The Secret Holder

epilogue

The sky begins to darken from a powder cerulean to a rich indigo. Gray clouds cover the moon like a blanket.

"Do you know what time it is?" I ask Stiles quietly. My phone was broken in my fight with the Desert Wolf.

"My phone's dead...but from the looks of it, I would say a little past one," Stiles gestures to the sky.

"I think it's going to rain," I stare outside intently through the window in a dreamlike state. Getting up, I walk out of the clinic and close the glass door behind me. I turn my palms upward to face the sky. I can feel it. I can feel the rain stirring above me, the droplets already forming.

After a splitting sound is emitted from the clouds, it begins. The rain falls, slowly but surely, bleeding through my clothes, and soaking the roots of my hair. The clear water is cool and refreshing, and it helps me forget everything and every person aside from one.

"Lydia," his voice says my name. "I should take you inside...you'll get cold." Stiles's face is wet now, and he's pushing his dark hair out of his face to clear his line of sight.

"I think it's nice." I reply. I turn my head to the side, and his eyebrows are raised as if to question my sanity.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." I laugh. He looks concerned and perplexed at the same time. "There's something on your mind." It was supposed to be a question, but instead it came out as a statement.

"Scott told me there was something you wanted to tell me."

I can't think of how to explain myself to Stiles.

"Lydia," Stiles urges me.

"A couple of months ago, something happened...Something you should know about, something I was a part of." Should I say? Should I tell him? The rain is beating down steadily on our heads.

"Wait, Lydia, before you say anything else, I want to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Do you feel anything? You know...for me?" He scratches the back of his neck nervously, waiting for my answer. His amber gaze burns through my eyes, and I can barely break away.

I can feel my face falling slack before he finishes the sentence. Of course I do, I think to myself. He can't possibly think I don't feel anything for him, especially after I told him I loved him when we were on the side of the road.

"I...I don't think I should say—" I rush, knowing it's the opposite of what I feel.

His face softens, and he gently lifts my chin with his index finger so that he can see my soul. "You don't? Really?" his pupils maximize, exercising dominance. "Just tell me."

"I have feelings for you...I mean, how could I not?" Tears well up in my eyes. He leans forward so that our foreheads are touching, his eyes closed. A soft breath tickles my cheek. The tears fail to cease falling, and I can't help what I say next, my voice unsteady. "Every day, I saw you with her...and I knew you were happy, and-" Stiles interrupts my stream of words by pressing his lips against mine.

Once, twice, three times. The kiss tastes like rain and love and envy and sorrow; everything I've been feeling ever since I kissed him in that locker room.

Tears mix with water from the sky, and he pulls back. Then I remember what I know...I should have told him before all of this happened...

Suddenly, Stiles's demeanor changes. He bites down on his bottom lip, eyes narrowed.

"You're...crying...You knew about it didn't you?" He glances to the side, and grimaces from pain...or was it anger?

My heart lurches in my chest, and I feel like it's going to stop. He knows.

"I knew about what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You knew about all of it. My mom. The Desert Wolf. Malia. All of this involvement long before I did, and you didn't tell me?!"

"Stiles, I swear, I tried to," the burning tears sear my cheeks. "I never meant for this to happen,"

"Well you can go to hell, Lydia," He turns on his heel and walks back to the Jeep, his navy blue Converse sloshing in the thick water over the ground. He slams his fist into the door, before he turns back to me, his brimming hazel-like eyes darkened with fury.

"Stiles wait!" I scream, hoping he'll say something to me...anything. That he forgives me, that he'll never speak to me again...?

"Don't bother calling me. Do me and everyone else a favor and stay at Scott's."

"Stiles," My voice breaks, as he turns away, and drives off into the darkness, my heart in his hand.

                                                                             TO BE CONTINUED