return • theo raeken [2]

twenty-two. the wolves of war

Luna

I PEAK MY HEAD out from behind the pillar to see where everyone is located. The only glimpses I see before someone is shooting directly at me is Scott at a pillar ahead of Theo and I, and Peter sitting behind a metal barrel covering his head. Malia and Lydia must be somewhere ahead of Scott in cover together. I turn to Theo as he looks around his side of the pillar.

"Malia and Lydia are hiding behind a dumpster," Theo states, ducking for cover as the amateur Hunters shoot his side. "They're getting a lot of heat."

I say, "I'm going out there." My body moves to step out as my teeth and my claws bare themselves in order to shift.

"The hell you are!" Theo yells, grabbing my arm and pulling me back to safety.

"Theo, I'll be okay. Let me go." I try pulling my arm out of his grasp, but he just tightens his grip. "I'm the only one who can stop them! We're cornered."

A loud roar of a familiar car engine revs up at the end of my sentence, and I hear a body hit the front end. I turn around to see Stiles' Jeep come to a stop as a man's body lays on the ground. Stiles is in the driver's seat and leans out the window.

"You didn't think you were doing this without me, did you?" Stiles asks, tauntingly.

Derek Hale steps up beside him and says, "Without us?"

Derek bares his canines and roars before soaring through the air to take down two men with semi-automatics. The seasoned wolf gives us leverage to come out of hiding to fight back. Theo lets me go, and I take off in the direction I'd seen Monroe. I can tell she's not a very hands on leader as she hasn't moved from the five foot radius she was in when the shooting started. I'm quick on my feet but even quicker as the Beast with its longer strides. As my friends take on the closest attackers, I notice some of the Hunters start to retreat when they see me barrelling down the stretch of concrete, but I'm not focused on them.

Monroe has a pistol in her hand, pointing at me, but it's shaking with fear. I can tell it's fear because a wave of terror from her chemosignals radiates through me. My feet don't slow down at this revelation, it only pushes me to move faster. Monroe is trying to steady her hand to aim her gun at me, but she can't and I'm almost there. The gun goes off as the devil woman drops it, and the bullet buries itself within my knee. A deep, thundering roar bellows out from deep within my mutated body into the dark sky as the woman runs back to her SUV as all the Hunters retreat. The bullet burns inside my knee, and I can feel it slowly spreading up my leg and down to my toes. Involuntarily, I shift back into my human form but the roars do not stop as I clutch my leg.

"Get it out! Get it out now!" I scream as the burning intensifies inside my human skin. "Somebody get it out of me!"

Theo yells my name from somewhere behind me. No one is moving fast enough. My mind is focused on the pain. I flick out my claws with a plan to remove the bullet myself, but someone slaps my hand away. I snap my head up and growl at the person, baring my fangs and flashing my werewolf eyes. None of my defense mechanisms deter Derek from kneeling down in front of me.

Derek says to someone behind me, "You, hold her down and make sure she doesn't rip my throat out."

Another terrible scream escapes my mouth as the burning sensation reaches the tops of my thighs. The person ordered by Derek wraps their arms around my body and grips my wrists. I try to calm down and make it easier for them to entrap me, but the moment Derek sticks his fingers into the bullet hole, I'm reaching for the man with only murder on my mind. My head slams back into the person's chest and another thundering roar rumbles through my chest and out of my mouth. The person grunts at the collision, and I realize Theo's the one holding me. I try to focus on him instead, and it's insanely difficult, but I'm able to stop moving long enough for Derek to pull the bullet out. The pain starts to subside as my body starts to heal itself. I relax against Theo. Once I'm calm, Theo loosens his grip on me but holds me close to his chest. My eyes meet Derek's, who was inspecting the bullet with my blood on his hands.