It's Just a Pull

VII

Scott, ultimately, is right. The scales tip, and not in the way anyone was hoping. The discovery that someone is creating Chimeras hits the pack, and things go to shit pretty quickly after that.

For better or worse, Theo becomes an ally. Both you and Stiles are still hesitant to trust him, something that pushes you closer than before.

"There's just something that doesn't feel right about him," Stiles says as you pass him books from the shelf.

"I agree with you," you reply, crouching down to grab something from the bottom shelf. "His bonds are all tangled. I've never seen anything like it."

"What do you mean, 'tangled'?"

You sigh, trying to figure out how to explain it. "It almost looks like someone shoved them all into a drawer. There are dead ends on some of them too. That's really not a good sign for anyone."

"Dead ends?"

"Places where bonds have been forcibly broken."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah. If you really wanted, I could break our soulmate bond completely. That offer stands, just so you know."

"You'd break it?"

"Only if you asked me to," you sigh. The weight of the world is on both of your shoulders and it shouldn't be. It strikes you in this moment how young you really are.

"But, you said they're important to your kind?"

"They make us more powerful. But it's not life and death. If you ever decide you don't want it there anymore, just let me know. God, how did we get from Theo to this?"

"Theo. I just don't get why Scott wants to trust him so badly."

"He's naïve. He really thinks everyone has only the best of intentions."

"I still don't trust him. I'm just glad I'm not the only one that doesn't."

"Yeah, but Scott does trust him, so... not much we can do about him being in the loop."

"Unless we started keeping things from Scott," Stiles muses, and you look up at him.

"You'd never do that. There's not a disloyal bone in your body, Stiles." The words hang between you for a moment before Mason comes around the corner.

"(Y/n), Scott said you'd catch me up?"

The moment between you and Stiles breaks, and he hands you the pile of books he's been holding for you.

"Yeah," you glance at Stiles. "Can you drive me home later? Stacy's in the shop."

"Stacy?" Stiles asks.

"My car. You know, because 'Stacy's mom,'" you gesture vaguely to yourself, "'has got it going on?'"

"Oh," Stiles laughs. "Cute. Yeah. Just text me when you're done."

"Will do. See you later."

---

"So, you're saying that you see everyone's bonds all the time?"

"I just told you that there are people kidnapping teenagers and turning them into bastardized supernatural creatures, and you focused on the bond thing? None of the McCall pack has their priorities straight."

"But you already said we don't really know anything more than that about who's doing it. I'd kind of rather focus on the things we do know."

"Okay. What do you want to know?"