]

fourteen. riders on the storm

I interrupt him, "I never said I couldn't forgive you.  And yes, I have feelings for you.  I don't know if it has to do with this weird connection thing we've got going on or the way it feels like I can be myself when I'm with you.  Or maybe it's this strange feeling inside of me that knows you're the only one I want to go through this change with.  All I know is I've never been able to stop thinking about you—even when I wanted to hate every single part of you—but now, I don't think I want to stop."

I can hear a new wave of Ghost Riders approaching a little ways around the corner of the hallway, but my eyes are focused on Theo's stoic face.  Whatever he was thinking and whatever he was feeling was being carefully well hidden.  It was making my heart heavier by the second as he waited to respond.

"You are never sure about being with me.  I always have to prove myself to you.  But Luna, I shouldn't have to worry about that with you.  Being with me means accepting everything about me.  The good and the bad, and I don't think you can do that."

In a chance to tip things in my favor, my lips press themselves to his, but they don't move.  Just like before when we saved Liam and Hayden after I told him I didn't want to be his girlfriend.  I wait for him to decide if he still wants to be with me.  I wait to see if my kiss will change his mind like it did that night.  But it doesn't.  He pulls away.

"You can't fix this with a kiss," he tells me in a low voice.

It's then he lets me see the hurt in his eyes, and I feel the tears prick at the back of my own.  Maybe our relationship wasn't supposed to be any more than him using me to get to Scott.  Any more than mindless bickering.  Any more than me only wanting him so I wasn't alone.  But I wasn't ready to give up.

My voice breaks the silence as I say, "I'm not going to stop.  You never did.  Even when you knew I hated you, you still loved me.  I'm going to prove that I want you just as much as you wanted me.  I'm going to stop the endless cycle of us using each other."

Because I love you, too, jackass, and I've wasted too much time denying it.

〰〰〰

"I can't believe the Ghost Riders chased us all the way from the hospital on their horses," Theo states as the two of us jump out of the police car and head towards the high school.

I scoff, "Yeah, and I can't believe you were driving the speed limit most of the way here."

We run up the stairs to try and put as much distance between us and the group of Ghost Riders closing in on us.  By the time we reached the top landing, we hear groaning coming from up ahead and can only see the backside of a Ghost Rider as it struggled with someone in it's hold.  Theo starts running before I can even process the scene in front of me.  I chase after him, but he reaches the Ghost Rider and sticks his claws in his back as the victim slips out of the Ghost Rider's gasp.

It's then I see Liam's full head of hair.

"Liam!"  I almost knock the younger werewolf over as I hug him from behind.  "I'm so glad you're alive."

With his hands holding my arms in front of him, Liam yells, "Hey, you guys made it out!"

"Yeah, barely!" Theo grunts while struggling with the Ghost Rider in his arms.  "What's the plan?"

Liam lets me go, and I come to stand next to him.  I notice how disheveled his entire presence is and how tired he looks, but the determination to win this fight is more powerful than the exhaustion.

"Steal the horse and get to the Hunt," Liam tells us.

Theo asks incredulously, "You're kidding, right?"