Nefarious ➛ Theo Raeken [2]

|01|

Even in the middle of winter New Orleans, Louisiana was decently warm.

It had surprised her when they had first arrived in Evelyn's former city of residence that she could walk around in a dress and not feel the biting cold against her skin. She had gotten so used to being cold before she had died the first time and shortly after that, but she had gotten used to being warmed up by Theo. Now she missed the way that he would keep her warm and the chill against her skin.

It had been two months of pain and suffering.

Two months of searching through every option until the school had taken a break for the holidays. Two months of not hearing anything from Evelyn's contacts in New Orleans until one day they called the woman and said that they might have found something that could help the chimera and her pack out.

She had been wary of going to the city that never seemed to sleep, especially after hearing Evelyn's horror stories about the place that she had been living in for four years until she had suddenly got word that Clarissa was searching for her. She had been wary of the sudden idea that they could help her especially as she packed up her bags and her siblings demanded that they would come with her.

Organizing a trip for two chimeras, a witch, three werewolves, a hellhound, three humans, and a banshee had been a nightmare. It had taken them weeks to get organized and packed up to go and even then, Clarissa felt like bringing all of them into a city that was surrounded by danger was a horrible idea.

The phone was against her ear and she wanted to drop it on the asphalt and stomp on it as she spoke to the teenager on the other end of the line. She had ignored the first five attempts that he had called her but when it reached number six, Clarissa knew she had to answer him.

It had been radio silent for two months from the majority of the McCall pack. Any time Clarissa had seen them when she had returned to school, she turned and walked away in the other direction. She couldn't exactly ignore Lydia and Liam, especially when both of them had turned up at Evelyn's house to apologize and offer their help even though they didn't seem one hundred percent okay with the idea. She hadn't forgiven them immediately and she would never forget what happened, but she couldn't deny the small hint of happiness that came with their presence.

"I promise that I won't lose your beta or Mason, McCall." Clarissa was irritated with the other teenager who had called her and accused her of kidnapping Liam as retribution for the pain that he had caused the girl. She knew it probably wasn't the best idea to bring the younger teenager with them out of fear of retaliation from Scott, but Liam and Mason's parents supported the trip because of their supervision even if they didn't know exactly why they were going. "They're with my brothers and Brett, who are with Evelyn, Lori, and Parrish."

"You just said you weren't going to let them out of your sight." Scott hissed towards the girl and she knew he wanted to drive across the country and attack her for her plot. It had been strained between the packs since they had sent Theo into the pits of hell and they were all aware of the growing tension because Clarissa kept involving members of the other pack into her own schemes. She felt the slightest fear of retaliation from Scott, but she couldn't deny the pleasure she felt by irritating the alpha. "Let me talk to Stiles or Lydia."

Clarissa's eyes widened comically as she shot the teenagers next to her a look of disbelief. She had been surprised that Stiles and Lydia were willing to come along with their pack to New Orleans, especially since they were there to find a way to bring Theo back.

She had grown closer to the teenage boy in the span of a two months since she had collapsed in his room in a fit of tears. It had been two months of continuous support and she knew that the relationship between Scott and Stiles was slightly straining under the pressure of the support that Stiles was giving her. She didn't want to ruin their bond, but she was surprised that her friend had lied to his unofficial brother for her on many occasions.