𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑─𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐫

29.

I struggled to keep up with Scott and Liam as they marched down the halls of Beacon Hills Hospital. The lightning that Liam and I had seen earlier was the start of a vicious storm that caused traffic jams, cell towers crashing and chaos across the city. We had picked Malia up on our way, the seniors needing to get to the high school for Senior Scribe, so that left Liam and I essentially with no way home.

"My dad's in surgery, he'll be in there for hours," Liam explained as we approached the elevator. Scott's plan had initially been to drop us both at home, but the traffic meant if they didn't go now, they would be late.  "So I can either hang out here...or I could still come with you guys?" Liam offered.

Scott didn't stop walking as he spoke, "You and Sydney can wait here, we can pick you up-"

"No!" I interrupted my brother as both boys turned to me with their brows furrowed. "I just mean why would we want to hang out here?" I added, trying to cover the fact that I just didn't want to be alone with Liam. 

Scott sighed hitting the elevator button before  turning to Liam. "Show me your hands." he demanded.

Liam briefly looked at me before slowly pulling his hands out of his pockets, opening them to reveal his bloody palms. "Okay...so I'm still having some trouble." he mumbled, clearly embarrassed with the situation.

"No, you're learning." Scott corrected his beta. "Just focus on not changing, you were starting to get the hang of it."

Liam looked over at me and clenched his jaw, looking down at his feet. "That was before." he muttered.

Neither Scott or I had to ask what before was. We both knew, we knew that before was when I was Liam's anchor, the thing that kept him human.

I felt my cheeks heat up as I turned my attention to the ground, immediately uncomfortable. I felt horrible about what I did-truly, but it needed to be done. 

"I'm trying." Liam explained, breaking the silence. "But it's not working." he added holding up his ear buds. That explained why he had had them shoved in his ears the entire night. 

"Derek said that you were one of the strongest he's seen at your age, and coming from him that means a lot. It means that things are going to be harder for you for a while." Scott stepped back into the awaiting elevator. "But it also means something else doesn't it?"

Liam shrugged, "I'll be strong?"

Scott took his hand off the door giving it permission to close. "Hell yeah."

And then the doors closed. Leaving Liam and I...alone. I mentally cursed my brother as Liam and I stood awkwardly frozen in place. What now?

Luckily, Liam had a plan, "Come on." he instructed, turning from the elevator.

"W-where are we going." I stumbled over my words, surprised that he was involving me in whatever plan he had brewing.

Liam didn't turn around, "We're following them."

I followed behind him, still in shock that we had exchanged real words, not the words we had been saying to each other for months, the classic 'hi', or 'sorry' when we bumped into each other. These were real words.

"How are we going to get there?" I asked as we rounded a corner.

"Drive."

I let out a small laugh, "Oh yeah? With the car that neither of us have?"

"We'll take my dad's." he answered as we stopped in front of the door to his step father's office.

"You don't think he'll mind?" I questioned,  skeptical of the situation as my eyes surveyed the hall to ensure no one was watching as we entered the office.