Theo drove rather slowly, a worrisome thing considering how fast he usually drove. Something told me that there had to be something heavy on his mind.
Without a word, I reached over and took his hand in mine, threading my fingers through his, and he gently squeezed them. But his touch wasn't like usual. This time, it felt like a goodbye, and I felt sick to my stomach.
Had he decided to do what was probably best, and end the relationship? Was this a goodbye 'date'?
My heart hurt at the thought.
"We're almost there." He stated, without emotion in his voice. "Okay." I replied, gripping his hand a little tighter. If this was goodbye, I wanted to melt this feeling into my skin, to remember what every single inch of his skin felt like against mine. I had known he might choose this after what I had told him, and he had promised to tell me when he thought best.
Theo pulled the truck up under overhanging branches of a large tree, sunlight reflecting from the green spring leaves. He got out and was at my door before I could open it, and he didn't move once the door was shut.
"Cass," He said, placing his hands on my waist and angling me toward him, "I'm about to tell you something. A dark something, and I am not sure how you will react once I do."
"It's okay." I said.
"No, it isn't."
He let me go, and pulled a newspaper out of the backseat, filled with beautiful, fresh white lilies. "What are these for?" I asked, carefully brushing my fingertips over the extended, velvety petals.
"They're...for a grave." He said, pain entering his eyes for a few seconds before returning to his usual, stony look. I stared at him.
"A grave?" I asked, feeling a little sick to my stomach. "Yes. Come on." He said, taking my hand and walking into the woods.
Broken branches and old leaves crunched underneath our feet, a rather melancholy sound. Before long, a little bridge came into view, old and worn wood over a rustling little creek.
Theo let go of my hand and continued onto the small bridge. I folded my arms and went after him silently. "Theo." I said gently, watching his shoulders tighten a little.
I resisted the urge to pull his hand back into mine. I had to stay focused, and I had to listen to what he had to say, if anything. "Here." He said, breaking the shattering silence and startling me from my thoughts. "Hmm?" I said, tightening the grip around myself.
He looked at me, his eyes black with hidden words behind them, his look fierce. "I'm not a good guy," he said darkly, "I'm not even a good guy. Just the one who does what's best for him."
I swallowed hard.
"I have already stated that I'm not going to change, and I won't act like someone else. Even if I did want to be someone else, my past and the people here would remind me every day that I'm no hero..." He said, placing the lilies on the supporting beam of the bridge.
"Theo-" I stared. "Let me finish," he said sternly, then took a deep breath, "If there is meant to be something...more between us, then I want everything out there."
"Please," I thought, "I don't want to talk about Damian! I see him enough in my nightmares."
"Go on." I said.
Theo half darkly laughed, half scoffed, but gripped the beam and continued. "I am what I am because I murdered someone. I needed that extra set of DNA to become a Chimera."
Being that he had admitted before to killing people, I wasn't all that surprised. "Okay." I said.
"'Okay'? Are you listening to the words I'm saying?"
"Um, yes. You told me before that you had killed people. You just omitted the Chimera part." I said.
He gave me a quizzical look, his fingers digging into the wood. "What the hell is up with you?" He asked, "You're pale a sheet, but you're not freaking out. Cassia," he came forward and grabbed my upper arms, his claws digging softly into my skin, "I murdered my sister. I didn't kill her outright, but I watched as she died of hypothermia. I waited, right where I was just standing. She was there," he growled, throwing his arm in the direction of the creek, "she called out to me, and I watched."
Nausea flowed through me. I pulled out of his hands, backing up a couple of steps.
His own sister.
He had killed his own sister.
Thoughts of Damian swarmed me. Theo had done the very act that Damian was trying to do. How could he...?
"Theo..." I said, tears burning my eyes, "Your pack...your sister...all these people you were supposed to care for. How could you just...?"
Words escaped me. They flew out of my head and vanished into the air like a whisper of smoke. Pain filled my entire chest cavity.
"I am not the same juvenille idiot that I was. I did so many wrongs that I could never do enough rights to equal them, but Cassia," he spoke, "I will never hurt you."
Tears streaked down my cheeks before I could stop them, leaving trails of burning behind. The need to sob hit me, but I choked it back and turned. "How could I ever trust you?" I whispered.
"You've trusted me all this time," he said, "I haven't laid a finger, claw, tooth, whatever, on you. Doesn't that say something?"
He was right. But that didn't change the fact that all I could see now was my own brother in him.
Damian's name sprung to my lips, but I closed them, and instead cleared my throat and wiped my cheeks. "I need time," I told him, not turning back around to face him, "I'm...going to call Cora. Do what you have to do."
~Theo POV~
I had never taken a beating that hurt as bad as watching Cassia walk away from me, showing me only her back.
There had been true pain in the tears that had fallen down her face, and it was because of me. I should have known better.
Anger filled me, and I walked off in the opposite direction of her, laying into the first tree that I came across. I punched it again and again, the pain helping aid the stupid feelings I felt. Within seconds, the bark where I punched was black from my blood, and my knuckles were near unrecognizable.
Pulling back, I examined them. I could clearly see the bone, white amongst the red and pink of my muscles. But it only helped temporarily. Who knew if she would be able to see past this.
I wasn't sure why it had affected her so deeply; perhaps it was because I had been so blunt... or the fact that a serial killer had murdered those closest to her.
I was healing physically already, and I headed back toward the bridge, where the newspaper and lilies still lay. With my healing, battered hand, I took a single flower from the paper, and held it over the water.
"It's okay, Tara," I said, thinking back to my visit with her in hell, "you got me again."
I let go of the flower, and watched it land in the clear creek. It bounced underneath for just milliseconds, then sprung back up, whisking away with the flow. Droplets clung to the bowing petals, carrying it away as fast as Cassia was running from me.
I braced myself against the beam, tucking my arms around my chest and staring into the water. It rushed by in waves and bubbles, no clear end in sight, and I wished at that moment that it could take the words I had told her and wash them away also.
I had asked for this the moment I allowed myself to care for her. The only thing now was to go on, and act like nothing happened.
Liam was sure to be a pain in the ass about it.
After I could no longer see the flower, I angrily smacked the rest, newspaper and all, into the current and walked back to my truck.
Once there, I climbed in, and sat, glaring at my reflection in the mirror. Rage surging through me again, I punched the mirror, shattering it and leaving behind lines of my blood on the glass.
It would suck later, but right now, it was only making me feel better to break it all. Hopefully it would make the pain in my chest go away.
I snarled when my phone went off loudly, and snatched it up to see Liam's name on the screen.
"What?" I bit.
"Well damn, on your period?" He replied, earning a warning growl from me. "Whatever man," he went on, "I called because the weapons have set up. We're planning to attack in two days."
**Thank you guys for reading, I hope you're enjoying! Don't worry, there is more story coming in Theo's and Cassia's tale!**