Instinct » Liam Dunbar [Book 3]

24

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR » BONES
"Holy hell."

☽

"Hey, it's me again. I, uh, don't know why you can't seem to call me back. Maybe it's because you think you're punishing me. But this is too long. I-it's too much. And it's not about us.

Something's happening in Beacon Hills, to the people here. I just– I need to know everyone there with you is ok. Just please call me. Please. One call, that's all I'm asking for. And if you can't call me back then I'll get my answer anyway. That means I'm coming up there myself. If I don't get a call from you, I'm coming up there. So just try– try to remember. It's my pack too."

Scott flipped the phone shut heavily, leaving the room in silence.

"You pulled this off one of the bodies in the woods?" Theo questioned, watching my brother closely from his position on the other side of the room.

"Malia did," Liam confirmed.

"Yeah, there were six dead bodies," Scott replied grimly. "And one of them had no face."

"Okay," Theo began, stepping forwards to stand beside Mason and I. "So the one with no face, you think that's the woman on the phone?"

Scott responded with a small shrug, leaning back against the table with an exasperated sigh. He glanced down at the flip phone in his hand. "Maybe."

"It's the same thing that happened to Aaron," Mason spoke up. He began to cross over to the other side of the room, rubbing his hand thoughtfully over his chin. "It took over his body, basically stole his face and his DNA. So that means, whoever this woman is, she can be the other half of the anuk-ite."

"Which means she's just half of the problem," Theo said, arching his eyebrows as he turned back to face Scott. "The other half we already know about."

"We don't know where he is though," Liam reminded.

"Okay, hold on," Theo started again. "Aren't we supposed to keep both halves apart? We know about one half, let's just go for that one. That's Aaron."

Silence lapsed between the group as everybody began to slowly process Theo's idea. I didn't like agreeing with him, but he had raised a good point.

"I'm not agreeing with Theo, but I do think it'd be easier to track down Aaron over a voice on a phone," Mason said, his response causing Liam to raise his eyebrows.

"That's agreeing with Theo."

"Yeah..." Mason trailed off. "But I thought I'd try and soften the blow a bit."

"Well, I also agree with Theo and Mason," I added on, sharing a look with Mason, who gave me a small smile. "We should work with what we've got."

Theo shot me a sideways glance, before shaking his head. "Is everyone completely shocked that I might be right?"

"No, we just don't like it," Liam replied firmly, his jaw clenching as he shifted to face Scott.

"Maybe we're all right, maybe we should be looking for both. Aaron and the woman on the phone." Scott said, his eyes meeting mine momentarily. "And since you guys agree..."

Mason glanced from Theo, to me, and then back to Scott. "Wait you mean...us and–"

"Them?" Theo interjected in disgust. I narrowed my eyes into a glare.

"Yeah," Scott said, noticing the look on my face. "Or– well, Bex could come with us."

"Oh, no, no, no," Mason shook his head immediately, grabbing my arm as if it would stop me from moving anywhere. "She stays."