Hey!

Sorry for the late update! Here you go! Btw, I love reading your comments, especially about my character, Thea. She was supposed to be an innocent, harmless character, but I thought, why not make her interesting? So, I toyed with her character and we'll see how she ends up ;)

~Lissa

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"So, Tyler succumbed to his wounds?" Kolton asked, a devious smirk stretching on his face. The next morning, while everybody was running back and forth after Tyler's motionless body was discovered, I was standing outside, calm. The majority of my pack were creating fires and hunting for food - Kolton shifted back and forth on his feet, folding his arms across his chest. In the backyard, Drew and a few of his pack members were digging a hole for Tyler. Of course, Drew was upset and had locked himself in a room for an hour until eventually deciding he wanted to be the one to bury his brother. "His heart just stopped, huh?"

I looked at him. "What are you implying?"

"You know what I'm implying," he countered, releasing a chuckle. "It's a little strange that he was healing just fine and then all of a sudden, he died." I pinched my lips together and glanced around, holding myself together. "I'll be honest, you continue to surprise me. You defeated a werewolf and took over this pack, allowed me to torture Tyler, nearly allowed me to decapitate him, and then, you killed him yourself." I started tapping my foot, a little nervous that he, of all people, was seeing right through me. "Tell me, how'd it feel to kill him and get away with it?"

"Drop it."

"Why'd you do it?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Did you really hate him that much?"

"Listen to me, I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, narrowing my eyes at him in warning. "If I was you, I'd be quiet."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone." I eyed him, wondering if it was possible for me to trust him or not. "And, I doubt any of them will figure it out." With a huff, I shook my head and remained quiet, not confessing or denying anything. "You see, I knew you'd kill him; it was in your eyes and I knew exactly how you were going to do it. Make sure there was no suspicion about his death." He chuckled and scratched his jaw, the wickedness in his eyes burning. "After all, psychopaths think alike."

"You are a psychopath."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "I fall under a lot of things, such as psychopath, mass murderer, lunatic, monster." From the corner of my eye, I witnessed him grin at me. "I know I'm a bad person."

I frowned. "And, you don't want to change?"

"No, I don't," Kolton admitted, bluntly. "I know I'm an awful person; I'm all of those things that I listed and it doesn't bother me. I killed my family - my parents and my younger sister in order to obtain power. I killed my best friend when he claimed that I totally lost it." A chill crept up my spine as I listened to him speak, finally seeing how horrible he was. "I have the ability to change, just like everybody else, but I choose not to. I believe that is when a person is considered a monster, when they know they are and they don't care."

"How do you expect anybody to like you?" I blurted, raising an eyebrow. "When you're a monster? A horrible person?"

"I don't need people to like me," he answered, seriously. "I need people to respect and follow me." He gave me a pointed look, before waltzing off towards the treeline, joining Pete. I stood there for a long moment, replaying his words in my head. Kolton was a monster, just like Tyler, but for some reason, I didn't want him dead. Rubbing my temples, I turned around and headed back into the cabin, ignoring the people surrounding me. Caine was speaking with Nora who appeared frantic and worried while Ryker was situated at the kitchen table, his arm wrapped around Emma. I wandered throughout the cabin until I bumped into Ethen who immediately snatched my arm and pulled me into the nearest room.

"Thea," he spoke, quickly shutting the door. "You better start explaining. Now." My heart skipped a beat and I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing a confused expression to appear on my face. "Tyler."

I shrugged. "What about him?"

"Don't play dumb," he told me, seriously. "I've been around for centuries, Thea. Believe me, I've dealt with a lot of dead bodies and I know a homicide when I see one." Judging by his tone, he wasn't very happy with me; actually, he appeared upset and disappointed. "Tyler had been coughing up blood from internal damage and some of his blood was left on the pillow after you smothered him." I froze and he added, "Don't worry, I took care of it."

"Are you mad?" I asked, quietly.

"More shocked," he admitted, staring down at me. "This isn't you. The Thea that I met at the facility wouldn't kill someone, just because she hated them." I dropped my head, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "What's going on?"

"Tyler recognized me from the facility," I told him, avoiding his eyes. "If I didn't do something, he was going to tell." A long moment of silence stretched between us and he swore under his breath, rubbing his jaw.

He licked his bottom lip. "You should've let me taken care of it."

"How would you have done that?" I asked, a little harshly. "You would've done the same thing."

"No, I wouldn't have."

I huffed. "I didn't notice the blood on the pillow." His beautiful emerald eyes narrowed slightly and I folded my arms across my chest, inching away from him. "Look, it was either me or him. If I didn't kill him, he would've exposed me to everybody and if they didn't kill me, he would've killed me at some point. I had to do it, Ethen. To protect me and Temp, okay?" The look on his face made my stomach twist and a burn form in my eyes. "I was protecting myself and I was protecting Temp. That was all that was on my mind."

"I would've protected you," he argued, stepping towards me. "I wouldn't have let anything happen to you."

"What about Temp?"

"I would've protected him for you," he whispered, shaking his head. "I would do anything for you, Thea. If you had told me about Tyler recognizing you - if you had told me that you wanted him dead, I would've killed him in a heartbeat and not carelessly." He dragged a hand down his face, taking a deep breath. "I don't think you understand what this means."

I frowned. "So, you can kill somebody, but I can't?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying," he muttered, a pained expression on his face. "Well, actually, maybe. Look, one day, you're going to look back at this. Everybody talks about moving forward and forgetting about the past, but that's not the case. One day, you're going to look back at all of this; you're going to look back at your mistakes, your choices, your kills. And, it's going to be overwhelming and painful - you might not regret it now, but you will. I'm only trying to save you from yourself." I swallowed the lump in my throat, processing his words. "I've committed murder and no matter how much I hated that person or how much I thought they deserved to die, I regret it. Every one of them."

"I'm not you," I argued, tossing my hands into the air. "Everybody is different. Maybe I won't feel regret and maybe - "

"You have bloodshed on your hands," he interrupted, seriously. "Let that sink in." My shoulders became heavy, my stomach tightened, and there was a painful sensation in my chest. "This isn't the facility where you tested on werewolves and allowed their murders - this is a murder that you committed with your own hands." He jabbed a finger towards the closed door, his jaw clenched. "What you did was impulsive and careless, but don't get me wrong, I understand why you felt the need to kill him. But, did you even think about how it would affect others? Like Drew?"

I took a shaky breath. "Ethen, I will always put the ones that I care about first." A tear escaped my eye and quickly, I wiped it off my cheek with my thumb. "My family, Temp, you - and as selfish as it sounds, myself. I look out for my loved ones and I look out for myself. That's how it is." The frustrated expression on his face caused another tear to escape my eye. "When you left me in that forest, left me with no idea where or how you were, I was forced to fight against a werewolf for my survival. Shockingly, I won and I killed him. This wasn't my first murder." His eyebrows shot up and when he opened his mouth to speak, I continued. "If killing Tyler comes as a surprise to you, then you really don't know me."

"Maybe I don't," he admitted, a little coldly. "The Thea that I met at the facility wouldn't be controlling a rapid pack, killing people, trying to -" Then, all of a sudden, his eyes locked on the mark on my wrist, the one that was left after falling victim to a Torment. I shoved my wrist behind my back in embarrassment, but he snatched my forearm, yanking it towards him. His emerald eyes shifted between my face and the mark for several moments, before he spoke. "Why didn't you tell me? Do you have any idea what this means?"

"It's none of your business," I told him, tugging my arm from his grasp. "It's in the past."

"Thea, the few surviving victims out there are known to have problems," he informed me, carefully. "Uh, mentally." He shoved a hand through his thick hair, exhaling loudly. "This explains a lot, believe it or not."

"This explains nothing."

"You're unstable," he said, bluntly. "Listen, I can help you, Thea. Damn it, you should've told me; if I had known. . ."

"If you had known, you would've been looking at me every second of the day with that expression you have on right now," I responded, coldly. The expression on his face was similar to pity, yet understanding. The expression stirred the pot of anger inside of me and I raised my chin, confidently. "Forget about this. I'm fine. Now, I'm going to go see Temp; I'm actually wanting to be in his presence more than yours."

"Thea - "

I was already out the door.