third person.

LUNA HELD THEO'S HAND the entire ride around Beacon Hills as he and Mason bickered about the where Aaron could possibly be. She interjected a few times to keep everyone level headed as they didn't what they were going up against exactly when they did find Aaron. But Luna could feel her own anger building up the longer Theo let her hold his hand. Of course, they couldn't do much while he was driving and Mason was in the backseat, but the longer he held her hand the more she wanted to know what was going on in his head. She wanted to know if the little bits of affection he was showing her was the green light for their relationship to move forward.

"I'm telling you we should check the tunnels," Mason says for the fifth time behind Luna.

Theo counters with a bite in his voice, "And I'm telling you we should check the school."

"Luna, where do you think we should check?" Mason asks. Luna feels Theo squeeze her hand, and she snaps back to the moment.

She looks to Theo and then speaks over her shoulder, "I think you're right. The tunnels will probably be a better place to look than the school."

Theo sighs but he keeps Luna's hand in his as he flicks the turn signal on. Luna sighs as well and crosses her legs over one another as she gets lost in a train of thought. Theo glances over at her, taking note of her sudden change in disposition. He picked up in her chemosignals that something was bothering her over the last two days, but he didn't know what it was. He was trying, like Liam told him, to not push her away but it seemed he was doing so anyway. He squeezes her hand once again but she doesn't notice it. He lifts her hand to his lips and kisses it. She looks over at him and smiles, but he can tell she's still feeling down.

They parked close enough to a manhole so they could get down in the tunnels. Luna didn't waste much time, getting out before Theo turned the truck off. Mason was close behind her as she walked over to the manhole. It didn't take much of her strength to move the cover. The smell was horrendous but it wasn't what made her hesitate from climbing down in. An intense feeling of fear radiates out of it, and she looks to Mason to see if he feels it too. Their eyes meet. He answers her silent question with a nod. She realizes he's holding a metal bat.

Theo walks up to the two of them and asks, "What's the hold up?"

He doesn't wait for a response. He starts his climb down into the tunnels without any hesitation. Mason looks to Luna, but she motions for him to wait as she climbs down after the Chimera. As Mason climbs down the ladder, Theo and Luna look around to make sure nothing threatening is waiting nearby.

"That's a pretty egotistical thing to say," Mason says after making it to the end of the ladder, "don't you think?"

Without missing a beat, Luna says, "He says a lot of egotistical things. Which one are you referring to?"

The scraping of Theo's feet as he stops walking makes Luna turn to him after looking down one of the hallways. She only shrugs as he narrows his eyes at her.

Mason ignores her comment and repeats what Theo supposedly said, "'You'd never be able to find Aaron on your own, you're not smart enough.'"

Mason walks over to stand behind where Theo had stopped walking. Luna watches Theo turn around to stare Mason directly in the eye.

"So if you found him, what were you gonna do? Beat him up with your AP Calculus book?" Theo asks, lifting his hands in a shrug before dropping them back down to hit his thighs. Which looked really good, if Luna said so herself.

Mason lifts up his baseball bat and says, "I can be resourceful."

Theo snatches the bat out of the younger ones hands and tosses it to Luna. She catches it with ease. Mason twitches in place before placing his hands on his hips. He sighs.

"Was that necessary?" Mason asks before stepping towards Luna. She flips the bat around so she's handing the bat to him with the handle extended to him. He takes it with appreciation. Theo turns towards them.

"Okay, so you're the smart one. Why are we down here?" Theo asks. Mason starts to lead the group down the hall. Luna follows closely behind him in case something dangerous was down here with them. "Shouldn't we be looking around the school, or somewhere with better lighting?"

To prove his point, the three walk through a part of the hallway that didn't have any lighting at all. Luna chuckles under her breath. Theo's hand brushes hers, and he interlaces their fingers. A small smile sits on her lips as they continue walking. Though she was smiling, there was something pulling at her. The same feeling she felt when she uncovered the manhole was present all around her. She could feel it in her bones.

Mason says, "Aaron hasn't been in class in days. The last sighing of the Faceless was in the tunnels. Parrish burned the body, but, you know, none of us have ever been back down here to check."

Luna can feel Theo continuously checking behind them, and she squeezes his hand to comfort him.

Theo looks forward again, squeezes her hand back, and asks Mason, "Why not?"

Mason stops walking and looks down at the bat in his hands. "Because we're scared. We're all scared to come ack down here. You feel it, right? It's like it doesn't want us here."

Theo stares at the back of Mason's head before pulling Luna ahead as he walks around the boy.

"That makes two of us," Theo says as he stops to look both ways down a split hallway. His hand squeezes Luna's hand tighter.

Mason states, "You're afraid." The boy steps forward to stand next to Luna. "That's the exact reason why we should be looking down here. I feel it, too."

"Well, let's hope I don't Beast out down here," Luna states as the three of them start walking again.

Mason sighs. "Please, don't joke about that."

Luna laughs and pats Mason on his shoulder. As they keep walking, they come face to face with two hallways to turn down. Mason and Luna sigh together.

Mason points down one tunnel and says, "Okay. Nice and bright."

"Or dark and spooky," Luna finishes, pointing down the other tunnel. Mason starts to walk down the nice and bright tunnel, but Theo reaches across Luna to grab his shoulder and stop him.

"You're right," Theo says. Luna makes a noise of surprise but bites her tongue. "We need to follow our fear." Theo let go of Luna's hand as he heads into the dark and spooky tunnel. When he doesn't hear the two of them following, he turns around with his arms open wide. "Hey, it was your idea."

Luna doesn't hesitate any longer and plunges forward into the tunnel. She pats Theo on the chest as she walks past him. She hears his footsteps follow her before Mason sighs and takes up the rear. As they're walking forward, Theo glances behind him and sees Mason is a step or two behind.

He looks forward again and asks Luna in a low tone, "So, what's wrong?"

Luna glances at Theo and says, "What are you talking about?"

"I can tell something's up." Luna looks around the tunnel, only seeing pipes among pipes.

"Oh, you can, can you?" Luna says more than asks in a tone that's a little more harsh than she intended. She sighs and glances at Theo again. His eyebrows are raised, waiting for her to speak. "It's probably not a good idea to talk about it right now."

"Or it's the best time to talk about it." Luna shakes her head, but Theo grabs her hand and the annoyance she was feeling earlier is back in the pit of her gut.

"That," Luna says and pulls her hand out of his. "For the past few days, you're either touching me just a little bit or not at all. I know you held my hand that night after the zoo and whatever but we haven't talked about what that means for us. Do you want me to start making moves on you? Do you want me to go slow? That's never been your speed, but I can try it. I just want to know where we stand before we face against what might be the worst enemy we've faced ever so I'm not worried about it in the middle of fighting it."

Luna doesn't realize Theo stopped walking but definitely notices him grab her arm and pull her flush against his chest. He tucks her hair behind her ear. Luna stares up into his eyes in the dim light as he smiles down at her, studying her face.

"You can evolve into a powerful Beast, but you still don't know when to shut up," Theo states. His fingers trail across her jawline back into her hair as his thumb places itself on her chin. Tilting her face up, Theo's lips press onto hers with just the right amount of force that makes her head swoon. His lips are just as soft as she remembers, and her feet raises her body to get closer to him as she moves her hand up to the back of his head.

"We're down here to find Aaron. Now's not the time for this," Mason says while walking past them, but Luna knows he's trying to be as kind as possible in this situation. Plus he couldn't help the fear running through him. The couple pulls away from each other. Luna's feet fall flat on the ground. Theo's smiling down at her.

"Move as fast you want," he says. "But don't say I didn't warn you when you realize I'm not who you've made me out to be."

Luna smiles and says, "Maybe the same goes for you about me."

〰〰〰

"These tunnels go on forever, and we've been down here for hours," Theo says, once again. Luna is taking lead in front Mason as Theo is in the back. Luna's heart was settled but the fear caused by the Anuk-ite is still pulling at her.

Mason says, "No real news from the last time you said it twenty minutes ago."

"I wasn't doubting the plan twenty minutes ago," Theo argues. Luna rolls her eyes and sighs at the boys behind her.

Mason doesn't take Theo's shit and argues back, "If you're so concerned, just go. No one's forcing you to stay here. Luna and I can handle Aaron."

"Guys," Luna warns as her patience starts to run thin.

"Yeah, what if this plan fails?" Theo asks. "Am I supposed to leave you and our army in charge of my survival? Don't think so."

Luna sighs. "It'll work. You have an Alpha Beast on your side."

They ignore her completely.

"Whatever it takes to save your own ass, and just nobody else's," Mason counters. He wasn't wrong, and how was he expected to believe Theo was there for anyone other than himself? Theo hasn't really proven himself to anyone that he's truly on their side. The time where he played bait with Luna for the Ghost Riders so Liam could get out only made up for a smudge of the bullshit he put the pack through. Luna didn't care, she promised Theo she wouldn't, but no one else had to take him in.

Theo states more than asks as he steps around Mason who has slowed to a stop, "I'm here, aren't I? Maybe I want to be in the pack."

"Yeah, right," Mason says with a bit of force. Luna hears their feet stop moving on the concrete and stops to turn around. Theo is looking at Mason as the other glares at him. "You-You expect me to believe that?" Mason chest starts rising and dropping quickly as his breathing picks up. Luna notices the change in him and walks closer to him. "A pack is about trust. I mean, the first thing you'd do is figure out a way to kill all of us. And it doesn't matter who forgets or if you get the girl. I won't."

"Mason," Luna says warningly as she watches his hand that's holding the baseball bat start to shake. "Calm down."

"I saw Scott's mom," Mason states, a tremor in his voice. Luna can feel the hairs on the back of her neck start to stick up. "I saw what you did. And as much as I'm terrified of what's down here, I'm way more terrified of turning my back on you."

Luna feels a familiar twitch in her bones as she watches Theo raise a shaking hand. She hears a growl in his chest before he roars it out of his mouth. Before Luna can stop him, he launches himself at Mason just in time to dodge Aaron who comes out from Luna's left side and shoves her into the pipes along the wall. Luna growls as she feels her arm break against them. Some of the pipes burst as she falls to the floor, spraying them in steam. Aaron moves on to swing a discarded pipe at Theo and Mason. A loud scream that only a supernatural being should have been able to hear interrupts Aaron's attack on the three.

Mason coughs. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but we gotta find him. All right, get up. I can't leave you," Theo says, turning to help Mason sit up. Luna is growling as her arm painfully starts to heal itself quickly. She makes it to her feet and her shoulders raise up and down in time with her angry breaths.

Mason grunts as Theo tries to pull him up and says, "Wait, wait, something's happening. We need-We need to figure it out."

"So, figure it out," Theo tells him, desperate. He looks to Luna whose arm is dangling uncomfortably loose. "Luna, are you okay?"

She doesn't answer because the anger and the fear are both working against her as she stares down the tunnel Aaron disappeared down. Her body starts to shift so she can heal faster. Her purple, glowing eyes cover her blue ones completely. Theo hurries to help Mason by pushing his sleeves up to take his pain. It doesn't work.

"You can't take pain if you don't care," Mason states. The two of them turn to Luna who has now transformed into the Beast. Her mind is fuzzy as she stares down at the two of them. Her arm cracks as it snaps back into place. They hear footsteps running towards them, and Luna snaps her head to catch sight of Aaron's small frame coming back. "Wait, Luna, wait! Don't fight him! It's what he wants!"

Luna roars and spreads her claws out beside her as Aaron gets closer. Theo looks between Mason and Luna. There was a chance that Mason was right, but there was also a chance that Luna could kill Aaron now and it would stop everything. But would Luna be okay with killing? Theo didn't want to take a chance on her getting mad at him for not trying to stop her.

Wolfing out, Theo uses every bit of strength he has to push Luna over into the other side of the tunnel. She stumbles only just a moment before she's roaring at Theo in response. Aaron runs directly into Theo, turning the wolf so his back slams into the pipes. Luna swipes one of her claws at Aaron, but he ducks just in time. Theo also manages to get out of the way in time, and her claws go right into the pipes. Her longer claws get stuck in the pipes as it sprays out hot steam. She roars out in pain. Aaron, as Theo's focused on Luna, grabs Theo's hands as his own claws are out and uses them to impale himself in the stomach. The scream from before rings out again. Aaron pulls Theo's claws out and kicks him to the floor. As he takes off running again, Luna shape shifts back into her human form and frees her hand. Her eyes find her hurt friends on the floor, but she can see Aaron taking off down the tunnels.

"Luna," Theo grunts, and her dilemma on whether or not to follow Aaron dissipates. She goes to Theo and Mason's side.

Luna asks, "Are you guys okay?" She helps Mason move over to the wall under where her hand had been stuck and takes Theo's hand to pull him to a sitting position against the pipes. Mason grunts in pain.

"Just peachy," Mason states as he rests and tries to catch his breath. Luna doesn't hesitate to lift his sleeve up and place her hand on his skin. Black veins started shooting through her hand and up her arm as she took his pain with ease. She hears Mason sigh in relieve as the pain in his side was relieved. Luna turns to Theo and reaches out her hand.

Theo shakes his head and says, "I'm alright."

The blue haired girl shrugs her shoulders and moves to sit on Theo's other side. Once she's seated, she lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in. Her hand moves to the arm that had been broken and rubs it to massage any stiffness and discomfort out of it. They sit in silence as they each steady their breathing and think about what just happened and what could possibly be happening out there.

"You should've let me go after him," Luna states quietly. Theo glances at her before staring straight ahead down the tunnel Aaron ran down.

Theo says, "I didn't want you to do anything you'd regret."

Luna shakes her head. "I wouldn't have regretted it."

Theo scoffs. "You regretted killing Ghost Riders. Why would this be any different?"

"Because I'm different," Luna states, her voice raising an octave. The way Theo shakes his head at her words makes her angry.

"Just because you're an Alpha now doesn't make you any different than you were before."

It's Luna's turn to scoff. "That's not what I mean. The summer has changed a lot of things about me."

Mason sighs and says, "Guys, now is not the time."

"And what exactly happened during the summer that changed you so much?" Theo asks, turning towards Luna. She avoids his eye. Her lips are pressed in a thin line. "Huh? What has changed, Luna?"

"I killed somebody!" Luna shouts, snapping her head to stare Theo directly in the eye. "And I liked it."

Theo studies Luna's face and looks deep into her eyes. Luna doesn't look away from him even though she can feel Mason's eyes on her as well.

"Are you serious?" Mason asks.

Theo says, "She's lying."

Luna voice softens as she asks, "Am I?"

Theo takes a moment, realizing she is being completely serious, and asks, "Who was it?"

Luna lets her eyes finally look away from Theo, and she looks at Mason behind him. He looks scared of her, but he's trying so hard to understand. Maybe he was right that now wasn't the time to talk about this because now she had to explain what happened to both of them. Luna returns her gaze to Theo, making it easier to say her next words.

"The man who murdered my little sister," she says. "When Charlie told me what happened and how they couldn't find him, I couldn't let it go. So, after I sent Jonah and Asher back to Beacon Hills, I went looking for him." Luna looks back to Mason. The expression he had before was replaced with complete understanding. "I won't go into detail but I found him and I made sure he never could do what he did to Rosa to anyone ever again."

Mason asks, "How'd you know it was him?"

Luna smiles a sad smile and says, "Because he tried to do it to me." She turns back to Theo. "I guess I'm as adorable and not intimidating as you said I am."

"Luna," Theo starts to say but she stands up and walks over to Mason with an extended hand.

Luna sighs and says, "I think it's time to get out of here."

Finding their way back to the ladder leading out of the tunnels was much more easier and much more faster. The walk was quiet as they were each lost in their thoughts. Luna is thinking about how Theo might be taking the news. She was leading the way as he took the rear so there wasn't any hand holding happening between them. Theo had been worrying about how her view of him wasn't accurate, but now she's given him information that's definitely altered his view of her. She always said being with Theo would be relieving because he wouldn't judge her or push her away for anything she does, but now she was worried that his feelings would change now she changed.

As they arrives to the ladder, Luna motions Mason up the ladder first. Theo waits until the boy is halfway up the ladder before he steps forward to go up it. He places his foot on the first rung before he decides not to climb. Luna watches as he stares up at the top where Mason disappears before he lets go of the ladder and turns to pull her into a hug. She relaxes and wraps her arms around him to return the hug. Luna tucks her face into his shoulder as he leans his cheek against the top of her head.

"Are you okay?" Theo asks.

She mumbles into his shoulder, "I don't regret it."

"That's not what I asked." Luna places her hands on his hips and pulls back to look him in the face.

"I'm okay if you still think of my in the same way," Luna confesses. Theo smiles and cups Luna's face in his hands. She studies the crinkle in his eye and finds him staring at her as he always has. He's the man she has always known him to be. She was the woman he always knew she could be. Luna's lips pull up into a smile that matches his. She leans up on her toes to press a soft kiss against his lips. Nothing has changed between them. They were where they were supposed to be. Through the ups and downs, they were meant to end up here.

"So, you guys are just going to stay down there and make out?" Mason asks incredulously from above them. Luna breaks the kiss with a laugh and her eyes shine as she smiles up at Theo. He laughs and motions to the ladder. As she's climbing up the ladder, Theo smacks her ass ruining the moment.

"Theo, I'm going to tear your throat out."

Hi, guys! A new chapter within a day? Holy shit.

Some of y'all were really worried about my author's note about this chapter, and I hope this satisfied what you've been waiting on the entire book! I haven't seen the next episode yet so it'll either be one or two chapters left and then an epilogue. I'm so excited!

So, Theo and Luna finally talked it out, at an inopportune time as always. And you found out what happened on Luna's summer away. Mason was unfortunately in the middle of it, poor guy. Also, don't even comment something about how Luna's weak because she didn't just end Aaron. She's not. If I would've just let her do that, everything would've just ended so this is the best way I could do it.

I hope you liked the chapter! Please vote and comment what you think!

-chelsie
word count: 3885