What Could Have Been [Thiam Rewrites]

Chapter 22: The Ties that Bind

A/N: This chapter is a bit longer. The next few might be similar as I wrap everything up. 

Trigger warning: mentions of domestic violence and childhood abuse & abuser confrontations. Please be safe, and if you think that might be triggering, maybe come back to the second half of this chapter on a better day.

Suggested song pairings: Iris by Goo Goo Dolls for the first half and Running by NF for the second.

Theo

His heart raced and he swallowed a scream as the nightmare faded. His hands shook as he tugged a sound asleep Liam closer and buried his head in the hollow of his neck. His scent washed over him, easing his frayed nerves.

He wished he could say that the nightmares had subsided, but if anything, they'd been getting worse. The cruel images his mind had conjured up were haunted with Liam's blood. With his death.

Theo pressed a kiss to his shoulder, gently sliding his arm out from beneath him without disturbing him. He checked his phone—53 hours, 56 minutes, and 42 seconds until the eclipse. He'd set a countdown that ended at 8:00 in the morning the day after graduation.

It was an impossible deadline and each second that slipped past only added to his mounting dread.

Theo debated starting a work out. Or maybe running out to his truck for his stash. They were all staying in the safe house until the eclipse. Imara's pack probably knew exactly where to find them all, but there was strength in numbers. Alone, they were easier to prey on. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with.

But it also meant he had to be careful not to wake the entire house if he did decide to start his day at 3 in the morning.

Theo was about to flip onto his side, see if he could will himself to sleep, when he heard a rustling outside the door that sounded like someone walking slowly, carefully down the hallway. Stretching out his hearing, he counted a single heartbeat.

In a lithe movement, Theo was on his feet and out the door. He silenced his footsteps as he tracked the person in the hallway, only to catch a glimpse of the strawberry blonde hair in the dim corridor light—Lydia.

She and Stiles had gotten in last night, along with Kira and Malia. Deucalion's pack was still a few days out. Apparently they had some business to deal with in Oregon first.

"Lydia," Theo whispered across the space between them, but she kept walking, almost floating, down the hall toward the front door.

She reached for the handle and slipped outside, but not before Theo caught a glimpse of her face—her skin was pale and closed her eyes were rapidly moving beneath the lids. She wasn't awake or dreaming. She was having a vision.

"Anyone else awake?" Theo whispered, hoping that anyone else might hear him.

Lydia had broken the mountain ash that Stiles had spread at threshold last night as she crossed it. Despite the fact that it wasn't the most reliable precaution, Scott had insisted that it would be a first means of defense against the ancient werewolves. Theo left it broken on the off chance that someone had heard him and could help him wrangle Lydia away from the forest before she got too far.

"Lydia!" Theo called again, louder this time.

Still, she didn't turn, didn't show any sign that she'd heard him. He reached her just before her bare feet crossed into the thick forest surrounding the safe house.

"Lydia, it's not safe," Theo said, grasping her shoulder gently.

The second that he touched her, her eyes snapped open and her scream exploded through the air. He clamped his hands over his ears, wincing at the sheer volume and grateful that it hadn't been aimed directly at him. A direct blast like that at such close range might have taken his damn head off.