"So, why exactly did you call me?" Cora asked, turning the car toward the direction of my house and out of Beacon Hills Preserve.

"I needed to be away from him. I...I don't know." I said, keeping my gaze determinedly to my window. "What happened?" She prodded.

"Theo told me about his sister...he killed her." "Yeah, I know." "And you didn't tell me?" I asked.

"You've known since about five minutes after you got here that he's a bastard." She pointed out, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, but..."

But I had no idea he would go so far. That he could.

"Cass, you've been with him for a while, and known him even longer. Has he showed any intention of harming you?" "Are you actually trying to make me go back to him?" I growled.

"I tried telling you for months that he wasn't a good person, but you saw better," she fired back, "Liam tried, Melissa tried, even the doctor mentioned that he was an asshole, and yet, you still went for him. And now, you're in love with him."

"Cora, I never imagined that he was just another shade of Damian. He's exactly the same thing, but in a different wrapper." I said, my heart clenching in pain. But unlike Damian, my heart was doomed to love Theo.

Cora sighed, "Cass, I'm not going to say 'he's different', because that's cliche, but he's not all Damian. He hasn't killed anyone without need in the past three years."

"Define 'without need'." I demanded.

"Meaning," she went on, "he hasn't killed anyone who didn't deserve it. Even when the last big wig of evil was here, he didn't kill anyone. He beat the shit out of people, but he didn't kill anyone. That's when he became an ally to Scott. In fact, Tracy was the last person he killed, and that was about four years ago."

"Cora, you know more than anyone else here what my story is. I never told Theo that Damian was my brother." "And why is that?" She asked.

"Because, I didn't want him to think I could be that way too." "Okay, hold the hell on." She said, stomping on the brakes and glaring at me, "One, you know that Theo has killed, will kill, and may kill in the future. Two, he has proven to you time and again that he won't kill you, even if you piss him off. Three, isn't the whole damned point of a relationship about trust? Theo trusts you, Cassia. That doesn't make him less of a bastard, at all, but he does not trust anyone. Not me, not Liam or Mason, not even Corey, and he was originally part of his pack."

She was certainly laying into me over this. I probably needed the sense knocked into me, but I couldn't stop the tremors that came over me again as I thought back to his face at the bridge. I saw darkness, but come to think of it, I had also seen grief. But, had that been because of what he'd done? Or because he didn't want to tell me?

"Thanks for telling me all of that, but I can't go back." I said after a long pause, "I tried for years to make things work with Damian, but he never cared. All that mattered was his lust for the kill, and I'm first in line on that list. I can't run from two people."

"Have you seen the asshole chasing the car? I sure haven't. I would've backed over him." She said, putting the car in drive again. I smiled.

Then reality hit me.

Theo and I had seperated. All the pain came flooding into my chest, seizing my heart. I felt sick. Then the tears really came. Cora pulled up quietly to my house, then turned off the car.

She said nothing as I wept in her passenger seat, holding my sore side and remembering all the kisses he'd bestowed there. All the nights he held me, that feeling that swept through me as I watched my pain leak into his skin and knowing that without hesitation he would do it again.

All of that would never go away, and I had fought to keep it in my life. Consequently, it would always hurt me as well.

When I finally began to catch my breath, I wiped my face and looked at Cora. "I'm sorry," I said, "I'm not usually so emotional." "Are you pregnant?" She joked.

I laughed, "No, Theo and I never went that far. I was both smart and cruel enough to shut him down each time." She chuckled as well, "Just try to remember, Cass, that's he's only ninety-five percent evil. That other five percent is hidden layers beneath his skin, layers that you, and only you, have the ability to peel back."

"I can't believe that Cora Hale is giving me relationship advice. And for Theo, no less." I teased her. "For one night only," she said, gently punching my shoulder, "go sleep on it. I'll see you tomorrow."

"'Kay." I replied, then crawled out of her car and went into the house. I watched as her car disappeared into the evening sun, then sat down on the couch and let my mind wander.

Ironically, I wanted nothing more than for Theo to force the door open and wrap me up in his warm arms, but at the same time, I also knew that if he did that, it might be the end of me.

He had killed her for DNA. He hadn't said how old he was, but my guess was a lot younger than a killer should be, and I thought about how glad I should be that our life together was nothing more than a faded dream now. But it didn't soothe my aching heart. What if we had married, and I gave him my whole future?

...What if I had given him a child?

The idea made me shudder. I didn't want kids any time soon, if ever. My parents had dreamed of children since they met and even a little before, and it had earned them death. After him, it made me wonder how they could have ever made the decision to keep me. Damian was well into his childhood before I got here, and already he had made life a living hell.

Perhaps they had thought I might soften him. Maybe I was the little girl my mother had dreamed of. But none of it mattered now. They were gone, Damian was hunting me down to kill me, and I was forced to be alone again.

"You promised me," I thought to Theo, "promised that as long as you were here, I would have someone. But you showed me who you really could be."

I needed to leave. I had put it off for so long that the idea actually scared me now. I had grown into an ingrained position here, with Theo and Beacon Hills and all of it.

I would have to-

I startled from my thoughts when a crash from my bedroom came suddenly. What the hell?

I stood quietly, feeling my breath all but leave me, and grabbed a steak knife from the kitchen.

"He...hello?" I asked, "Theo, if that's you, this knife is going in you!"

I tried to keep the warning from sounding shaky, but was unsuccessful. Another thump showed me that the intruder was still in the house.

Quietly, I tiptoed my way to the door. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to dial 911.

Just as I went to press the first one, the intruder burst through the door and pinned me to the floor.

"HELP!" I screamed.

All of my wriggling stopped as I assessed my attacker.

Thick, black, scaly skin. Glowing silver eyes. Green smoke coming from the nose, and long talons and fangs.

I gulped, then decided if I was going to die anyway, I might as well try talking to her.

"...Zinnia?" I asked, and the creature snorted, then growled, leaning down closer to my face and hissing. I heard myself make an odd squeaky noise.

The creature roared, then I watched as she transformed back into her human form over me. "You don't have to do this," I said, and her eyes lit back up.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." She signed, "I'm just getting started."

Before I could protest, she struck out and connected a fist to my jaw and the whole world went black.

~Theo POV~

I gripped the steering wheel so hard that I left holes in the rubber from my claws.

I couldn't believe that I was sitting in Liam's parkway, like I actually needed his advice or something. I knew exactly what he was going to say to me. That I was a dumbass and now he would kill me for hurting her and blah blah blah.

So why was I even here?

I could easily just go over to her house and tell her that it was a mistake and so on, but could I face the words she would say? Maybe I should just drive off and forget all this mess, let Liam and the others deal with the wyvern.

Start something else with this job I had now, perhaps find a girl that I could call over for nights occasionally.

I slammed my hand down on the dash, and punched it a couple more times. Damn it, I didn't want another girl! I wanted what I set out to have, and only her.

I felt eyes on me and glared up at Liam's bedroom window, and I watched the curtains slide back into place as he hid behind them. "Stop being a coward and get your ass out here." I growled.

Although I knew he probably couldn't hear me, he must have known I was waiting for him, because a few seconds later, he came through his front door and out to my truck. He hopped into the passenger seat, a smile on his face. He hadn't said one word, yet I wanted to punch his teeth in.

"What are you smiling about?" I snarled.

"Just you being angry is enough to make me want to skip." He said, "Why are you here, Theo?"

"I fucked things up with Cassia." I said, refraining from punching the truck again. "Must have been a serious screw up," he said, fingering the broken rearview mirror and the dents in the dash, "She's been all over you since you went all hero on her."

"Don't start." I grumbled, "I knew better than to come here."

"Then why did you? I told you already that she'd run away when she saw your true colors. Didn't stop her from being stupid though." "I guess I needed to vent and you're the only sorry son of a bitch that I know would have semi-decent advice." I answered.

Liam gave a surprised laugh then looked at me. "You really are stupid, Theo." "As you've told me before." I muttered. "I don't mean like I usually say, though it's true as well. Do you honestly, for two seconds, believe that you've fully lost her?"

"Seemed final to me, damn it." I said, balling up my fist and settling it on my thigh. "She's a girl," he said, giving an eye roll, "One minute, they're wrapped up in your arms, then the next second they're screaming 'don't touch me' to punish you."

"This is more than a little tiff, Liam. I told her about Tara." "How was that any different from telling her about your pack?" He asked. "I don't know, but she looked at me...like I had hit her. She recoiled like I was targeting her next. She's never known my touch beyond what you've seen."

"Maybe there is something deeper to her stalker than she let on. Did you ask her?" "No," I said, "I didn't get time. She ran off and called Cora."

"Sounds to me like it's beyond being a little scared. I think she may have felt betrayed." He said.

Now that he had mentioned it, the air around her had had a bitter edge to it. It was something to push her to talk about, assuming she would let me back into her life.

"Sometimes you're not as dumb as you usually are." I said. "Was that actually a compliment?" Liam asked, his wide eyes pissing me off instantly. "No," I growled, "now get out. I've got some thinking to do."

"Yeah, you're welcome. Jackass." He muttered, climbing out of the truck.

Chuckling, I pressed the gas and eventually settled under a canopy of trees to sleep out the night.

Pulling the blanket up over my torso, I thought back to Liam's words. I did need to ask her about what I could do to fix things, but I also needed to know more information about her stalker. Unfortuntely, that information might not come soon.

At some point, I had drifted off, because when my phone went off with a video message, the clock said 3 A.M. I rubbed my eyes then grabbed the phone and settled back in.

Cassia.

She had sent me a video. Maybe she had been up late like I had, thinking of a way to talk about what had happened earlier. Taking a deep breath I opened the video, then dropped it in shock as I saw her tied to a beam with tape across her mouth.

**Uh oh, Cassia has been kidnapped! But for what purpose? I hope you guys enjoyed, and thanks for reading! Have a good day!**