Liam ghosted his knuckles over Theo's face, brushing stray locks up, tucking them softly into the rest. Unconscious, the sharpness, both from lack of food and the coyote's ever-present malice, was gone. Just evaporated, leaving behind a far too vulnerable looking chimera. The others were spotted by it, disconcerted that the guy who almost killed half the pack at one point or another could look so peaceful. To Liam, it was further proof that underneath the coyote's frenzy, he was alive.

His hand drifted down, clenching tight around the thick, heavily reinforced cuff securing Theo's wrist to an older medical table. A grimace formed once again as his features twisted, lips twitching up, revealing his teeth in a silent snarl. Of all things they could have thought of, the pack's brilliant idea for containing him during the mind meld was strapping the chimera to a metal table. The mere thought of it had had his stomach churning butter when it was first brought up. Realistically and logically, it made sense. They had no idea how Theo was going to react to being back, how much he would remember, or, as some of the pack had incessantly reminded him over the last week and a half, if he would even be able to come back.

They were supposed to help him, not further traumatize or hurt him.

Logic be damned. He hated this part of the plan. So did his wolf. The steady drumming of a sub-auditory growl through his chest belied the discontent radiating from the creature. This was far too close to what they did to him. All that was missing was the stink of the sewers and a few creepy masks. Regardless how Theo came out, this was going to put him on edge as soon as he opened his eyes, if not flip him straight into a spiral.

He dropped his hand away from the cuff, curling it around the hand below it, wincing at the lifelessness of it. Just a little longer , he told himself, biting at his lip. His wolf was restless, pacing and thrumming beneath his skin, long past confused and firmly in a state of permanent frustration. All it understood was that their anchor was right there but the untethered feeling haunting them the last six months had yet to go away. How would he explain to the beast it might never go away if he fucked this up?

He shook his head, hard, chasing away the thought. Unfortunately, it didn't go far, settling in the ever growing shadows hanging around the edges of his mind. With a sigh, he let go of Theo's hand, turning to Scott and the others.

This would work. It had to. For both of them.

"You're sure about this?" Scott asked for the tenth time, stepping towards him.

Liam rolled his eyes, huffing out a quick, "Yes. Now can you stop asking? The answer's not gonna change."

He cringed as Scott's eyes fell, a brief note of hurt flitting to life before disappearing. Everything he said lately was ten times sharper than he meant it to be, and his alpha had been bearing the brunt of it. None of it was purposeful. He didn't mean for any of it to land as hard as it did, but no matter how hard he tried to rein in the snark or impatience, it always weaseled its way out.

God, did he need Theo back.

"Be careful. If you die in his head, you're dead dead," Scott said, waving his hands, ready to placate Liam, knowing he had said it a dozen times already. "I know, I know, I've said it before, but it's important."

Liam bit back the annoyed grumble readied at the tip of his tongue. No matter how very very done with the worrywart, mother-hen behavior he was, Scott had every right to be terrified for him. This shit was dangerous, even for an alpha, let alone a semi-anchorless beta with known control issues. If saying stuff another time or two settled the guy's nerves, he would at least try not to bite his head off.

Try being the operative word.

As he stepped back around the head of the table, positioning himself directly behind Theo's head, he half-tuned in, letting Scott's voice wash over him in a manner more akin to waves on a beach. It was almost a soothing sort of white noise, warming him minutely, quieting the buzzing under his skin. He took a deep breath, ignoring the stink of fear and worry mingling unpleasantly, focusing instead on Theo's scent.

On the exhale, he looked back to Scott and moved a hand to the back of the chimera's neck, fingertips resting in the too-prominent divots between his vertebrae.

"Also be careful with how you slide your claws in. You gotta get them right between each of the cervical vertebrae, or else you're likely to cause permanent damage, even to a were— supernatural."

That little nugget didn't actually annoy him, but rather sent a trail of fear jittering down his arm.

"Not helping," he growled, glaring at his alpha.

He took another deep breath, dropping his head forward, shoulders curling and spine bending till his forehead was pressed into Theo's. The chimera's distinct chemically forest aroma stuck out above the rest, lingering in his nose longer with every inhale. A shudder ran down his spine, shaking loose tears he hadn't known were there, in time with his wolf's pitched keening.

"Please, let this work," he whispered, barely letting the words have any voice, eyes scrunching tight as his claws slid out, easily piercing Theo's skin, settling into place.

An ear-rattling roar shook through him, but he hardly heard it over the pounding rush of his blood and piercing tone whiting out all other sounds. The world fell away slowly and all at once, dropping Liam into blackness.

He tumbled forward, spilling onto the ground in a rough heap. Groaning, he untangled his limbs and sat up, eyes closed. Everything was still spinning. His stomach lurched, but the inevitable gagging sensation that should have followed never did.

"Weird," he grumbled, lifting both hands to grab at his head.

A flash of panic shot through him, thrusting him to his feet, hands flying wildly to the side and eyes snapping open. The protests, begging them to let him try again, already rising in his throat died as he froze, blinking dumbly at the scene before him.

Whatever he had expected Theo's mental space to look like flew out the window, nothing in the face of reality. One of his feet is on his living room floor, while the other is on the bare, blood-soaked concrete of the sewers. His wolf whined, sending a new pang of pain through his gut. Theo had never been too keen on sharing his feelings or the extent of his time with the Doctors, but he shared enough to give him an idea of it all. This, though? This made his stomach sink past his feet, plummeting straight to the earth's core, hastened by the guilt wracking his soul. He was the cause of this. If only he had been faster.

A deep snarling ripped him from his thoughts, eliciting an immediate answer as he growled in warning.

Teeth embed in his shoulder as he's thrown forward, colliding harshly with the ground. His scream was more of a howl, wolf taking control in his pain-induced panic. He reached for the jaws around his shoulder, claws raking through fur, tearing the skin beneath it. Shrill yelps interrupted the bite, forcing whatever it was to leap away, though it didn't go far. Liam's head snapped up, fangs on full display as he pulled his lips back, a deep warning growl reverberating throughout his whole being.

His growl deepened further as he recognized the animal across from him. The coyote simply cocked its head, blood dripping from the manic almost-smile forming as it peeled its lips back over its teeth. His own wolf roared, white-hot anger pulsing through him. This was the reason Theo was trapped here, why their anchor was wrong, why they were still not whole.

A black wolf leapt over him, startling him into stumbling back a few steps as it landed, a growl deep and powerful enough to rival an alpha's thundering through the space. It planted itself between him and the coyote, much to the other beast's annoyance if the indignant whine was anything to go by. Without a doubt, he knew the newcomer was Theo's wolf. He had spent enough time with the chimera in his full shift to recognize it, regardless of the way its fur hung on its bony frame or the numerous half-healed gashes and bites littering its fur.

The yipping and growling between the two intensified as he scrambled to his feet, hissing as his left shoulder protested. His free hand clamped tightly over his shoulder, trying to stifle the bleeding. It wasn't much, considering where the wound was and how much larger Theo's coyote was, but the flow still worried him a little. He had to find the chimera fast.

"Theo!" He shouted.

Hearing much of anything beyond the brawling canids proved difficult. Their snarls and yowls of pain filled the awkward space, almost obscuring his own heartbeat, which Liam knew had to be racing out of control, if not hammering straight out of his chest. Groaning, he looked between the stairs up to his room and the barely lit door leading further into the sewer lair. The Theo he knew, and loved, would have found solace in whatever he had of Liam's, searching out the change in himself, trying to protect it. But, that was the conscious part of him, the one that was doing his damndest to go against years of trained instincts.

Slowly, he turned to face the sewer side. It didn't matter how much good he did, deep down, the chimera was likely to always think he belonged there. It was the closest thing he had to a home for most of his life, the one constant he always drifted back to the second everyone looked away. He stepped further into it, wincing at the crunch of gravel on concrete and the swampy tinge to the air as he inhaled. After a minute, his nose adjusted, though he wondered if that was a good thing. He took a quick sniff, searching for any hint of dead forest among the smells.

As he continued away from the fighting, he kept his ears open, forcing himself to listen beyond the furious growls and snarls. A soft, hiccupy sob broke through the static. His feet are moving before he tells them, shouldering through the swinging doors. He skidded to a stop, hands bracing against the brick wall as he collided with it, just barely keeping his face from slamming into it as well. It stung in his palms and his shoulder was screaming again, but his wolf didn't give him a chance to evaluate it all properly.

The crying was louder now, no longer being upstaged by the wolf and coyote, but not quite loud enough for him to tell which way it was coming from. He groaned, lips twitching, frustration running rampant through him, spurred on by his wolf's renewed pacing.

"Theo!" He called out, hoping the echoes of his own voice wouldn't drown out any response.

For a brief moment, the crying stopped. An icy chill swept through him, stilling his wolf. His head swiveled between left and right, bouncing at lightning speeds between the two, matching his pulse. Only when a light whimper reached down the tunnel to his right did he let out the breath he hadn't realized got stuck in his lungs. He moved down the tunnel carefully, trying to simultaneously listen to the animals fighting beyond the doors and keep heading towards the distressed whines. His head is splitting in two, a budding ache between his eyes.

The roughness behind his movements as he rubs at the sore spot is intentional. What little frustration he can funnel out through himself, he does. It was all he could do to try and maintain a semblance of control. Pain kept them human, kept him from losing it over the last six months, it could hold him together just a little bit longer. It had to.

His feet stopped, glued to the floor in front of a thick steel door. Eyes narrowed, he leaned toward it, pressing his ear to the cold metal. Sure enough, the whimpering sobs were coming from inside. A smile crawled across his face as he reached for the knob opening the door, stepping inside in a smooth series of movements.

He fumbled around the wall, eventually finding a light switch. With a triumphant grin, he flipped the switch. The bulb was slow to light, hardly glowing at first, but it was enough for him to take stock of the room. His smile fell, a frown taking over the whole of his expression. As the light brightened, it glinted off the too-clean surgical instruments laid out on rolling trays and the lab table. A renewed churning in his stomach made him flinch as he stared at the metal surface. It was almost identical to the one Theo's body was strapped to. Almost. This one had years of claw marks down at least a foot and half of its sides, likely left as Theo grew.

A pitiful, gut-wrenching whimper broke the silence, drawing Liam's eyes to the table again. Stuttering sobs followed, only interrupted by shaky, half-breaths. For the first time, the pitch of the sounds registered. They are far too high for any adult, more like those of a kid. His head cocked to the side as he stepped to the table's foot, peering his head around the side. Why would Theo have a kid in his head? When hazel eyes snapped up to his, he froze, his breath trapped in his throat again.

He knew those eyes. He would know them anywhere.

"Theo?"

Somehow, the kid nodded between whimpering sobs, tears and snot dripping down his face. It was so obviously Theo, not even by the eyes, which Liam would know anywhere, just like his wolf. No, it was the way his forehead crinkled in confusion as he stared back, a question building on the chimera's tongue. He could scarcely believe it.

"What the hel-"

Snarling at the door cut him off. He turned his head, glaring at the latched door and kneeling down, arms open. The hairs on his neck stood up, goosebumps prickling to life all up and down his arms. Warmth spread through his chest as Theo launched into his waiting arms, hands grabbing onto his shirt, burrowing into his chest. In an instant, Liam had an arm tight around him, the other hand smoothing through Theo's hair and pressing his face further into the crook of his shoulder, hoping the kid version was as comforted by it as the more adult one. The happy hum vibrating through his chest made his wolf preen, a smile tickling the corners of his mouth.

"I got you," he murmured, dropping his eyes down to the shaking mop of brown hair in his arms. "I promise. I'm not gonna let anything happen."

The door slammed open, a screeching yowl from the wolf punctuating the loud crash and scrape as the table was thrown back into them. Little Theo's sharp scream prompted Liam to twist away from the door, pulling the boy more tightly into his chest. A deep rumbling drifted into the room. His eyes narrowed before he looked back to the door, knowing exactly what he was going to be met with.

The dazzling molten gold eyes of the coyote leveled as furious a glare at him as he was giving it. The beast was in the doorway, hackles up, and more blood coating its face than before. Liam snarled, his wolf rising to the surface again, extending his fangs and deepening his brows. It was a warning, a last chance for the coyote to back down. He had no interest in fighting any part of Theo, but his sentiment was clearly not shared as it stepped further into the room. A brief inkling of fear crept into him as he took in the full size of the beast. He could have sworn the damn thing had doubled in size.

The coyote snarled louder, snapping at the air beside it. It let out a sharp, commanding bark, scratching at the ground as it glowered at the two of them.

"I don't wanna!" Theo shrieked, burying his face into Liam's shoulder, shaking his head violently. "Please, stop it! I won't do it. I don't-"

A sharper bark cut him off, ears flattening against the black canid's skull. The way it peeled back its lips, revealing its bloodied canines one by one, tail lifting behind it.

"Nooo…" Theo whined, hands tightening around his shirt.

As the coyote snarled again, a loud whimper left the tiny body in his arms and a light bulb went off in Liam's head. This was how the coyote maintained control. It forced Theo to participate, chipping away at the chimera until he retreated to the last shreds of safety he had had, and the weaker he got, the stronger the coyote became, and the harder it was for him to break free from its influence.

Liam couldn't stifle the rage rippling through him. He loosened his hold on Theo, standing up. Quickly glancing down at the boy, he gave a soft smile. Tears streaked down his gaunt cheeks, hovering over the protruding cheek bones before rolling down. Another wave of fierce anger rolled through him. He was sick and tired of people and things using Theo for their own end.

If the fucker wanted Theo, he was going to have to go through him.

He brought his eyes back to the coyote, letting his own beast thrum close beneath the surface as he snarled defiantly, deliberately stepping around Theo, putting himself squarely between the coyote and its prey.

"Never again," he said, voice eerily calm.

The coyote was the first to move, launching forward at full speed, only sort of able to get traction on the moist concrete. Liam was moving in the same breath, easily hopping onto and sliding across the table, using the momentum to throw himself up and forward, tackling the black mass of fur to the ground. It writhed beneath his weight, squirming out from his claws, twisting till it was inches away from snapping its jaws on his face. With a clamoring roar, Liam aimed his claws at the beast's neck. He caught the tips of fur as it lurched out of his one-handed hold.

Before he could shift his position, or process it was gone, the coyote bowled him over, claws digging into his chest. Its back paws dug in, raking down, claws catching momentarily on his jeans before shredding through the material. It was all he could do to keep ahold of the damn thing's jaw, stopping it from snapping shut around his neck, let alone hold back his scream as it continued attempting to disembowel him.

He devolved into whimpers as the pressure on his chest was suddenly gone. For a single heartbeat, relief flooded him. The next, terror gripped him like a titanoboa, squeezing every ounce of air from his lungs and threatening to crack every last one of his ribs. There was no way little Theo could handle the coyote. Not in a million years. As he sat up and tried to force himself into a standing position, a familiar, albeit too human, snarl rippled through the air.

Even through the dizziness, the coyote began to shrink, returning to a normal size before his eyes, and the little boy, in turn, grew, filling back out into the man he had come to know. A truly relieved sigh slid from him as Theo's hand closed around its lower jaw, gripping it tight despite the blood spurting from his own skin. It was a fair fight now.

Liam gathered his legs beneath himself, willing his healing to work faster as he looked at the dark red puddle beneath him. A raw shout filled the air, dragging his focus back to Theo as he threw his entire body into the coyote, still holding its jaw open, forcibly backing it up. The canid was squealing and whimpering, begging to be let go. But Theo didn't relent. Instead, he torqued his whole body, flipping the coyote on its side. It stilled, and in that brief second, Liam caught his backwards glance. Fury, concern, and relief all shifted across his face in such a quick series of expressions he almost didn't catch all of them. Anger settled squarely over all of them, cutting deep trenches into chimera's expression.

"Why the fuck are you here?" Theo's voice was rough, whether it was from disuse or exhaustion was a coin-toss. "The least you can do for the person trying to save your life is not throw yourself into danger, again."

The coyote surged upwards, wrenching its head loose in the blink of an eye. It snapped at the closest thing, which so happened to be the arm pinning it to the ground by its scruff. Theo jumped back, pulling his arm out of the way, only to grab the animal by the throat. Its whine was choked off, a strangled shriek punching from it as the chimera kicked it square in the chest. The solid thud from its landing, several yards away, was dull, almost turning his stomach as he glanced at it.

"In my defense," Liam started as Theo turned back to him, "I didn't think I was gonna be attacked by an actual coyote as soon as I set foot in your head."

He almost cowed beneath the firm look the chimera leveled at him. It had been over half a year since the last time he had faced down this particular variation of " you're such a dumbass, and we both know it, but that was kinda funny ". He offered an apologetic wince and half-grin, and the sternness melted almost immediately, though Theo tried to hide it behind his hand as he pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed at his face. Liam was almost whooping for joy at the little hints of lemon and fresh rain carried half-felt snippets of happiness through the space. He could barely pick them out, but they were no less there, which was already huge strides from where he started this whole adventure.

His wolf bounced excitedly in his head, urging him to close the gap between them. The wolf's zest sent him reeling, almost stumbling back to the ground as he tried leaping to his feet and crossing the last several feet between him and Theo in one fluid motion. By some miracle, his face did not become acquainted with the floor. Instead, he found himself hauled into a solid wall of muscle. As the warmth and decaying, chemical forest scent settled over him, arms cinched tight around him, so much so his lungs had hardly any room to expand.

At that moment, he couldn't have cared if a nuke went off overhead.

His universe narrowed down to the man hugging the daylights out of him. He wrapped his arms around Theo in turn, fingers knotting desperately in the back of his shirt, pulling the other's chest impossibly closer. The strength of his grip turned his knuckles white and had his hands shaking as he pressed them into the chimera's back. Tears ran down his cheeks in unstoppable droves, disappearing one by one into the soft fabric of Theo's shirt without any ounce of complaint.

Liam had no idea how long they just stood there, tangled up in one another, both taking long, drawn out breaths that lingered in the quiet sliver of a pocket between their chests. The only inkling of a time indicator was how large the wet spot on Theo's shirt was. By the feel of it, the splotch was about the size of his whole cheek, which probably meant it had been at least several minutes.

"It's time to go home," he said, gingerly lifting his head from the chimera's shoulder.

Theo shook his head, arms falling abruptly away. "No."

As suddenly as Liam had found himself entirely encircled by Theo, the man had extricated himself and put several feet between them. The same thousand-yard stare settled back onto his face in record time, burying whatever lingering mirth had clung to either of them. Liam's wolf was keening, more than confused at the turn of events. How could Theo want to stay? He knew what that meant, what the pack was planning if this didn't work. It was suicide.

"No?" The hurt on his face had to rival the squeak that was his voice, if the way Theo winced and dropped his eyes to the floor was anything to go by. "How can you say no?"

"Because, for once," Theo tilted his head, emphasizing his words with a quick quirk of his eyebrows, "this pack of idiots are manning up and want to do the smart thing. We both know I'm dangerous."

Liam shook his head, a short sigh slipping through his nose. Fate was a funny thing. The guy who, once upon a time, would have stepped over his burning body and dumped a glass of water next to him, had developed a martyr complex. And at the worst possible time. He bottled up the groan and frustration, letting concern bleed onto his face as he found the chimera's eyes again.

"Not anymore," he said, letting his voice be thick with the tears still clinging to his lashes.

With a deep breath, he stepped towards Theo, determinedly closing the gap, without dropping his eyes. There was no way in hell he was letting him stay. They had fought too hard, for too long to keep each other alive just to throw in the towel now.

Another soft smile tugged at Liam's lips, and he let it spread wider as he said, "Not to them."

Liam took another step, leaving barely a foot between them, and raised his hands, ignoring how much they were shaking. His fingers grazed over the back of the other's hands. For a split second, the chimera tensed beneath his hands, as though he was preparing to run.

"Not to me," Liam growled, locking Theo's hands in his with a vise grip.

Theo stood stock still, eyes a little wider than normal and mouth half-open, as if words had frozen on his tongue. Despite the grit, grime and blood, the hopeful gleam on the chimera's face was a beautiful sight. An answering sliver of a smile started to spread on Liam's, his wolf howling happily, almost pushing it out of his chest with the force of its exuberance. He tightened his hold on the chimera's hands, a gentle, encouraging squeeze.

The action jolted Theo, who shook his head, chin tucking protectively into his chest and eyes squeezing shut. The whole of the chimera's body shuddered, a violent spasm rocketing through it, and though his hands twisted, Liam kept a steady hold on them. He waited quietly, stomach twisting into knots, for any sort of explanation.

"More than ever," Theo said, pulling his hands from Liam's. "You saw what I did, what she didn't have to ask me to do."

When Theo lifted his head, Liam's heart sank. The shift from how open his expression had been not even seconds ago to the overly practiced, measured one now staring back at Liam would have left any other pack member at a loss. But none of them knew him like Liam did. In fact, after years of practice reading this particular chimera, he knew exactly what the look meant. This was yet another valiant attempt at running the other direction.

Knowing, however, did nothing to lessen the sharpness in his chest or the way his skin tingled, angry hurt fizzling to life beneath it.

"I saw someone putting others first, doing the best they could with a shit-ass hand," Liam said firmly, letting only a hint of the storm in his head leak into his voice. "Whatever you did once that thing," he gestured in the vague direction of the coyote, "was in charge, wasn't you."

Theo shook his head again, jaw visibly tightening. "The coyote is part of me, so by all technical definitions, yeah it was still me. Just not the version everyone gets along with."

Liam rolled his eyes, hands rolling into shaking fists at his side as he fought the urge to grab him by his shoulders and shake him, violently. What was it going to take to get through the chimera's thick skull? None of this was even remotely his fault. All he had done was save Liam's ass, yet again, and paid a price far too steep for it.

"Why are you so hell-bent on taking the blame and guilt for something that isn't even on you?" His voice was ringing in his own ears as he spun away, claws springing from his fingers as his wolf lunged to the surface, egged on by his growing frustration. "What she had you do, i-it's not on you, Theo. You're no more guilty th-than the gun in a murder. Blame belongs to the person who uses the weapon."

Daggers filled Theo's eyes as he closed the distance, shoving Liam hard enough that he stumbled back two steps. The pure anger shooting off the chimera had him bristling, a snarl rising to his lips on instinct, though he shoved it away as fast as he could. Starting an actual fight would only make the coyote stronger.

"Don't you get it?" Theo shouted, his whole face twisted, caught between anger and agony. "The Doctors needed a weapon, and they turned me into it by putting the damn coyote with a fucking wolf. The blood thirsty beast and the puppy that just wants a home," he all but spat the last words out, venom drenching the syllables. "I'm both, Liam. I'm the gun and the person holding it; a person, fully capable of making other decisions, who had access to the coyote, and let the damn thing loose."

The primal fury radiating through the room lessened, a pained wince softening the deep trenches in Theo's face as he shifted, angling himself away from Liam without fully turning. Liam waited, letting the other calm himself unimpeded, despite the urge to span the distance between them and force Theo into a bone-breaking hug.

"The scariest part?" The chimera's voice was small, far quieter than his raging rant not even a minute ago. "I made the choice, over and over, and would have kept making it. I don't regret what I did." He mumbled the last part, the contradictory stink of shame spilling off him in waves. "You wanna know why?"

In truth, he already knew, but the thought of hearing Theo say it, especially with how much venom had been dripping from him, almost made him say no. But he held his tongue, for once keeping the impulsive natures of him and his wolf in check. The quiet, derisive chuckle Theo let out coupled with how broken his teary eyes were as he turned back to him, stabbed at his chest even worse.

"Because I do whatever it takes, regardless of who it hurts, so long as the ends justify the means."

Air fled Liam's lungs, leaving him grinding his jaw shut tighter, refusing to let the choked gasp fly from his lips. This was old news, information he already found. Hearing it again should not have triggered as big a response. Though, his reaction probably had more to do with hearing the chimera admit, out loud to more than just himself, that he had done it solely for Liam.

"I'll make you a deal," he said, voice shaking as he met Theo's eyes again. "If you can tell me, right here right now, to my face that you would have done all that without Fallon ever existing, then I'll leave your ass right here like you want." Bile rose in his throat, making him grimace as the bitter acid hit his tongue. "But I didn't go through six months of hell on earth waiting to get you back only to lose you to your overblown self-destructive bullshit."

Somehow he kept his voice calm, not a flutter or crack through the whole thing, but beneath the gentle tone was a weight. He watched as it settled on Theo's shoulders, rolling them forward. Maybe he even understood it as his jaw snapped shut, no further arguments falling from his mouth. The chimera's eyes drop beside Liam, a questioning quirk to his neutral expression.

Before Liam could ask what he was looking at, the wolf stepped around from behind him. He shifted to the right, definitely not a little startled by the animal's sudden reappearance. It was limping, battered and blood still was running from the deep gashes along its side and face. His own wolf stirred at the sight, a pitched whine loud enough to have Liam wincing reverberated through his skull, making his fingers twitch with the urge to rest in the soft, dark fur.

It moved past him with purpose, out of reach before he fully processed its presence. Bright red paw prints trailed behind it as it came to a stop between him and Theo. All the hairs on his neck stood straight up as a low rumbling filled the air. It wasn't from him or Theo. Liam glanced at the wolf, noting its raised hackles and defensive posture.

He looked back to the chimera, mouth opening, but as the wolf turned back towards him, his jaw shut with an audible clack. Holding still and letting the still growling beast move around him took every ounce of self-control he had. Not because he was scared. Somehow he knew the wolf meant him no harm, that it never would. A soft smile spread over his face as it came to a stop in front of him, bright eyes meeting his own.

Without any warning, the wolf closed the last foot of distance, twisting to press the whole of its side into Liam. The sudden shift in weight surprised him, almost taking him to the ground, but as he supported the wolf, so did it support him. One of his flailing hands found the beast's neck and grabbed a handful of fur, using it to keep himself standing.

As they steadied one another, a deep sense of relief seeped into Liam, as if Theo's wolf were taking his pain. His own animal settled, a happy preening type of rumble akin to a purr filling his head. He looked to the chimera, a wide, excited grin splitting his face, only for the smile to fade almost as quickly as it came to be. Theo was pointedly looking away, his whole body tensed, ready to run at the drop of a hat.

Liam sighed, voice almost too heavy to get the words out properly, "Theo, please. I… I need you to… They're going to kill you if you stay like this. Kill, Theo. Not put back in hell. Kill."

Anger and pain twisted over his face, "I know!"

Liam's anger rose again, a growl building in his chest "Then come back. Take control and come back. Don't make me go through this. Please. I-I can't. I can't. You-You're my-" A frustrated groan interrupted him, too strong to bite back. "God dammit, asshole, I need you. Okay? I need you."

Even looking at the back of the chimera's head, he saw when his words hit home. The spasm that stumbled him gave Liam a little burst of hope, which only grew as Theo turned, a glassy sheen to his eyes, tears welling in the corners.

There was no way Theo actually wanted to die. Not with how much the thought of it scared him. The Anuk-ite had fallen flat with him because of it, unable to topple the dread of returning to the pit awaiting him next time his heart stopped. The only reason Liam could think of as far as why he was okay just letting it happen was his overblown drive to protect him and the damn martyr complex he developed along the way.

The world around them shook, a deep rumbling from below. Everything along the walls rattled with the force, creating a disjointed quasi-hum. Liam looked from the wolf beside him to Theo, hoping for an answer or at least the comfort of his false-bravado. The unreadable lines of his face made his gut sink.

Before he could open his mouth, a force yanked him back. He fell to his knees, claws digging into the ground, trying to keep him steady. A feeling similar to being punched in the gut knocked him loose, taking all the air from his lungs as he flew back into pure blackness.

Suddenly, Liam was falling back, head spinning and stomach lurching every which way. Hands grabbed him, forcibly steadying him on his own feet with grips of steel. His wolf sneered at the help, as disoriented as he was at the shift in smells and temperature. He twisted against the hold on his arms and shoulders, a sharp snarl punctuating his rough movements as he yanked his arms free.

His own momentum threw him forward. For whatever reason, he kept his eyes closed, stumbling blindly till his hands found purchase on the cold metal of the table. A deep, albeit shaky, breath deflated his hunched shoulders. Voices surged around him, mingling and mixing as they overlapped to form an indistinct cacophony.

"Shut up!" He screamed, metal creaking in his twin grips.

The world spun on, though now void of voices. Slowly, he could feel the ground beneath his feet again and the world stopped turning. He opened his eyes all at once, patience be damned, only to hiss and recoil from the abrupt change in brightness. One day he would get his impulsivity under control, maybe.

His soft, half-hearted puff of laughter as he slowly blinked open his eyes was met with sighs of relief. Four of the five heartbeats around him slowed, returning to normal rhythms. A hand squeezed his shoulder, the hold firm and gentle, pulling his head to the right.

A tentative shrug was all the answer he could give to the question on Stiles' face. Even if he had been able to form words, there wasn't much he could say. He had no clue whether he succeeded or not. His grip on the table tightened, bending the metal. He did his best. What else could he have done? He had laid his cards on the table for him and tried to give him a reason to want to come back.

Whatever happened next, it was up solely up to Theo.

The vise grip throughout his chest worsened as seconds ticked by only for the chimera to remain still. Breathing and with a steady heartbeat, but too still.

New pangs of anger pinballed within his ribs, shattering the last of his resolve. He curled forward, hands abandoning the table to grab fistfuls of the battered gray shirt. He dropped his head till it connected with the chimera's chest. A blanket made from caustic, decayed wood smell wrapped around him. Tears fell freely, dislodged by the quakes wracking through him. He couldn't muster even an eighth of an ounce of shit to give about the broken sounds he was making.

"You selfish, bastard," Liam snarled through the sobs, one hand pounding not-so-gently against the chest beneath him.

A low groan answered him. His head snapped up with a violent crack, eyes immediately glued to the chimera's face. Little twitches all across the board intensified as the sound repeated, stronger, more audible than palpable. Everyone behind him, except Stiles, took a tentative step back. His wolf growled, disappointed in the pack for the umpteenth time as of late.

The annoyance was short lived, eclipsed with a jolt of fear as leapt back, quickly letting go of the shirt, only narrowly missing colliding with Theo's face as he lurched upward, a human snarl ripping from his lips. He slammed back into the table, momentum reversed by the straps across his chest and arms. The pained grunts as he fought the bindings, jerking them roughly this way and that as hard as he could, filled the otherwise silent space.

"Theo," Liam said softly, vocal cords still not quite sure they wanted to play ball.

The chimera's eyes snapped to his, bloodshot, wide with fear, and, more strangely, entirely human. As soon as their eyes met, the panicked struggling slowed. Waves of fear continued to roll off him, almost eclipsing Liam's joy. Glowing or not, normal emotions for him to be so openly displaying or not, the eyes looking back at him were entirely his Theo's.

He launched forward, slamming both their shaking bodies into the table. Chest to chest, they both began to shake. Arms wrapped around him, pulling him deeper into a spine-crushing embrace as the body beneath him shifted, tilting to half-sit. Liam's wolf exploded into a steady song of happy howls, though the piercing pitch occasionally sounded more whale-like than wolfish.

"I- I thought you–" Half-choked down hiccuping sobs cut off the words he hated to even think.

He was pulled closer into Theo's chest as his arms tightened, not giving him any choice. Each deep breath he took, the odd woodsy mix that was Theo, the quieter his crying got.

"I know," Theo mumbled, burying his face in the crook of Liam's neck, muffling the words.

Stiles cleared his throat, making three times the necessary amount of noise.

Without moving an inch, Liam growled, nuzzling into Theo, soothing away the spike of anger. All he wanted to do was sink into the man on the table, let his knees go and just drown in the warmth that bit by bit was knitting the gaping hole in him back together. It would be his just reward. Honestly, after the week of hell and the six months beforehand put together, he was owed at least that much. The idea of a blissfully dreamless nap next to the chimera was dangling so tantalizingly close, just mere inches away. Not to mention, the warm contentment pulsing from Theo further enticed him to just keep his head buried.

Liam's brow furrowed, head tilting, deep confusion setting in. He pulled his head back, shifting his hands from Theo's back to gently pressing on his shoulders, asking for both space and his attention. The slow sigh tickling his neck and grumbly groan reverberating through his own chest had his heart soaring. The world just felt right again. Or, almost right.

The quizzical crease in his brow remained even as Theo met his waiting gaze. Another wave of chemosignals flooded the room, mostly concern and worry from those behind him, but a twinge of it came from the man in front of him.

"Why aren't you masking?" Scott asked, voice thick with just as much confusion as Liam felt.

At least he wasn't imagining it.

Not that he would have been able to with how hard Theo flinched and the mirrored reek of shame bursting from him. The ferocity with which emotions were rolling off the normally stoic chimera had his head reeling. No wonder he masked all the time and spent so much time teaching him to do it.

"I…" Theo shifted, arm dropping from Liam's shoulder, wrapping around his stomach. "I can't. Anymore. I, uh, I… I, there's no way to put–"

A jolt of realization rocketed through Liam, dropping his jaw as he stared. "You killed it, didn't you?"

"No," Theo shook his head. "Wish I could, but I can't." He huffed, reaching to the back of his neck, wincing.

"What are you guys talking about?" Stiles barged his way between them, looking expectantly between the two. "I thought masking was one of the, like, core attributes of a coyote."

"It is," Scott said, stepping up to Liam's other side. "The coyote part is blocked, isn't it?"

Theo's nod was small, hardly a nod at all, but the sickening twinge of sadness tinting the air around him was all the answer anyone needed. "And the wolf," he added quickly. "Can't do one without the other. They've been a package deal since day one."

Stiles, equally confused, sputtered, "Wait, what? He blocked the were-creature side? Like, fully? Completely? That's a thing?"

Liam's head was spinning, information buzzing about, but not quite clicking together. His face crinkled, utter confusion settling on it as he shook his head. It wasn't possible. Blocking out the animal side was just not possible. There was no way he could have done it by sheer force of will alone, that just was not how this whole thing worked. There had to be some other…

For the umpteenth time, his stomach sank. This was his fault. All the discomfort and ill-ease billowing off the chimera, was his doing. He had to have messed up the mind meld. Scott told him it was dangerous, that he was more than likely going to hurt Theo in some way, that it was a chance even when alphas did it, and he had just pressed on, over-sure of himself and impulsive as ever.

He took a stumbling step back, eyes shutting tight, almost screwing shut. Somehow, in his quest to get his Theo back, he took away the literal parts of him that made up his whole identity.