thin white lies

Chapter 3

Theo was running. He was nearly sprinting through the Preserve, four paws working overtime as he ran with inhuman speed. He wasn't sure how he got here, or why he wasn't on two legs, but he relished in the experience anyway; no asthma holding him back, no heart condition to stop him, nothing but him and the wind rushing through his fur.

Something stopped him before he got too deep into the woods, though. His hackles raised, all of his senses alerting him to something dangerous nearby, but his eyes had yet to—

A pair of glowing red eyes cut off his thoughts. His limbs tensed up in fear, preparing his lithe body to run away as the werewolf who bit Scott emerged from the bushes. It was bigger than Theo remembered, probably because he was no longer on two legs like he had been the last time he saw it, and that only scared Theo more.

"Theo," it growled. Theo wasn't even sure how it was speaking to him, but nonetheless it continued. "Join us, Theo. Become one with nature, with the moon."

Theo tried to respond, to tell it to fuck off, but all that came out of his mouth were yips and barks. They weren't the sounds of a wolf, he knew that much, but he was too preoccupied to try and figure out what shape his body had taken.

"You haven't even been bitten, yet you're already in love with the feeling of being a creature of the night, aren't you?"

It wasn't necessarily a lie. He did enjoy the strength running through his limbs, the power behind his muscles, but he knew it wasn't his. He growled at the werewolf, who rumbled out something that sounded like a laugh.

"Maybe I should have bitten you instead of Scott. You've got such a spark in you. Scott happened to be in the right place at the right time, but I could have easily bitten you earlier that night if I had really wanted to. You wouldn't have been alone, which would have made for a messy situation, but I digress."

The wolf took several more steps forward, forcing Theo to retreat until his rear end hit a tree and he couldn't move anymore. It moved to stand on two legs.

Something happened— Theo couldn't even begin to describe or put a name to what, exactly, happened, but suddenly he was human again, albeit a naked one. The wolf got closer and closer, moving his gaping jaw full of sharp and elongated teeth closer to Theo's neck.

"Well, you know what they say," the beast said, breath ghosting over Theo's skin, "Better late than never."

Theo woke up drenched in sweat, legs burning and heart thundering dangerously in his chest. One of his hands was clutched in the fabric of the tank top he wore to bed while the other fisted the sheets on his bed. He grabbed for his inhaler, sitting on his nightstand, and used it to help steady his breathing. The feeling of being hunted, of being vulnerable in front of an imminent threat, persisted as Theo got out of bed and got ready for school. It continued to linger in his bloodstream as he pulled his truck into the school parking lot. Alongside those feelings, however, was the sense of longing he had felt that day that they had found the body. His mind kept flashing back to how it had felt to run through the Preserve as an animal, as a werewolf. He was so distracted, in fact, that he didn't realize he had already walked inside of the school and had met up with Stiles until Stiles himself was waving a hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"What? Sorry, I zoned out."

"Yeah, I could tell," Stiles said. "I just asked if you were alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Long night, I guess."

Stiles didn't look like he believed him, but he let it slide anyway as Scott sidled up to them, babbling about a dream he had the night before. Theo tried his best to listen and pay attention, but honestly he couldn't find the energy or brainpower to keep up.