Chapter Text
The cool, crisp air of Deaton’s vet clinic refused to enter Liam’s lungs. Sweat coated Theo’s forehead, and even in unconsciousness, he convulsed. Liam smoothed his hair and squeezed his hand as he had the night before in the truck bed, but this wasn’t some ordinary nightmare. This was somehow worse.
“What’s wrong with him?” Liam demanded, but Deaton pursed his lips so tightly they paled. He shook his head, the baffled expression only churning Liam’s gut all the more.
“I don’t know. Physically, he’s fine. He has no injuries, nothing to explain his collapse,” Deaton said. “We need to wake him up.”
Theo twitched again, as if in answer to Deaton’s words. Liam forced himself to breathe as Deaton uncorked a small glass bottle and wafted it beneath Theo’s nose.
The chimera’s eyes fluttered open. The deep green muffled and hazy with pain, and Theo groaned, ripping his hand away from Liam to clutch as his skull. His cry of pain pierced Liam’s heart.
“Theo,” Deaton called. “Theo, can you hear me?”
“Let me try,” Scott stepped up beside the metal exam table, eyes shimmering red, and when he spoke, the primal authority in his voice fully captured Liam’s attention. “Theo, what hurts?”
But Theo merely shook his head, legs writhing, back arching off the table.
Liam couldn’t stand it. He cupped Theo’s cheek, thumb stroking the soft, feverish skin there, and focused on taking his pain. He inhaled, let his breath fill every nook and cranny of his lungs, let himself draw more than simple oxygen into his body.
But there was nothing. No flood of pain. No ache followed.
Tears burned the backs of Liam’s eyes. “I can’t take his pain. Scott, I can’t—”
Scott gripped Liam’s arm, a steady reassurance. “It’s okay, Li. He’s gonna be okay, we’ll figure this out.”
Theo drew a ragged breath, half whimper, half sob. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Liam asked.
“Scott, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—I shouldn’t have tried—”
And then it clicked.
“His memories,” Liam said. “He’s remembering.”
Deaton squinted at Theo, assessing his state. “Or, trying to. If his memories are all returning at once…”
“What?”
“I cannot be certain, but it’s likely that with an influx of memories and knowledge, his mind could be collapsing in on itself.”
Liam swore under his breath, feeling utterly useless. Theo, eyes half-lidded, covered Liam’s hand with his own and threaded their fingers together. Stoic as ever.
“We have to help him remember who he was,” Deaton said. “Help him ease back into those lost months.”
“I could try the claw method again?” Scott suggested and even though Liam knew he was only trying to help, something festered in the pit of his stomach.
“No,” Theo moaned. “Please, anything but that.”
“What about the ice bath?”
Another whimpered protest from Theo.
Liam gripped the chimera’s hand tighter, and he felt the weight of Theo’s gaze on him.
“Protest all you like, but I’m not leaving you like this. If we don’t do something, and soon, you’ll—” But Liam didn’t actually know what would happen. He only wished the severity of the situation wasn’t reflected in Deaton’s grave expression. Even if his pain was mental, not physical, it still seemed a bad sign that he couldn’t take his pain.
“Liam’s right, Theo,” Deaton said gently. “This could be very bad if we do nothing.”
Theo gripped Liam’s hand tighter, curling onto his side toward him.
“You’re okay,” Liam murmured. “I’ve got you.”
“Maybe the problem wasn’t the ice or the claws.” Deaton crossed his arms tightly over his chest as he paced. “Maybe it was that he needs someone he trusts, someone who’s already breached the inner recesses of his mind to try.”
Liam swallowed thickly. He didn’t like the sound of that.
“It’s okay, Li,” Theo whispered. “If you do it, it’ll be okay.”
Liam’s terror came in steady waves that banded around his chest so tightly he couldn’t manage to disperse them. He couldn’t hurt Theo. If he hurt him or, god forbid, killed him, he would never forgive himself.
“Theo—no. I can’t. Only an alpha can do that. You could end up in Eichen house or worse—”
“Liam,” Theo breathed. “Please.”
It was that singular word, the quiet way it formed on his lips, the brittle look in his eye, as if he might shatter in the next breeze, that had Liam agreeing.
“Okay. Okay, I’ll try.”
Liam pressed his forehead to Theo’s, finally harnessing that terror into something useful—determination. Theo had placed his mind, quite possibly his life, in his hands, and he refused to let him down.
Scott and Deaton each took one of Theo’s elbows and hauled him into a sitting position, turning him so his legs dangled off the metal exam table. Liam stood and wrapped a hand around the back of Theo’s neck. His fingers nestled in the small hairs there.
“It’s the opposite of taking pain,” Scott coached. “Instead of drawing his pain out, you’ll let your power flow into him, and with your claws in his spinal cord, your mind will follow.”
The idea of piercing Theo’s skin, of invading his privacy, churned Liam’s stomach.
“Scott, I don’t think I can do this.”
“You can,” Scott insisted. “Just focus on breathing, okay?”
Liam clasped Theo’s hand with his left, murmuring a last apology, and with his right, he flicked out his claws.
Then he buried them in Theo’s neck.
Hot blood bloomed and trickled around his fingertips, the scent of it so startling that Liam nearly reeled back. Theo squeezed his hand, though, encouraging him to continue.
Liam forced himself to breathe. In and out. In and out. He followed the cadence of Scott’s voice and shuttered his eyes. He poured his power, his strength, his heart into Theo, and images formed in his mind.
Scott had described Stiles’ mind as a giant warehouse. A white void of sorts.
Theo’s was anything but. Total darkness engulfed him. Even with his wolf eyes, the darkness was impenetrable. He caught a whiff like pine and soap along with an undercurrent of something bitter—not fear, but something darker, more sinister.
The faint beating of a heart reached his ears. The rhythm was both familiar and foreign all at the same time, but Liam followed it. The air grew colder around him. He shivered, feeling the condensation clinging to his breath.
A ball of dim, hazy light bloomed, casting long, harsh shadows.
There, amongst a cluster of boulders that must’ve materialized along with the light, was a boy. Huddled and trembling, head buried in his knees.
It was Theo, and not Theo. He couldn’t have been more than eight.
More than that, though. He was human. Liam could smell it on him. In his unadulterated DNA. In the way his eyes lacked that familiar animalistic glint. His heart beat still sounded different. Liam couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It was the same, but not the same. Distorted by time and age, maybe.
The boy lifted his head, eyes widening as he spotted Liam, and then he scrambled to hide behind the nearest rock.
“It’s okay,” Liam said gently. “I’m here to help you.”
Little Theo peered out from behind the rock, his slightly too-long hair falling into his eyes. His fists were curled at his side, and the undeniable desire to protect him was overwhelming. Liam crouched, lowering himself to the boy’s eye level.
“I’m Liam.” He carefully extended his hand. “I’m a friend. I’m not gonna hurt you.”
Little Theo studied him with big, bright eyes. His fingers dug into the rock in front of him. His entire body riddled with tension.
“I’m lost.” His voice was the barest of whispers. High pitched and scared.
“I know.”
And then little Theo took his hand. His fingers were dwarfed in Liam’s palm, but he clung to him as tightly as he’d clung to the rock. As if he’d been drowning, lost at sea, and Liam was his life raft.
The ball of light shimmered brighter, illuminating more of the space around them. That one act of kindness had driven out some of the unyielding darkness.
A bridge formed beyond the cropping of boulders. Liam recognized the narrow wooden foot bridge where he and Stiles had caught Theo leaving flowers for his sister. This time, it wasn’t white lilies floating in the rushing water below. But a girl. With stark black hair, purple tinged lips. Her dress billowing out. Her leg twisted at an unnatural angle, perhaps shattered in a fall. Even if she managed to swim with that, that water was too cold to survive in for long.
“Theo.” Even her voice the barest of whisps. “Help me.”
Little Theo trembled from head to toe, and tears welled in his eyes. Both terror and grief warred in his eyes.
“Tara!” Theo cried.
He tugged at Liam’s hand, dragging him across the bridge, but when they reached the other side, Tara was motionless. Liam twisted to block little Theo’s view so he wouldn’t see her cracked sternum and fractured ribs. The blood pooling and eddying in the water around her. The hollow, empty space where her heart had once been.
“No, no, no,” little Theo whispered, but he wasn’t looking at Tara. His gaze was fixated on the other side of the bridge, where the Dread Doctors were prowling toward them.
Liam swept little Theo into his arms and scrambled away from Tara, away from the bridge, and hid behind a nearby tree.
“You’re okay,” Liam assured him as the Dread Doctors swept past. Their masks pivoted toward them, and Liam had the distinct sensation that they gaze behind that mask could cut through flesh and bone.
But the Dread Doctor continued on, and the bridge melted away, the rushing river faded, replaced by dim, dreary tunnels. The operating theater. And Theo—another Theo lay unconscious on the operating table. An angry, puckered incision spanned the length of his chest.
His heart beat was steady, familiar.
Sharp realization crashed down around Liam.
Stiles had always been convinced that Theo had pushed Tara off the bridge, and maybe he had, but the littlest Theo, the one who clung to him in the shadow of the tree, was sick. He could hear it in the flutter of his heart. Blood didn’t flow through his heart the way it should. He wasn’t just desperate and scared, he was dying.
The Dread Doctors had preyed on that fear. Promised a little boy not long for this world that not only would he live, but that he would be stronger than ever before.
Liam held little Theo against his chest and cursed the awful hand of fate that he’d been dealt.
The Dread Doctors and their theatre melted into the all-consuming darkness.
The glowing ball of light shimmered and pulsed to capture Liam’s attention and draw him back toward the path. If it could even be considered that.
“C’mon, we have to keep moving.” Liam wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did.
Little Theo nodded and took Liam’s hand again, and together, they walked through the dark, endless void of Theo’s mind.
Images flashed around them like bolts of lightning, imprinting memories in their afterglow. Some were familiar. Theo’s sly, cocky smile. Theo’s claws dripping with blood. Theo spying from the shadows.
Others had Liam’s gut wrenching.
Teenage Theo cowered on a thin, stained mattress in the corner of the tunnels with his head buried in his hands. The damp puddles surrounded him rippled as the Dread Doctors drew nearer. Their mechanical voices grating against Liam’s ears. “Failure, Theo Raeken.” Theo lifted his head and his expression was so utterly broken.
In the next image, an older Theo prowled toward Lydia, his mouth twisted into a snarl. Tears smeared mascara across her cheeks as she begged him to stop. But he dug his claws into the back of her neck.
Liam had always known how Lydia ended up in Eichen house, but to see it was something else entirely. She was as precious to him as a sister, and to see her mouth part in shock and pain while malice distorted Theo’s features was… horrifying.
But little Theo’s featherlight grip on his hand had Liam forging onward.
Theo tapped his fingers along the giant green tank, the one Liam now knew had imprisoned Douglas for all those years, and then withdrew a syringe-full of the green liquid. He treaded lightly through the forest to the gnarled tree trunk of the Nemeton, where the dead chimeras—Hayden, Corey, Josh, Tracey—had been laid to rest. Theo injected each of them in turn, and whatever had been in that liquid must’ve held magic or science of both because they all gasped as they woke, the life returned to them.
It wasn’t as simple as Theo having saved Hayden’s life, though. Not when he’d played a part in endangering her life for his own means. But if he hadn’t acted, hadn’t injected the chimeras, both Corey and Hayden would have been lost.
The next memories were difficult to stomach. Theo cocked a gun at Malia, and a gunshot rang out. Blood stretched out beneath Malia’s still body.
Theo dug his claws into Josh, and Liam watched as every ounce of life and power was drained from his body. As Theo gasped with newfound vigor and strength.
Tracey straddled Theo’s lap, his hands gentle on her waist as they had been on Liam’s, but when she threw her had back and gasped, it wasn’t from pleasure, but pain as Theo took everything she had to give. Liam shivered to think that Theo had been so cruel and cunning, even in such an intimate moment.
Then finally, the moment that Liam had been dreading.
Scott and Theo in the library. His alpha barely able to stand. His face bloodied and swollen from Liam’s own hands. The words they exchanged were lost on Liam, but then Theo buried his claws into Scott’s chest. His alpha slumped forward, eyes flashing crimson, his chin all but resting on Theo’s shoulder. Scott groaned, hissing in pain around his fangs, but Theo’s expression twitched with a mixture of hatred and satisfaction. As if he took pleasure in his alpha’s agony.
“Because I’m a chimera? Because I’m not a real werewolf?”
“You’re barely even human.” Scott spoke steadily, softly. It wasn’t meant to be a jab, but simply the truth laid bare.
The truth must’ve been too much for Theo to handle because his carefully curated control snapped. Theo shouted—a guttural war cry—and dug his claws in even deeper, driving Scott back until his spine cracked on the steps of the library. He gasped and the crimson in his eyes sputtered and faded. His chest slowed, and Liam heard Scott’s last breath, thick and wet with blood.
Liam couldn’t tear himself away from it, even as his own chest throbbed. Even as tears burned the backs of his eyes.
Theo sprinted barefoot down hospital hallway. A female voice called after him. A distorted version of Tara, the same Tara that had risen from the crack in the ground to pull Theo into the Skinwalker prison, chased him in the flickering light. When he reached the end of the hallway, Theo stopped and turned to face his sister.
“It’s okay,” Theo whispered. “You don’t have to stop.”
Tara didn’t. Her cold, emotionless expression unwavering as she plunged her hand into his chest and ripped—
“Don’t watch.” Liam covered little Theo’s eyes.
It wasn’t a memory. Couldn’t be a memory. Because not even a chimera could survive without a heart, but it was still just as vivid and tangible as the other memories forming around them. As if it had actually happened. The scent of blood tore at Liam’s nostrils as he remembered the way Theo had ripped into his own chest. The scent of his terror when Liam had asked him that night what exactly had happened in the prison.
No wonder Theo couldn’t bring himself to talk about it.
The memories blurred into long lines of color and light until they morphed into a tunnel, leading them to a shadowy figure at the very end of it. The version of Theo that Kira had sentenced to the Skinwalker prison.
Electricity crackled at Theo’s fingertips. He was practically a stranger with his spiky hair and rage-filled expression. Liam saw no trace of the boy who’d curled up in bed, shrinking from nightmares. The one who had kissed Liam softly, brushed his fingertips along Liam’s back as if he were delicate and precious.
With a shout, Theo thrust his hand in their direction and lightning burst from the tips of his fingers. Liam dove out of the way, taking little Theo with him.
Liam gripped his arms. “Are you all right?”
The boy nodded. Although fear still echoed in his eyes, resolve had risen to meet it.
“What happened to me?” he asked, peering at his older self. “It’s like I traded everything I had for power.”
Liam squeezed his eyes shut, hating just how right he was.
“You did what you always had to do,” Liam said, speaking directly to the older Theo. “You survived.”
“You don’t know anything about me!” Theo exclaimed.
Liam ruffled little Theo’s hair, silently trying to convey to him to stay put, to stay out of the way, because there was no telling what this version of Theo might do.
“I know more you think, sweetheart.” The last word dripped with sarcasm as Liam rose, straightening defiantly.
Theo’s lip curled in a snarl, and unleashed another bolt of lightning. The electricity arced through the air and pierced Liam’s chest. His back slammed against something hard and unyielding. His nerves crackled with excruciating pain. Of course pain would be so real, so tangible, in Theo’s mind. He shouldn’t have expected anything less.
“You might think you know me, but I have you figured out, Liam.” Theo fisted his hand in the collar of Liam’s shirt and hauled him to his feet. His legs felt boneless from the electricity, and likely wouldn’t have stayed upright if not for Theo’s grip. “You’re just like Scott. Always have to be hero.”
Liam’s breath hissed through his teeth. “I’m not gonna fight you.”
“We’ll see about that.” Theo flashed a ruthless smirk and then brought his knuckles down on Liam’s face. Pain erupted in his nose, radiating up into his forehead.
Liam slipped from Theo’s grasp to his knees, but Theo followed him down, reeling his elbow back and punching again and again and again. His face heated as the blood rushed to the shattered bones in his nose, the broken skin at his lip, the bruises rising beneath his cheeks.
That heat simmered and bloomed until Liam was seething. He shoved Theo back with his open palms, warring with the instinct to conjure his claws, his fangs. Red threatened to tinge his vision.
Liam was breathing hard now. “I’m not going to fight you.”
Theo lashed out again, and this time, when he connected, more volts of electricity coursed through his body. Liam flung his hands out to keep himself from faceplanting.
“C’mon, Little Wolf, you know you want to,” Theo taunted.
The nickname might’ve been cute if he hadn’t flung it like an insult. Liam forced himself to his feet. “I’m here to help you. Not hurt you.”
Malice glinted in his eye. “Fine.”
This time, when Theo lunged, it wasn’t for Liam—but for little Theo, who yelped and tried to run. He tripped and ended up on his back, scrambling away from his older self.
“Liam!” little Theo shouted. His voice cracked in the middle, reminiscent of the way he’d screamed, begged, for Scott to help him as Tara had dragged him to rot underground.
Liam surrendered to the tidal wave of anger he’d dammed up inside himself. He roared as his kick connected with Theo’s torso, sending him to the ground. Liam brought his fist down mercilessly, feeling the crunch of bones and sinew beneath his blow.
But Theo didn’t cry out. He merely smirked, blood coating his teeth.
“There he is!” Theo shouted. “Nice of you to join us.”
Cold dowsed the heat spreading through Liam, and he pushed off Theo, wiping the blood from his split lip. He should’ve known. He should’ve realized sooner that Theo was doing what he’d always done. He had exploited his weaknesses and whittled away at him until he’d gotten Liam exactly where he wanted him.
The ball of light illuminating the space around them flickered like it might extinguish at a moment’s notice. Whatever kindness had brightened it before was long gone.
Liam inhaled sharply. Deaton was wrong. Theo’s mind wasn’t crumbling beneath the weight of his memories. He was struggling to reconcile the past versions of himself that no longer aligned with who he thought he was.
Theo didn’t need Liam to help him remember who he was. He needed Liam to remind him how much he cared for Theo unconditionally. The feral Theo standing before him was a tough pill to swallow, but without him, the Theo he’d kissed beneath a blanket of stars might never have existed. And it wasn’t as if his evil nature existed in a vacuum. The trail of horrors stretching out behind them was proof enough of that.
“Jokes on you, I’m still not going to fight you,” Liam said. “Do your worst, Theo. It doesn’t change how much I care about you.”
Theo slashed, but Liam merely stepped aside. “You’re a murderer, Theo, but you’ve also saved my life.”
Theo snarled at the implication that any part of him might be good.
“Only by accident!”
Liam smiled, the same soft smile he’d offered him beneath the stars. “We both know that’s not true. You’re not a failure, but you are human,” he whispered. “Humans make mistakes, but they don’t define who we are unless we let them.”
Theo aimed another bolt of lightning at him, but Liam ducked and rolled before rising in a crouch. He was ready for whatever Theo had to throw at him.
“You watch the world pass you by from the safety of your truck, your tunnels, your shadows, but you see so much more than just darkness. You read people. Understand them. I’ve seen it up close.”
Theo’s fist was a blur, but Liam grasped his wrist and twisted, pinning his hand behind his back and speaking directly along the shell of his ear.
“You might’ve been a villain once, Theo, but you’re my friend, too. You’re my—” Liam’s words died on his tongue. He couldn’t quite conjure a word sufficient for what Theo had become over these past few days.
In that moment of hesitation, Theo regained control. He stomped on Liam’s foot and spun, digging his nails into Liam’s arm as he flung him over his shoulder.
“You’re naïve if you really believe I could ever be your friend.”
Liam pushed to his elbows, only for his arms to shudder. Something was wrong. His nerves felt strange. Not the same level of ignition as the lightning, but they still tingled all the same. And then Liam saw it.
Kanima venom dripped from Theo’s claws.
Theo’s victory was etched in the curve of his grin.
Liam slumped to the floor, his arms buckling beneath him, and it was all he could do to stare at Theo as he stalked toward his younger self. Intent on destroying the version of himself that he still considered to be weak.
“Theo, don’t!” Liam cried, but it was no use.
Little Theo was breathing raggedly. His chest heaved, but he didn’t cower or hide. He puffed out his chest, his eyes connecting with Liam’s.
“Run!” Liam shouted.
“It’s okay,” little Theo whispered.
But it wasn’t. It wasn’t okay. Theo was going to kill his younger self. The flickering light would dim, and Theo would be lost. Liam had failed—
The bolt of lightning sizzled through the air and struck little Theo squarely in the chest. He cried out, the high pitch of his voice echoing through the void.
Another rose to join it. Both Theos crumpled to their knees as the lightning disintegrated.
Liam almost laughed at the irony of it. Theo couldn’t hurt his younger self without hurting himself, too.
“I’m not afraid of you,” little Theo said.
“You should be!” Theo snarled back. “You were afraid of everyone, everything! You’re pathetic! You’re weak! You’re the failure!”
Then little Theo did the unthinkable. He threw his arms around his older self and squeezed tightly, face pressing into his shoulder.
“We’re not a failure.”
A broken noise akin to a whimper bubbled out of Theo.
The ball of light glowed even brighter, and dozens of Theos formed from the darkness. The barefoot Theo, the young Theo with the incision running across his chest, the teen Theo with dark circles beneath his sorrow-filled eyes. All of them from slowly approached the two Theos, still embracing at the center of the circle of light.
One after another, they embraced him and then dissolved into embers of light, joining the glowing ball above them until it burned hot and bright. Liam squeezed his eyes shut against it. When he opened them, his Theo was kneeling there.
The hatred and cruelty had softened the harsh lines of his face, and he appeared older beyond his years. The depths of his green eyes haunted, but no longer fractured. Theo was himself, wholly himself, once again.
The void liquified around them, leaving only Deaton’s vet clinic in its wake. Liam gasped and stumbled back, would’ve fallen if not for Scott’s arms coming around him and steadying him.
“You’re okay, Li, you’re okay,” Scott said.
Liam barely registered the fight to shove air into his stubborn lungs. He barely registered Scott’s unyielding grip or the blood staining his fingertips. He barely registered anything at all except for the pale shade of Theo’s face. The way his eyes had rolled back in his head as Deaton swiveled him so he was lying on the cold metal table.
Lying cold and still. Like this were a morgue and not in fact a place of healing. Liam’s heart was lodged in his throat.
“Is he okay?” Liam asked when he could manage words. “I didn’t hurt him, did I?”
Scott released him, but kept a steadying arm around his shoulder, squeezing the back of his neck the way he always did when Liam was upset.
“You did good, Liam.”
Not an answer. So Liam looked to Deaton, who stared intently at Theo.
All the energy in the room seemed to hang on the next few seconds.
Then the chimera inhaled, his chest rising and falling steadily.
Alive. He was alive.
The relief that washed through Liam was all consuming, and he stumbled forward, leaning over the metal exam table and grasping the chimera’s shoulders.
Theo mumbled incoherently. Liam stroked the soft skin of his cheek, the hair from his forehead. The feverish heat that had clung to him incessantly was finally beginning to fade.
“What?”
Theo peered up at him and grasped Liam’s wrist, pinning his hand there.
“Thank you, Li.”
Tears distorted Liam vision and dripped down his nose, landing on the metal table beside Theo. He tipped forward and pressed their foreheads together. They shared a long, mingling breath.
“It was all you. I was just along for the ride.”
Theo gripped Liam’s arm as he shifted to prop himself up on his elbows, and Liam slipped a protective hand around his waist and half-perched on the table. Theo kept him close, resting his forehead on Liam’s shoulder.
“Still pretty sure I owe you my life.”
Liam kissed his temple. “You don’t owe me anything.”
Scott cleared his throat, and Liam jolted, tightening his hold on Theo instinctively. He’d almost forgotten that they weren’t alone.
“We’ll give you guys a minute,” Scott said and started for the door.
Theo lifted his head, catching Scott’s arm. “Wait.”
Liam caught the bittersweet expression in his alpha’s eyes. The way his eyes swam with bottled emotions, and Liam wondered if he was thinking about Isaac. If seeing Liam and Theo together evoked some long-buried yearning for his old friend.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I did. I was so blinded by my thirst for power that nothing else mattered. Not even your life.”
Scott clapped Theo on the shoulder.
“You more than made up for that today, Theo.”
But the chimera shook his head. “No, I still have so much—”
“Theo,” Scott said, squeezing gently as he would with any of his pack. “Tell you what, take care of Li for me. Don’t break his heart, and we’ll call it even, okay?”
Theo huffed a laugh, his fingers tightening at Liam’s waist. “Feels like you’re letting me off easy.”
“Take the win,” Scott said, smiling softly.
“Thanks, Scott.”
Liam nodded to his alpha. A few days ago, he never would’ve imagined Scott letting Theo into the pack even if he begged. But now, it seemed inevitable. As Scott left them alone in the vet clinic, Liam tangled his hand into the hair at the nape of Theo’s neck, grazed the healing marks his claws left behind, and kissed him thoroughly. Gratitude built in Liam’s chest until he was dizzy with it. Dizzy with the feel of Theo’s heart—Tara’ heart—beating in sync with his own.
Theo
Theo reclined on Liam’s bed and watched through the open door as the beta brushed his teeth. Liam had hardly let Theo out of arm’s reach the entire night except to shower and change. Theo supposed he should be embarrassed to face Liam after he’d been so deep inside his mind. But he wasn’t.
Theo had felt it, the fracture that had splintered his mind and threatened to shred his soul, leaving nothing but pain and darkness in its wake.
Until Liam appeared, his presence both a shield and an anchor that tethered him to reality, to his mind, his memories. And Liam had seen… everything. Every horrible monster in his mind, including himself. And hadn’t run. Hadn’t balked.
He’d stayed with him, believed in him, until the very end.
Liam flopped down, joining him on the bed, hands instinctively finding Theo’s.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Raw. Aching. A bit like someone flayed me open and scooped out all my insides before shoving them back and stitching me up.” Theo flashed a smile to convey his exaggeration even though it wasn’t actually too far from the truth.
“Where does it hurt?” Liam propped himself up on his elbows. Theo was about to deny any specific hurt, but the intention in his simmering blue gaze was clear as day.
“Here.” Theo pointed to his wrist, and Liam pressed his lips there. “And here.” He indicated his chest, and Liam’s lips followed. “Here, too.” Liam kissed the column of his throat, his mouth hot and perfect, and Theo melted into the bed as he took over, pinning Theo’s wrists to the bed as his mouth explored every sliver of exposed skin.
“Better?” Liam asked, nuzzling Theo’s cheek with the tip of his nose.
“Much.”
They made out atop the bedspread for what might have been a small eternity. Sleep rose to claim them occasionally, offering up rest in between sloppy, sleepy kisses.
At some point, light streamed through the window, rousing Theo from the depths of his sleep. Not sunlight, but moonlight bathed Liam in its silvery glow.
He blinked up at Theo and mumbled into the crook of his neck.
“C’mon,” Theo murmured and dragged him out of bed. He grabbed the comforter and their pillows, and they snuck out of Liam’s window onto the roof. The breeze was warm with the promise of summer, and they settled into each other’s arms beneath the stars.
“Hey, Theo?” Liam asked, an edge of concern in his voice.
“Hmm?”
“You still thinking you wanna leave Beacon Hills?”
Theo’s heart ached at the mere thought. “No, I think… I think I might stay.”
“Really?”
“At least for a while. Maybe I’ll see if they’ll let me finish high school. We could finish senior year together?”
Liam’s face brightened with the grin slowly spreading across. “I bet they would. And you could stay here in the guest room, or I’m sure Scott would let you stay in Isaac’s old room.”
Theo stroked patterns along Liam’s arms. “As long as I’m close to you, I don’t mind where I stay.”
Liam hummed contentedly at that, and they watched as clouds fluttered overhead.
“We could leave, ya know,” Liam said.
“What?”
“For the summer. We could go wherever you wanted. Travel around until school starts.”
The thought of hitting the open road with Liam by his side, of camping and exploring and going on their own adventures, was almost too much after the heavy emotions of the day. Theo blinked back tears and kissed him to hide the swell of it.
“When do we leave?”
Theo felt Liam’s smile against his lips. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this much happiness, but he thanked the universe and held on tight, determined to never let it go.
Three Months Later
Theo leaned back against the bleachers and watched Liam, in his lacrosse jersey, sprint across the field. He could’ve tried out, too, but Theo wanted to focus on his AP classes and graduating. Besides, the view from here wasn’t half bad at all.
The muscles of Liam’s thighs flexed as he ran, his too long hair—that Theo had threatened to take scissors to if he didn’t cut it soon—peeking out from beneath his helmet as he scored. Even though it was just practice, the beta cheered and turned to the crowd, immediately finding Theo in the stands. Theo flashed him a proud smile before answering with his own cheer.
“Such a good supportive boyfriend,” Mason noted, and Theo shoved him half-heartedly with his shoulder.
He would rather die than admit that to anyone else, but Theo was very content in that role. With Scott leaving soon for college, leadership of the pack and the safety of Beacon Hills would fall to Liam. Whenever Scott brought it up, Liam had always appeared excited, but Theo also knew that the thought of that much responsibility on top senior year, getting into college, and his lacrosse season gnawed at Liam in the early hours of the morning. It kept him from sleep as often as Theo’s own nightmares.
He always made sure to remind Liam that he wasn’t alone in this. He might be the one stepping up and taking over his alpha’s duties, but he wasn’t alone. He never had to be alone again, not if he didn’t want to be.
Theo picked up his binder full of homework, the outside of it coated in stickers from the dozens of national and state parks that he and Liam had camped at over the summer.
Moab, Zion, Yosemite, the Tetons. Only once did they get yelled at by a Park Ranger for having a dog on a trail where they were banned—Theo had sulked back to the truck in his coyote form before shifting back and donning pants. The hike would’ve been so much easier on four legs than two.
“Don’t forget we have Scott’s going away party planned for later,” Hayden said.
Theo tore himself away from his AP Calculus and focused on Hayden, who was chewing on a pen and hadn’t even bothered to look up from her own notebook. Hayden had taken the news of Liam and Theo rather well all things considered. When they’d returned from months on the road, Hayden had started dating one of her closest friends, Gwen. Who shoved Corey aside on the field, snatching up the ball and bolting with it.
“I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again,” Theo said. “A surprise party for an alpha isn’t a surprise party if he can hear all your heart beats two blocks from his house.”
Hayden cheered so loudly for Gwen that she likely hadn’t heard Theo’s concern.
Mason shrugged. “It’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.”
At that moment, Liam body-slammed the bleachers, hanging over the edge of the stands, and Theo casually rose to his feet and tossed him the giant bottle of Gatorade because his boyfriend had a nasty habit of forgetting that even werewolves needed to stay hydrated.
“Hi,” Liam said brightly after chugging the entire bottle.
“Hi,” Theo said and dragged him into a sweaty, salty kiss.
“We’re almost done with drills, then we can go get the cake.”
“There’s cake, now?” Theo asked. “So much for a simple send off.”
Liam shushed him before pushing off the bleachers, walking backward to the field. “He’s gonna love it.”
Much to Theo’s shock, Scott was in fact surprised to find his entire pack crouching in the shadows of his house. He hadn’t noticed the sounds of their breathing or the cars hidden along the street because he was completely and utterly engrossed in someone else. As Scott shouldered his front door open, he tumbled inside with his arms wrapped around a tall, lanky boy with unruly brown hair.
“Surprise!” Liam and Corey shouted, the lights flipping on as planned.
Scott and the other boy broke apart, their lips almost as bright red as their cheeks. The tall boy scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, but it was Liam who spoke first.
“Isaac?”
“Uh, hi,” the boy stammered.
“I thought you were in France?” Liam asked.
“I… was,” Isaac answered. “I’m not anymore.”
“Right.”
Scott cleared his throat, swallowing hard, and then looped an arm around the other boy. So that explained where Scott had been disappearing to over the past few weeks.
“Is this a going away party?” Scott asked abruptly, a poor attempt at re-directing the conversation. “For me?”
“Yeah,” Mason said. “It was Theo’s idea.”
Theo sighed heavily and shot him a glare. “Nice to meet you, Isaac. We’ve all heard a lot about you, do you like chocolate cake?”
“You must be Theo,” Isaac said. “And yeah, who doesn’t like chocolate cake?”
Theo started cutting slices of the cake, saving the biggest portion with the most frosting for Liam. “Are you in college?”
“Yeah, I start at UC-Davis next week,” Isaac said, flicking a glance at Scott.
“Are you on the pre-vet track too?” Corey chimed in.
Isaac accepted a small slice of cake, his shoulder never straying far from Scott’s. “No, I’m thinking more like English Lit, actually.”
“I love English Lit,” Hayden said. “Just finished reading Much Ado About Nothing for class, and it was such a fun read.”
Isaac’s nervous smile broadened. “That’s my favorite Shakespeare play.”
And just like that, the tense embarrassment of the start of the evening dissipated.
The pack settled into the living room to play games and chat until the hour grew so late that Scott gave up and dragged his suit cases downstairs so he could keep packing while the rest of them stayed to mingle.
Liam was all but wedged between Theo and the arm of the couch in a half-doze when Scott’s phone rang. It wasn’t the usual, easy-going tone, but the sharp tone that ignited a skitter of panic in Theo’s nerves. Sheriff Stilinski’s ringtone.
Theo tightened his arm around Liam, who’d stiffened beside him.
“Scott, we might have a problem.” Theo couldn’t help but hear over the line. “We found a body in the woods.”
Scott pinched the ridge of his brow, and Isaac crowded closer to him.
“How did they die? Claw marks?” Scott asked.
“Not that I can tell, but that’s not the strange part. The body had no face.”
The panic grew into terror that stretched thin in the McCall household.
“Be right there.”
Liam was on his feet immediately, grabbing his keys from the counter and beating Scott to the door. Bewildered, Scott looked around to find that the entire pack was on their feet, ready and waiting to join him.
“You guys don’t have to come. I can handle this,” Scott said. “We don’t even know if anything’s wrong yet.”
“We’re coming with you,” Liam insisted.
Scott sighed, but nodded all the same.
Theo started up the truck, the engine roared to life with the same easy cadence it had all summer. Liam hopped into the passenger seat, the seat that Theo had begun to think of as Liam’s and only Liam’s. A few days ago, he’d given Mason and Corey a ride without Liam and refused to let either of them sit up front with him.
Before he put the truck in gear, though, Theo reached across the dash and stroked Liam’s cheek. A quiet plea to rouse Liam from his thoughts.
“I’m fine,” he said in an unconvincing tone.
“Li,” Theo pressed.
“It’s nothing. I just—” he sighed and leaned into Theo’s touch. “I was looking forward to a more relaxed school year for once.”
Theo barked a laugh. “Did you really expect Beacon Hills to stay quiet for more than a few months?”
Liam shrugged. “I’d hoped.”
“Hey.” Theo slid his hand down to squeeze his knee. “Whatever this is, we’ll handle it. Together.”
Liam broke out of his sullen mood just a touch at that, a smile gracing his lips.
“Together.”