Into the Flames → Liam Dunbar [2]

Chapter Fifteen

All the werewolves in the school heard the scream.

Liam was the first to react. He knew that scream from anywhere because frankly, he had heard it several times too many. His usually slouched figure perked up in his desk. Their teacher yelled at him as he ran down the halls to the school exit.

The only reason he had gone to school was because they couldn't tell anyone she was dead. He had to act like everything was normal. There was nothing normal in Beacon Hills. There was nothing normal at all. She wasn't normal. She was gone.

It couldn't have been her. She was gone. She hadn't had a heartbeat for days. She was gone.

But still, Liam ran. He ran all the way to the animal clinic where her body was. He didn't bother with a car. It would have taken too long in the traffic. The door was locked. It was why the glass covered the floor only a few moments later. Scott McCall wasn't far behind. He was riding in the truck with Theo. They had heard it too, and they knew it was her. They just couldn't believe it either.

There was no way that Addison Ryder was still alive. Neither of them even bothered to notice the broken glass as they ran into the clinic. Liam was in there, his back slouched against the wall and tears down his face.

"She's gone. Addy's gone."

Liam was broken. The girl that he was utterly in love with was not only dead, but missing. His heart was beating like crazy and if Theo didn't calm him down he would have had a heart attack. He was too young to feel that amount of pain, too young for that great of heartbreak.

Scott pulled out his phone and dialled Lydia's number. She answered on the second ring with a confusion in her tone.

"Lydia, are you with Parrish?" his voice cracked as well. Addy's body was gone. She was gone. Again. And it was his fault, he should have told her family, he shouldn't have lied to them because it would only hurt everyone more in the end.

"Yeah, why?"

"Addison... she's gone." Parrish was the only one that would have taken her, but that still wouldn't explain the scream. They were scared, really scared about what was happening with her. If it wasn't him who had taken her then how else could she have been taken? 

Liam was digging his fingernails, or more so claws into his palms. It was the only thing that could keep him calm at the moment. Theo was nervously chewing on the corner of his nail as he watched the two. 

The table where Addy had laid was replaced with ashes that surrounded the edge. The whole surface had been blackened. It looked like a blow torch had been taken to it. Or someone who could just suddenly burst into flames.

"What?" Lydia exclaimed. It was impossible. The only person who would have taken dead chimera bodies was standing right next to her. There was no way that Parrish took Addy.

"We-we heard her. She screamed, and we came here, and she-she's gone," Scott stuttered. It definitely wasn't the weirdest thing that had happened in Beacon Hills, but it was near the top of the list of 'actually impossible.' There wasn't too many things in that town that fell under that list. 

"How is that possible?" There was a flicker of hope that maybe she was still alive, that maybe she was never really dead. She had to have been gone, though. Liam had been by her side for hours and hadn't heard a single heat beat come from her. Not even an alpha could do that, not even Scott.

"I-I don't know. Lydia, you have to find it. Find the nemeton."

"I will. Find Addy."

"I will." He ended the call and shoved his phone in his pocket. "We have to find her."