Fighting with Fire #2 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟐 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨

At some point, though I'm still not quite sure when, Jason had started making decisions on his own, instead of including the pack with discussions. And it was during one of these individual decisions that he concluded that Thea had to spend our entire school day alone in the basement, watching over Maia.

He brazenly claimed, "Thea is the strongest out of all of us, and she's the only one powerful enough to stop Maia if something happens."

"Besides..." Ryder forced a grin and slapped me on the back, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "We've got to get off to school — yay for us!"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I said through gritted teeth, casting a worried glance at Thea before heading over to her.

She'd gotten around four hours of sleep and was a washed-out, ash-grey colour, her long hair pulled back from her face. She looks so much like Mom.

<Ugh.> She rolled her eyes at me. <I've been told that so many times by Dad.>

I shrugged. "It's true though... Are you gonna be okay?" I checked, "Having to watch over Maia, I mean."

She mirrored me, shrugging back. "I'll be fine. It's better than going to school anyway."

Frowning, I thought aloud, "I can't smell your chemosignals... Why is that?"

"I can hide them. The Phoenix part of me helps with that as well." She fidgeted, a smirk finding her face. "I also don't appreciate werewolves sniffing me like I'm some sort of meal."

We walked down the hallway, away from the rest of the pack and towards the front door of the ranch. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just useful to be able to tell what someone's feeling."

Rolling her eyes at me, she started stepping down into the basement, her tone joking as she threw back at me, "You mean you like invading other people's privacy."

"See you later, Thea." I shook my head at her despairingly.

"Later, bro!" She shouted back up.

I wanted to know more about Thea being a hellhound, but it seemed like it was a lot to handle — the bloodlust, the fire, the foretelling of death... She was a mix of so many supernatural creatures, it was surprising she still had her humanity.

Or does she?

"Theo," Abi spoke my name, took my arm in her hand and led me outside.

"Abi..." I didn't need to read her chemosignals to know something was seriously wrong — stress and anxiety were written all over her face. "Abi, whatever it is you're about to tell me, shouldn't you be telling it to Jason?"

"Jason's got enough on his plate." She shook her head, eyeing me intently. "The last night in Coloma before the pack was taken, what did Storm tell you? I know she spoke to you, so there's no point in trying to hide it."

I swallowed, remembering that it was Storm who had warned me of the pack leaving me. "She warned me that the pack was going to be gone and that I was going to become an Omega. She told me to seek out Ember, a 'friend in the fire', and that it was all written in the stars."

Abi paced back and forth with arms crossed. "Why would she try and help you if she was helping the hunters?"

A realisation hit me; "What if she wasn't working for them at the start? What if something changed after they took you?"

Abi nodded. "Yes... It would only have taken Ryan to betray us — and Storm could've shifted alliances whilst the hunters were torturing us. Maybe she made some kind of deal with them."