Luna
"TOO LATE? LATE FOR what?" Charlie's voice is stern as he tries to figure out what I'm telling him. Suddenly, the sky releases a flood down onto the rest of us and I can see Scott take off his helmet in the middle of the field. Corey runs up to Scott and I use my werewolf hearing to listen to him over the rain.
"They're here."
Scott looks around, finding Liam ahead of him and calls out his name.
Liam yells from next to Gwen, "I see 'em!"
He's looking in a certain direction and I know he's talking about the Ghost Riders. I turn to Charlie, focusing on him. He's giving me a strange look since I haven't given him a straight answer since I sat down. Lightning claps and I have less time to convince him to get out there.
"I need you to get out of here, Charlie. Something bad's gonna happen and I don't want you in the middle of it."
"What's going-"
"Charlie, seriously, did you forget what I am? I'll explain everything to you later, if you get out of here right now."
"Bu-"
"Now, Charlie!" I take off for the field, not bothering to make sure he leaves. Hoping against all hope I finally got to him. Within a few seconds I'm completely soaked to my core before I even reach Liam's side. He glances at me and double checks me.
"Luna, you shouldn't be out here," he says.
"You're going to need help and I'm the big guns," I reply.
"You're the big guns?" Gwen asks skeptically looking at my small frame.
I shrug, "Sometimes big things come in small packages."
All at once the lights bust out and there's almost no light on the field. The referee blows the whistle and calls the game while Scott, Liam, and Corey pull their gloves off. Everyone else starts to run off the field to the high school locker rooms.
Coach screams his displeasure from the sidelines, "Oh, come on, ref! This is barely a thunderstorm!"
No, it's more like people are going to get taken and you won't even remember them.
Liam pulls me and Gwen back to where Scott and Corey were standing guard of two boys. Gwen goes to stand next to them.
"Okay," Scott yells over the rain. "We've got all three, right?"
Liam looks at the three and says, "Scott, there were four."
I can hear a faint noise of screaming and sound of hooves galloping against the ground, but I see nothing. Scott has to grab Corey's arm to see what's going on. Everyone who can see are staring in the direction of the darkest side of the field.
Okafur yells from behind us, "Oh, my God! They're real! We gotta get out of here!"
Liam holds a hand out behind him and says, "Stay together. We'll protect you."
"How?" Gwen shouts. The sounds of hooves galloping and horses neighing became louder.
Scott yells, "Run!"
Liam grabs my arm to run in the other direction, but we stop almost immediately. The horses seems to be surrounding us, and I feel as though I'm right since the others are glancing all around them.
"Stay close!' Liam warns us.
From a distance away, I hear someone panting as they run away. They hit the side of the vehicle as they see whoever's chasing them catch up with them. The person almost gets away if it weren't for the gunshot bullet that shoots through him. The sound of it makes me freeze and focus my eyes in the distance as my mind takes me to another time I heard the gunshot.
I'm in my truck when I hear them. Multiple gunshots are going off inside the abandoned house I'm parked outside of. Why am I at an abandoned house? My body moves without my command and I'm rushing inside. I'm yelling for Liam and Mason, and I'm relieved when I find them in one piece. Then, I notice Scott standing behind him with...someone in a flannel. I can't see his face, but I know him and the rest of them are staring at me because I can hear the gunshots unlike the three boys I can see.
Another gunshot brings me out of my stupor and I'm back to present time. Okafur is shot by a Ghost Rider right in front of us and Corey reaches forward as if to save him. Scott loses his grip on the boy.
"I can still see them!" Scott shouts.
I yell to him, "I can, too!"
Liam growls as a Ghost Rider lines up a shot at Gwen. He launches himself towards the Ghost Rider and tackles him off of his horse. Scott and I yell out his name, but he seems to be okay as he lashes out on the Rider. However, this only lasts a few seconds before the Rider shoves him off. I run around the horse and grab Liam's arms, leaving Scott and Corey to defend the others for a few seconds. I pull him up just in time to see Scott flsh his Alpha red eyes, but having no effect to stop the Rider from shooting Wallace. The two of us run back to the group.
"We can stop 'em!" Liam yells, hearing and seeing getting difficult over the rain and lightning.
"Protect Gwen!" Scott order, his eyes still showing red.
I nearly scream my question, "Do you want me to shift?"
"No! There's too many people around!"
He growls at the Ghost Riders, trying to intimidate them. I wolf out as much as I can without turning into a wolf or a beast. I growl at the Ghost Riders as well, so does Liam. It looks like we're going to be able to keep Gwen from getting taken, but she does something unexpected. She steps out of the protective circle and yells at the closest Ghost Rider.
"Come on!"
Scott doesn't understand what she's doing and neither do the rest of us. But when the Ghost Rider she yelled at points his gun at her, Scott reaches for her.
"No!" It's too late. The bullet hits her straight in the chest and disappears in a puff of green smoke. Scott yells again, "No!"
Slowly, the rain stops pouring down on us, leaving me a shivering mess. As we look around, we notice everyone is gone. Whether it was because of the Ghost Riders or most of them leaving the game to get out of the rain, I didn't know for sure. When I don't see Charlie on the bleachers, I feel relieved that I finally broke through to him. The group and I head towards the high school, meeting Hayden and Mason halfway there. They explain their plan of the Hellhound trying to stop the Ghost Riders, but there was no such luck. As we're passing through the parking lot, I notice my truck in a parking spot.
"Guys," I say, stopping in my tracks. The others stop too and look to where I'm staring. "My truck's still here."
"So?" Liam asks with his arm around Hayden who's helping him walk.
"So, I didn't drive here. My brother's been driving it."
Frantically, I pull my phone out of my pocket and search for the recently entered phone number. I press the phone icon next to Charlie's name and put the phone to my ear. The phone rings until it gets to voicemail. I try again, and the same thing happens. A third time is usually the charm, but that wasn't the case tonight. My eyes look to my friends worriedly. Scott is the first to speak.
"Luna, it's okay. We'll find him. If he's not taken, he's in the school." His voice barely even affects me before I take off into the school. "Wait!"
But I don't. My feet slap against the marble after swinging the door open. I see no one in my line of vision and it only makes me freak out even more. My heart is pounding against my chest. The last time I lost Charlie was when he shut the door to the car and didn't look back as they drove away. I didn't want to lose him again. It doesn't matter why he was here. The fact that he was here in the first place should've been good enough from the start and now I might've just lost him again. This time I wouldn't be able to remember it.
"Charlie!" I shout down the hallway as I run though it. "Are you here?"
I run down the steps that lead to all of the locker rooms. The pack were entering in from the direction of the library. When Scott and I catch each other's eyes, he shakes his head. I have to take deep breaths to calm myself down. My head turns to look farther down the hallway in front of me and I see Charlie standing outside of the boys' locker room.
"Charlie!" I exclaim, my breath shaky as the emotion of finding him and still remembering him runs through me. My feet carry me over to him quickly as he turns to see whose shouted his name. He's knocked off his balance when I slam myself into him, throwing my arms around his shoulders. I bury my face into his neck. "I thought I lost you again."
Maybe it was the shaking coursing through my body or the sound of my voice, but Charlie just tightens his arms around me. His hand rubs my back in gentle up and down motions to calm me down. It works significantly once I'm able to tear myself away from him. As I finally catch my wits, I smack his arm.
"I told you to leave," I reprimand him.
"I wanted to catch up with Coach," he replies as if it's that simple.
I squint at him, "So, you didn't hear anything?"
He shakes his head and asks, "Should I have?"
"I'll explain it to you later."
Some of the pack is waiting patiently down the hall as we have our moment. I turn toward them and motion for Scott to come over first. Scott points to himself and glances around at our friends before turning to me to make sure. I nod my head and motion him over again. He confidently walks over to us.
"Scott, this is my eldest brother, Charlie." I motion to Charlie for Scott before turning to Charlie to motion to Scott. "Charlie, this is Scott. The Alpha of the pack I'm in."
Charlie doesn't hide the surprise on his face to hear I'm in someone else's pack. Nonetheless, when Scott puts a hand out for a shake, Charlie shakes it.
"Nice to know someone's been taking care of her since I've been gone," Charlie says once they release each other's hands. Scott scratches the back of his neck.
"Actually," Scott begins, "I didn't even know she was a wolf until the beginning of the school year."
Charlie stares at the side of my face as it flushes with red.
"I'll explain that, too. I guess," I tell him.
Scott's phone rings, interrupting any other conversation.
"Sorry, it's Malia. I should take this," Scott explains. I nod in understanding and let him walk down the hall. I look to Charlie and nod my head to the four kids down the hall.
"Come on. I want you to meet a few of my other friends." I grab his arm and pull him towards Liam and the others. Liam stands up straight when he sees Charlie. I point at him. "Charlie, this is Liam, you've seen him before. He's Scott's first Beta and basically my best friend." I point to Hayden. "That's his girlfriend, Hayden, she used to be a Chimera. She was both a werewolf and werejaguar. Now she's purely werewolf." I point to Mason. "This is Mason. He's Liam's human best friend. Super smart, honestly. I'm a little worried he's smarter than me." Mason laughs and I point to Corey. "And this is Corey. A chameleon. Mason's boyfriend and my soulmate, not romantically obviously. But he's my little smol bean. Well, Liam is too, if I'm being honest."
The group all start to laugh, including Liam, and each nod to Charlie.
"And, guys, this is Charlie." I point to him. "My oldest brother who's human and can be a real pain in the ass."
Again, they all laugh before Scott returns.
"Everyone from the bunker has been taken," he announces.
"Everyone? How?" Mason asks.
Liam's voice sounds defeated as he says, "Doesn't matter how."
Scott continues, "Malia's at the hospital. Argent's been hurt. My mom's with them."
He turns to walk away, but Liam calls for him and stops. Liam steps forward.
"Tonight..." he trails off.
"No," Scott interrupts. "Hey, it's not your fault. It's mine. We should have done both. Defend the bunker and use a lightning rod. It would've given us a better chance."
We all watch him leave through the exit.
"You okay?" Hayden asks Liam.
Liam shakes his head and answers, "No."
My eyebrows twist together as my hands come together in front of my chest. The look on his face and the hopelessness in his voice making my heart hurt.
"And here comes Mother Luna," Mason whispers to the group. Liam and Corey step into the locker room.
"There he is," we hear Coach say. "Look at that. The humility. The grace."
Charlie nudges my elbow and motions to the door with his head. I nod and turn to Mason and Hayden.
"Hey, guys, we're going to take off," I say and pull them each into a hug. "Tell Liam not to beat himself up too much."
The two of them nod and turn back to what's happening in the locker room. I follow Charlie out to the truck. On the way home and into the night, I explained everything that's happened to me since they've left. The long years of isolating myself from the others and keeping them off my scent. Then, I told him about Theo returning and him outing my secret to Scott's pack. Everything that followed afterwards: Theo killing Scott, him using me, and the Beast being our ancestor. I excluded the romantic part of our relationship, summing it up with we had dated for a hot minute. After that, I tell him everything that's happened so far with Ghost Riders and how we feel like someone has been erased from our memories.
By the end of the night, Charlie and I feel much closer to each other and I seem to let go of the bad blood between us.
Hi, guys! I almost forgot to update today but here I am! So, last chapter I got a really interesting theory on why Charlie is back and I promised I wouldn't confirm or deny anything so I was wondering if they think their theory is still right lol
(selfish promo but I made a cover shop so go check it out)
Why do you think Luna can see the Ghost Riders? How'd you feel about her almost remembering Stiles?
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please vote or comment what you think!
- chelsie
word count: 2452