CHAPTER NINETEEN » RELEASE
"Did you really just want me here to talk?"

☽

"I'm not letting them out," Sheriff Stilinski stated firmly later that evening, dropping a file down on the table with a loud crash. "We got two bodies covered in slash marks. They confessed to killing two people."

"Hunters," Scott corrected, looking up at him with an incredulous expression on his face, as if he couldn't quite believe that Stilinski wasn't taking our side straight away.

"People."

"Assholes," I muttered under my breath, obviously loud enough for everyone to hear as their attention all turned to me momentarily. Malia, but down on her lip, seeming to be stifling a laugh, whilst Stilinski shot me an unimpressed look.

"Self defence or not," Sheriff Stilinski's hard eyes turned back to address Scott. "They're still here, the other guys are dead. And there's a process I have to follow."

"But you know what's happening around here," Scott argued. "It's not safe for them–"

"This may actually be the safest place for them in Beacon Hills," Stilinski interjected, his voice rising in exasperation. "At least I can protect them in here."

"Would Stiles think that?" Lydia shot back, Stilinski's attention falling on her almost immediately after the words left her mouth.

"Especially if one of your deputies is working for Gerard," Malia added.

"I'm not buying that."

"That's bullshit," I found myself snapping back before I could hold my tongue. He raised his eyebrows at my sudden outburst, but I couldn't stop myself. "There's people all over this town that want us dead," I continued venomously. "So that probably doesn't exclude your precious damn deputies."

"I know these deputies like the back of my hand," he responded, whilst a hand fell on my shoulder. I glanced up to look at Scott, but he was concentrating on listening carefully. "I know their families, their kids, their brothers, sisters. I know who they are. And I trust them."

"You know who they were," Liam countered. "There's something out there, everyone's afraid and it's getting worse."

"You can't protect two werewolves from hunters if they're already on the inside," Scott continued, as Sheriff Stilinski looked between us all in bemusement for a moment. Eventually, he glanced behind us, directing his attention to the werewolf, Quinn, who had been sat silently.

She'd come to the house, scaring the shit out of Liam and I when she stumbled through the door all of a sudden, looking for my brother. Scott, Malia and Lydia returned home minutes after she'd turned up, practically interrogating her about what had happened – which was how we'd ended up here.

"It's Quinn, right?" The brunette girl nodded in response. "And you're sure it's a deputy who shot you? Absolutely one hundred percent sure?"

She nodded her head again, her eyes flickering down to the floor as she seemed to recall back to what had happened. "I saw flashing lights. A police car. A badge. A gun. And then they shot me," she stated, lifting her head. "They shot me in the head. That's all I remember."

Sheriff Stilinski sighed, his palms resting back on the desk again. "There's a couple holes in her story."

"Maybe because there's a hole in her head," Lydia countered sarcastically.

The comment caused Malia to burst into laughter, eventually stopping when she realised nobody else was, instead we were all watching her. I felt my lips tug into a slight smile, as I quickly tried to push away my own desire to laugh. "I'm sorry."

Scott shook his head, looking at Malia for a moment longer before turning back to Stilinski. "Sherrif, we need to get Jiang and Tierney out of here before anyone realises that they're here."

"And take them where?" Stilinski shot back. "I can't let them go."

"But if you keep them here they're–"

The Sheriff cut Lydia off mid sentence, holding his hand up. "Look, if there's a problem–"

The lights suddenly burst to life, taking my attention away from Stilinski and his unreasonable, shitty attitude. The six of us paused, and I found myself looking over at Lydia, an unsettling feeling building within me.

"It's them," she said, letting out an exasperated breath. "They're here."

"Who's here?" Stilinski asked in confusion. I turned back to face him.

"Hunters."

~

I stood beside Scott at the window, watching through the blinds, as Sheriff Stilinski headed outside to confront the large group of hunters surrounding us. From what I'd gathered, they weren't reasonable people. And it looked as if we were going to end up fighting our way out of the situation.

Malia suddenly stepped away, eyes darting around the room in a frantic urgency. "We have to get out of here," she said, sudden intense amounts of fear radiating from her. I watched her with a frown.

"Give him a chance, he knows what he's doing," Scott responded, oblivious to how severe these feelings seemed to be. He cast a brief look back at Malia before turning back to the window without another word.

"I am giving him a chance, he can talk all he wants, but we have to get the hell out of here," she rushed out.

"How do we get Jiang and Tierney out then?" Liam asked, as all of us turned our attention towards Malia.

"Screw them," she replied bluntly. "That's Stilinski's job."

"But it's our job to keep them alive."

The door began to open, and Malia whipped around quickly as Theo walked through the door. "Not mine."

I rolled my eyes, having wondered how long it would take him to show his face again. Liam started forwards, seeming incredibly annoyed just by seeing his face. "You want me to kill him?"

"No, just leave him," Malia dismissed immediately, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Usually, she'd never pass up on the idea of someone killing Theo. What had gotten her so afraid? "Can we please go?"

"We're not going anywhere, don't you get it?" Quinn snapped, her voice completely panic stricken, but still so harsh that I found myself stepping protectively towards my friend. "We're trapped, they have all of the windows and doors covered. We're going to die in here."

"Does someone wanna kill her?" Theo snapped, pointing to the brunette.

"Shut up!" Malia suddenly yelled, storming towards him angrily, taking Theo by slight surprise. I shared a look with Scott, who was watching the scene unfold with concerned eyes.

He stopped forwards, placing a hand on Malia's arm. "Malia?" He asked gently, prompting her to turn back around to face him. "Take a breath, you're shaking."

"I'm fine," she replied unconvincingly, her eyes seeming wide with alarm as she looked over at us.

"Guys, there's only a dozen of them out there, we can take them," Lydia suddenly stated, causing Scott to blink rapidly, as if he was struggling to keep up with everyone.

"Scott, they're the last of Satomi's pack," Liam reminded firmly, pointing towards the door. "We can't leave them behind."

"He's right," I chimed in, locking eyes with my brother. "We can't leave them." No matter what they'd done, they were still Satomi's pack, which meant they were part of Brett's pack. I owed it to him.

Scott glanced over at all of us, finally resting his eyes on Malia, placing both his hands on her forearms. "Okay, we go." Malia nodded quickly, as Scott turned back to the rest of us. "But Jiang and Tierney are coming with us."

~

Liam and Scott had managed to break out Jiang and Tierney from their cells, and shortly afterwards all ten of us made our way towards the window, where we could still see Stilinski still talking things over with Monroe.

Scott, leading the way, came to a stop, staring intently at the scene outside for a moment before turning back to face the rest of us. "You ready?"

Malia let out a short growl in response, whilst I gave my brother a firm nod of assurance, flashing my eyes green. Scott's gaze then fell on Liam, who turned his hand over, claws extending. Finally, he raised his eyebrows and looked to Theo, who seemed to glance quickly over at the rest of us before sighing and rolling his eyes at the drama of it all, reluctantly holding up a clawed hand. Satisfied, Scott turned back to the front, as the group of us began to ready ourselves to fight.

"Nobody's going anywhere."

I turned my head back around at the sound of Stilinski's voice, watching in confusion, and slight irritation, as him and Parrish stopped in the doorway.

"I can get through them," Lydia assured, but Stilinski merely shook his head dismissively.

"We're not gonna fire the first shot," he stated. "Now get back from the door, all of you. Parrish, get these two back in their cell," he motioned over to Jiang and Tierney, who both shared an anxious look as Deputy Parrish made his way over.

Scott pushed forwards, moving through the gap between us all, to reach the Sheriff. "What happened?"

"She gave us until midnight."

I swallowed thickly, turning my attention to him. "What does that mean?"

"It means we have to come up with something," he responded, his eyes drawing back to Scott. "And fast."

~

"This is ridiculous," I muttered under my breath, my arms crossed over my chest as I stared out of the window. Around me, everybody began to prepare for whatever was coming, pushing filing cabinets and anything else that was heavy against the doors.

"How are they managing this?" Liam questioned, moving back from the window and turning to face me instead.

"No idea," I responded glumly, glancing back down at my phone, as if I expected it to suddenly no longer read 'NO SERVICE.' "I don't care how we do this," I looked up, lifting my gaze to meet Liam's. "I'm not backing down to them."

All of a sudden, the lights seemed to crackle overhead, flickering lazily for a few moments before eventually shutting off completely, swallowing us in darkness.

That couldn't be good.

"How easy is it to cut the power in a Sheriff station?" Malia questioned aloud.

"Too easy!"

I turned to my left, watching as one of the deputies roughly threw somebody to the floor. He scrambled up a short distance away, looking up at all of us with wide, fearful eyes.

I stepped forwards, recognising who it was almost instantly. "Throw him out."

"N-no you can't, okay?" Nolan stuttered out shakily, edging further away from all of us. "Don't. She'll know I screwed up."

"He's with them," Liam snapped through gritted teeth as he moved forwards, causing Nolan to flinch.

"Liam," Scott cautioned, sparing a brief glance at him before his eyes softened, attention falling back on Nolan.

"Scott," I bit back, raising my eyebrows at my brother's forgiving nature. He turned back to me for a moment as I shook my head, shifting my gaze moments later. 

Parrish stepped forwards. "Sheriff," he prompted.

Liam snapped his head round to face Stilinski. "He's a liar, and he's sick in the head," he seethed, his finger pointed towards Nolan, who was cowering far into a corner. I glared down at him, my mind flashing back to what had happened at school. Taking a deep, shaky breath, I stepped away, turning my back, unable to even stand looking at him.

"And now he's under arrest," Stilinski stated, sending a nod over at Parrish. "Lock him up."

Deputy Parrish took the cue, moving over to Nolan and pulling him up by the arm. I clenched my jaw, watching as he escorted him past me and out of the room.

"Bex," Scott said quietly, lowering his voice as he leaned closer to me. I exhaled deeply, feeling the blood pounding heavily in my ears. "Calm down."

My brother motioned towards my hands, which I soon realised had been balled into fists. I glanced down, opening them up again to see bloodied claw marks in my hands.

"Come on," Liam said, still seeming frustrated by the run in with Nolan. "I need to take a walk."

In desperate need to burn off some steam, I followed Liam as we headed to the door, aware of the fact that Theo, for some unknown reason, was following closely behind us. Whether Liam noticed or not, he continued walking, the tense silence beginning to irritate me even further.

"They're recruiting school kids," I eventually stated as Liam angrily pushed open a door. I slipped through after him, suddenly remembering that Theo was still following after us.

"Jesus, Dunbar," I heard him mutter only moments after a heavy thud had sounded, suggesting that the heavy door had swung back on him, and that I'd likely missed an incredibly great moment.

"Stop following us, asshole," I bit back, trying to keep up with Liam's fast strides.

"We need to talk," Theo protested, as I rolled my eyes again, continuing to follow Liam, who then slammed his hands against the bathroom doors, storming inside. "Monroe is not gonna stop," Theo started again, his voice rising with frustration when neither Liam or I responded. "Nothing we say is gonna make them get in their cars and drive away. Those two losers killed hunters."

Liam came to a sudden stop, almost causing me to stumble into him, and whipped around to face Theo. "Who killed their pack."

"So what?!" Theo yelled back. "Monroe is gonna tear through anything standing through her and them. That means you, Bex, Lydia, Malia and Scott. You gonna watch your friends die?"

"You gonna watch hunters murder them?" Liam shot back. "Jiang and Tierney weren't the only ones that were part of Satomi's pack!"

Theo let out a short, breathy laugh, as if he couldn't believe Liam could be so stupid – but I couldn't help defending him. "They've already killed people, okay?" I added on, as Theo spared an annoyed glance to the side. "People that we cared about–"

"Yeah, right," Theo started again, seeming completely disinterested. "The hit and run. Sorry if I'm not losing sleep over some random road kill–"

"They were murdered!" Liam and I shouted at the exact same time, our loud, frustrated voices blurring together. Liam shook his head at Theo, continuing on as I glanced down at my trembling hands. "Brett and Lori."

Theo looked up in the air as if he couldn't care less, the action finally causing me to snap. "They didn't have anything to do with this!" I yelled, stepping forwards and jabbing a finger at Theo's chest. "They didn't deserve it!"

"So what, you think saving those two is gonna make everything feel better?" He retorted back, his words hitting me at full force. I felt my body jolt, feeling as if I'd just been punched in the gut. Liam and I both paused as Theo scoffed heartlessly, glancing between us both. "Your dead friends, are dead. And they're gonna stay dead no matter what you do–"

Liam suddenly lunged forwards, his fist flying and connecting hard with Theo's face, the force of his punch so strong that it knocked Theo against the wall. He let out a grunt, sliding down to the floor limply with a thud.

I let out a surprised breath, watching as Liam began to move past, stepping over Theo. "By the way, I'm still working on my anger."

Theo raised a hand, letting out a pained groan. "Good to know."

Liam paused in the doorway, looking back at me when he realised I hadn't followed. "You coming?"

I glanced down at Theo once more, before lifting my eyes to Liam again. "No, I'm not quite finished with him yet."

Liam hesitated for a moment, eyes hardening as his gaze shifted between us both, until he eventually nodded, disappearing from sight. After a few moments I stepped away, leaning back against the sinks with my arms crossed over my chest. I pursed my lips together, watching Theo struggle to pull himself up from the floor.

"Thanks for your help."

"You're a dick," I responded, as Theo let out a short-lived amused laugh, tilting his head to the side.

"You're probably right," he then said, fingers tightly gripping onto the edge of the nearest sink to pull himself up.

"Where've you been?" I questioned, watching him through narrowed eyes as he spent a few seconds brushing himself down before eventually turning his attention to me.

"Being tortured, electrocuted," he responded nonchalantly, his shoulders rising and falling with a brief hint of a shrug. "You know, the usual."

"It was Schrader, right?" I asked, my question causing Theo's expression to become tainted with confusion. "The guy from Eichen?"

"How'd you know?"

"Had a vision," I replied, moving myself away from the sink to cross over to the other side of the room.

"You didn't think to help?"

I glanced up in the air, keeping my back to him as I looked through the window. "Didn't think you wanted anyone's help?"

Theo didn't respond, leaving me to my own devices. I expected him to walk away after a while, but he didn't, leaving us deep in a silence, with nothing left to say.

He was still there though, I could feel his presence and it was bothering me. Water from the tap began to drip into the sink, each one reverberating through the room. Yet, neither of us moved to stop it.

The air was brittle, as if it could just be snapped easily like a twig. And if it didn't snap any time soon, then I was sure I might do instead.

"Right, that's it," I started, turning my head slightly, Theo's chiselled face catching my eyes again. "You're driving me mad."

Theo held his hands up in defence, the left corner of his mouth tugging into a small smirk. He watched me with a quirked eyebrow, a skill I really wished I could master. "I didn't say anything."

"You–" I cut off, huffing. "Your face is saying things."

Theo let out a scoff, his eyes narrowed as he tilted his head slightly. I caught sight of it, the of the action infuriating me even further due to how amused he looked about the whole situation. "You were the one who said you weren't finished with me, only to just stand in silence when we finally got some alone time."

Biting my tongue, I shook my head in annoyance, beginning to brush past him until he grabbed my wrist. Our gazes locked, and I froze for a moment, feeling as if I was unable to move away.

"I got your voicemail, the other night," he said, his eyes still on me. My mouth fell dry, and I parted my lips slightly to try and regain my breath. "Looks like we still have unfinished business." The room swayed slightly as a feeling heated in my chest. I tore my eyes away, looking to the side momentarily as I tried to figure out the words to say. "Or did you really just want me here to talk?"

My eyes found their way back to his, noticing how his focus was still solely on me. His lips parted slightly, and I found myself thinking about how much I wanted them on mine, the thought completely teasing my willpower.

Theo shifted his gaze to the side, before his dark eyes drew back to me again. I brought my bottom lip between my teeth momentarily, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Rebecca?" His said lowly. The sound of his voice deep and gritty, sending me completely over the edge.

"I don't wanna talk," I finally decided, holding my gaze as he began to nod slowly. I found myself breathing in deeply, my resistance crumbling as I began to close the distance between us.

Theo's hand reached under my hair, below my ear, his thumb resting on my cheek. My lips parted, as our breaths began to mingle. He began to draw closer towards me, and he did it slowly, the wait driving me crazy.

One touch and it was over always seemed to be the way with me when it came down to Theo Raeken, and I think he knew it. I slid my hand up to his chest, as his own hands brushed against my hips, pulling me closer towards him.

He moved me backwards slightly, both of us stopping as my back came into contact with the wall. Theo placed a hand beside my head, his warm body moving closer against me, deepening the kiss.

My head began to swim, all of my previous thoughts, all of my pent up tension and emotions releasing, becoming dissolved in one moment.

He moved away momentarily, but I soon felt hot breath against my neck, my skin burning as his lips came into contact with it. I let my eyes close shut, as a deep warmth spread through me. I was trying to be indifferent, not wanting him to know how much power he held over me, but as he ran a hand through my hair, his kisses becoming harder and more urgent, I found showing indifference to become more and more difficult.

I breathed out heavily, feeling his hand beginning to slide up from my waist, the movement lifting my shirt slightly, allowing his fingers to graze against my skin. I began to lose all rational, melting against his touch, desire taking over until the sound of a violent crash brought me back into reality.

Theo pulled away from me slowly, stepping back and turning his head in the direction of the door. "You hear that?"

A commotion seemed to sound from the main room, as people began to cough and splutter heavily.

It took me a moment to pull myself together before I moved away from the wall, coming to Theo's side, my arm accidentally brushing against his. "Yeah, we should go."

With a nod, Theo headed out of the door first, checking both ways were clear before motioning me to follow on. It didn't take long to find our
way back down the corridor and locate the room, the pillar of dust and smoke billowing out from the open door being the big giveaway.

"What the hell?" I paused at the sight of a purple mist, stopping slightly behind Theo as I made eye contact with my brother. My heart pounded, feeling as if I'd just been caught red handed.

Quickly, I shook the thoughts away, unsure as to why my mind was so swarmed with guilt after kissing Theo. But that wasn't even important, we had other things to deal with.

"Where's Liam?" Scott called over to me, and as I glanced around the room, I realised he wasn't back yet. Dread filled me as my brother continued to look at me quizzically, and I immediately feared the worst.

"Wolfsbane," the word suddenly startled me, and I turned my head, relieved to see Liam as he shoved a small bottle towards Scott's face. "He was trying to kill them." I glanced over, my eyes meeting Nolan's crazed blue ones. "Scott," Liam started again. "There's something else you need to see."

My brother nodded at Theo, who took over without a word, grabbing Nolan's arm roughly as Scott and Liam began to head back to the cells.

Once they were both out of sight, I took a step towards Nolan, gritting my teeth as I came to a stop in front of him. "You crazy son of a bitch–"

"Rebecca," Sheriff Stilinski clasped a hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. "We'll deal with him, okay?"

Reluctantly, I nodded, keeping my eyes narrowed into a glare as I watched Parrish take Nolan away again. Theo's eyebrows drew together in confusion, as he motioned his head towards him. "That kid do something to you?"

"You don't even wanna know."

❥

A/N

annoyed! Becca™ is a mood.

the anuk-ite and the grief of losing Brett is already starting to get to Becca so there are many more angsty scenes to come 👌🏼

Theo and Rebecca – a dynamic duo? a dream team? or should the ship just die before it can sail?

Feel like I've been a bit of a snake after that last chapter built Becca and Liam's connection up again, and now I've just thrown in a curveball with Becca and Theo 😂 But it's important to remember the nature of Bec and Theo's relationship and that there's literally no emotional connection between them, it's just a way that she's chosen to help her deal with things :)