REAPING INNOCENCE ◦ STILINSKI [3]

INTERLUDE: TWO

INTERLUDE: CATERINA DANIELLE HALE

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AFTER COMPLETELY REGAINING consciousness and stretching out his tired body, he sat up in his bed. It was rare for him to have a night filled of restlessly tossing and turning, and unfortunately, it had been one of those nights. Before he could dwell on the numerous reasons that could've caused his sleepless night, he got up and stepped into the shower—not even bothering to shut his bedroom door. The only other person that could've been in the house was his brother, and even if someone else aimlessly walked into the bathroom, he wasn't shy.

While he was in the shower with the hot water pouring over his naked body, his mind started to wander. He started thinking about the events of the previous night. Thinking about how those relentless hunters had captured Carter and how they tortured her. It was beyond cruel—all for something she did four years ago in self-defense. They had no intentions in killing her, wanting her to feel the fear of her impending death—wanting to chase her...to enjoy the hunt. They had used the events of that night against her. If there was one thing left on this planet that could affect Carter, it was what act of violence she had done.

With Carter strapped down to a chair, blood covering her face, arms, chest, and stomach, it wasn't hard to do what needed to be done. Him and Raeven never problems being the bad guys. If there were ever a person that needed to be hated, then so be it. They were used to being the bad guys, so it was only natural for them to be the ones to hurt people, not what the cost. People often wondered why they had little to no friends. Nights like last night and always stepping up to fill the evil-role was the reason why.

Even though it had to be done, he hated killing those people to save Carter. He hated seeing her in such pain. Seeing her being tortured had been bad enough, but it was easy to ignore his pity. Raeven was there so they were both enduring the same mental anguish while Carter suffered through the physical. Last night, he was the only one to have a heavy heart about the whole thing. He feared that Carter might hate him for it. He was afraid that his sudden violence—showing his bloodthirsty nature—would cause her to hate him more than she originally did when they met four years ago.

She knew it was a mistake to be in there with him. She could sense it in her bones that what was going to happen next would come back and bite her in the ass. There was always like this magnetic force pushing them together—had been since they met. She may have been aching, may be needy but she would not become one of those girls. She just couldn't. Then, she let herself have a moment to imagine what it could be like if she allowed herself to be reckless and stupid. It would be wonderful...dangerous. It would be toe curling and heart pounding, but tomorrow when the sun came up and shone over her guilt, she knew she would have to look Stiles in the eyes eventually, she wasn't certain she could handle it.

She knew just how incredible he looked in the shower—something she had marveled over numerous of times. He was tempting her and he couldn't even see her standing there. He always look glorious in the low glow of the moonlight, shadows casting wonderful lines over his upper body and shoulders. The lines of muscles seemed deeper, more intense. His eyes were taunting, tempting and she had always found herself getting lost in them. He was too damn intoxicating for his own good.

He was in the shower a bit longer than he had anticipated, so he turned the water off and opened the shower to step out. Before he could even take a foot outside the shower and grab a towel, Carter was standing in his bedroom, slowly unbuttoning her shirt—shrugging it off her shoulders before moving to her shorts. He tried hiding how shocked he was, but failed miserably as his eyes wandered her body.