Warmth was the first thing Theo noticed as he tried to blink himself into a semi-conscious state. The second was how heavy his eyelids were, almost refusing to open at all. Through the slivers they eventually agreed to, he made out the inside of a bedroom. It was definitely not the one he expected. There were so many windows he could barely tell what color the walls were, but that in and of itself was clue enough.

The grey-ish baby blue of Liam's walls reminded him of the beta's eyes when clouds covered the sky, dulling the brightness of his blue eyes by a hair. He chuckled lazily, shaking his head. Arms around his waist tightened and a puff of hot breath ran over his neck, stilling him instantly. The grip around his middle remained the same, but the deep intake of air and its slow release repeated several times before a chorus of soft snores trailed after them.

Of course, his head would be this cruel.

Not only did it conjure up Liam's room, putting him on the beta's bed, but no, it had to top the whole dream off with him in his arms. He could have screamed, if his body hadn't been so heavy, refusing to move or listen to anything he wanted to do. Instinct said to run, to get up and take off as far past the city limits as he could, to put as much space between them as possible. Dreams had not been kind to Theo where the beta was involved. He flinched, backward into the warmth, as his brain conjured up Liam slamming the sword into the ground. No, they had not been kind at all.

But, when he tried to move, to slide out from the beta's arms or even just shift in his lap, the lax grip around his waist turned to iron, melting any resolve he scrounged up. His heart wanted to stay, and apparently his body preferred listening to a muscle as opposed to an organ. What happened to the man that schemed and planned his entire future off of getting the hell out of dodge with a pack? All his life he had wanted to do nothing but run.

And now that he could, that he had the chance to live out the choice, even if it was just in a dream, his body was refusing. He wanted to be mad, to feel betrayed by his own body, but, honestly, he was almost grateful.

Running was getting harder and harder, and he was tired of it, so very tired of trying and getting nowhere. Whether he left on foot, in his truck, under the control of whackjobs who had every intention of killing him once he outlived his usefulness, or in the back of a van with hunters who wanted nothing more than to use him, he always ended up back where he started. Beacon Hills was every bit the prison that Hell was, it just had a better decor and a few more painful lessons for him.

He huffed, shifting to nuzzle further into the infernoesque chest behind him. If his head was so intent on torturing him, he would at least take something positive from it. The warm scent flooded every bit of his nose and mouth as the strong, sleep-slow heart thumped softly through his chest, strangling his chest, the ribs refusing to move, breath catching and freezing in his throat.

To be so close, tucked into the beta's arms, surrounded and safe for once in his life, was everything he wanted, everything his wolf used to scream for. He shuddered, letting a quiet sob through his lips. It was a dream. What propriety did he have to maintain in his own head anymore? He was alone, without even the coyote to snap at him for his internal weaknesses. Another shudder wracked through him, drawing the tell-tale burn of tears building behind his eyes.

"Urgh," he groaned, bringing a clumsy hand to his face, swiping at his eyes.

The darn things let go too easily nowadays, even in his head. He might not have to impress anyone, but he had standards. Or, he should have. Where Liam was concerned, there were only a frightful few things that he would not at least consider doing, and always would be.

"I kinda hate you, y'know? Or, at least I should. You changed everything, and you don't even know it. You…you weren't supposed to be important. A means to an end. A way to…"

He stopped himself, wincing at his own words, waiting for the chill of Tara to encroach, as she always did when he drifted into the land of his mistakes. There were so many, it was hard to avoid eventually stumbling into a tangentially related thought.

" Fuck , little wolf," he said, voice shaking, his whole body tightening. "I, I'm… Sorry doesn't seem to quite cover it."

Tremors, starting in his chest, spread slowly to each of his limbs, snaking down his nerves. As he shook, tears fell down his cheeks, unseated by the minute movements. No part of him tried to muffle the shaky whimpers tumbling out of him or to stem the tide of shakes. Why would he? This was the only place he let himself feel it all, the only place where no one could hear what he was saying or see how his body betrayed him beneath the onslaught, the one place no would say he was using his emotions to gain something, the one safe place.

"This, I never meant for it to, for you to…for me…I'm…"

Theo shook his head, forcing himself to face forward again, simply leaning his back into the imagined body behind him. Everything was so tantalizingly correct, matching one to one with the real Liam. The level of space heater the blond managed to achieve in his sleep; the weight of his arms across Theo's stomach; even the way his fingers twitched. It seemed so real.

"You, you deserve better. God, do you deserve someone better, some-someone as good as you, and I can't…"

The shaking in his hand as he carefully reached for his stomach worsened every inch closer he brought it, damn near shaking his entire arm as he tangled his fingers with the beta's hand. As with everything related to Liam, his hand was warm, almost hot to the touch.

He let himself sink back into the firm chest. It was warm and smelled of safety, of something Theo had not had in over a decade: home. The shudders wracking through him only shook his chest harder, forcing out a choppy breath as he slid down, tipping to the side. Against his better judgment, the idiotic physical representation of an ever-exploding gaseous ball of flames was the closest thing to home he had.

The arms around his waist tightened again, the deep rumble of a growl rolled through him, tearing a choked out whine from his lips. He was warm, and safe, and there was the potential for something he absolutely could never deserve at his fingertips.

"I…i-it can't be. I've screwed up too many times, screwed over too many people and left a trail of bodies twenty miles long."

His head was cruel, taunting him so blatantly with what he was never going to have. Liam was never going to be his, never could be. The sun and moon were too much like oil and water to ever mix very well, as much as he yearned to ignore that particular fact. Pretending something unrealistic was attainable was nothing but a recipe for disaster.

He shook his head again, lifting a hand to scrub roughly at his soaking wet closed eyes. At least, he was more than capable of imagining the beta in vivid detail. Thanks to his horrifically cruel mind, the beta would be with him regardless of where he disappeared to. France had a nice ring to it. The countryside was still sprawling enough that a wolf or coyote could survive easily. According to the puppies, many of the pack went to Europe over the years on journeys of self-discovery. It might as well have been a right of passage. Given his distinctly not pack status, considering the oldest European wine country as an escape route felt more right as an option than it probably should have.

"I'll never be good enough, and I, I, just…" His voice softened, barely above a whisper, "I, sometimes, I…I forget."

A fuzzy warmth encroached on his thoughts, slowing them down, dragging out his musings on the pastries he never got to try under the Doctors and the language the Pathologist taught him. It was rough and fast as far as languages were concerned, meant to be spoken aloud, a tool for conveying things from one heart to another. Learning it had been almost worse than when they strapped him to the table, chest open and exposed, and tested his ability to control his heartrate.

With a huff, he chased the memories away, focusing on the blinding smile he had fallen tail over snout for instead. Further warmth rose through him, erasing the lingering sting from the dark times, as the beta had taken to calling them, relaxing the muscles he hadn't realized he tensed.

"You," Theo's tired voice tailed off, a smile on his lips despite the twinge in his gut, "you make me forget."

All his senses drifted, unfocused and untethered, freely groping through the growing blankness around him. The world fell away, a new, blank black dreamscape taking over.

Sunlight streamed in through the semi-curtained windows, dousing the bed in a soft light, reflecting warmly off the brown of Theo's hair as Liam stared down at him. The pungent scent of stress dissipated as the pounding heart hidden away in the chimera's chest slowed. Sleep settled it into a slug-like rhythm.

A shaky breath filtered through Liam's nose, buffeting the hair inches below.

His own heart was racing, having picked up the pace after every pause and hitch in the other supernatural's chemosignals. Every part of him wanted to leap off the bed and dance with joy, or at the very least howl from the rooftops as loud as possible. However, both those things would mean letting go of the sleeping chimera that had just all but admitted he felt the same as Liam.

His wolf rumbled happily, surging forward again. How he kept still enough to not betray he woke up part way through Theo's little rant was beyond him. The damn animal in his head had wanted to twist the other around and take his lips then and there, to solidify to the idiot that he was loved, that he mattered beyond his claws, that this was a mutual thing, that it could be more.

A sharp twist in his chest made him wince as the broken rambling whispers before the chimera fell back asleep repeated in his head. His arms instinctively cinched around Theo's waist, pressing the knobby curve of the sleeping supernatural's spine into his chest. No matter what it took, he would get through to the idiot. There was no one better — be they alive, dead, or not yet born — for him. Theo was it, The One, the be all and end all of what he wanted for the rest of his life, of what his wolf wanted.

Bzzzzt, bzzzzt. Bzt, bzzzzt. Bzt, bzt, bzt. Bzzzz, bzzzzt, bzzzzt. Bzzzzt, bzt.

Of all the times for Mason's best friend crisis radar to go off, it had to be then. His arms slackened around Theo. A pitiful whimpering burbled from the chimera, nearly wrenching an answering one from his own wolf. God did he hate that sound. He might have just strangled himself if he had to choose between hearing Theo make it again or listen to nails on a chalkboard.

"Shit," he muttered, a lance of panic shooting through his veins, eyes skipping over the expanse of his room.

Bzzzzt, bzzzzt. Bzt, bzzzzt. Bzt, bzt, bzt. Bzzzz, bzzzzt, bzzzzt. Bzzzzt, bzt.

His focus shifted closer to the bed, following the buzzing. Through narrowed, likely murderous, eyes he glared at the offending machine flashing intermittently as it rattled on the floor beside his bed. Last he remembered, it had been in his back pocket, not facedown on a pile of clothes.

He tensed. If Theo woke now he would realize what he thought was a dream had in fact been reality and everything he just said had been out loud to a very attentive werewolf. Limited as his options were, Liam worried as his lip, considering them. The most likely for success, and one he chose, was sliding Theo down his chest and tipping him to the side, fully laying the chimera on the bed. Somehow, the soft, sleep-slowed breathing continued and Liam leapt towards his phone.

His hand closed victoriously around the still vibrating electronic, thumb automatically swiping over the screen, answering the call.

"Shut up shut up shut up," he hissed quietly into it, turning back to the bed.

Thankfully, the brown mop of hair is still pressed into the mattress and the rhythm of his heart is still slow. Relief fizzled through him, unknotting the tense line of his shoulders. At the very least, he managed to not wake up the clearly sleep deprived chimera.

"Gimme like five seconds," he whispered, remembering the phone pressed to his ear.

Hides in the bathroom across the hall for good measure.

"Okay, all good," Liam said, voice on the quieter side, but not exactly whispering.

"What was that about?" Mason's confused chuckle echoes in the bathroom.

Liam rubbed at the back of his neck, setting the phone on the counter.

"Theo was asleep on top of me and I had to get my phone and I didn't wanna wake him, but I leapt off the bed and I didn't want you to wake him up."

"Somehow, that stupidly makes sense," his best friend sighed. "Why's he staying there, anyway? Scott said it'd be safer to have him at his house."

Liam growled, low and threatening, before choking off the sound. It rang in the tiled room, echoing off the fixtures. His gums itched, fangs eager to drop, his wolf restless now that he could no longer see the chimera. Letting his alpha take care of Theo had gone against every instinct, but he had let it happen because deferring to their alpha was what a good beta did. Scott was the more experienced between them; he knew how to help people better and had been taking care of his pack for over a half decade as opposed to Liam's measly three years as a wolf. Besides, everyone said it was the smart decision — even Lydia — and that if something happened, Scott and Isaac were the best equipped to handle it.

Logically, that made sense and it should have held true. He should have known better than to apply logic to the damn chimera. Nothing was logical or made a lick of sense when it related to him! A true alpha and his mate should have had it under control, and yet, the whole thing had been a gross overestimation of their capabilities.

They failed, spectacularly.

"Scott was wrong," he said, words short and clipped as he tried to keep from growling again.

"M'kay, a little weird there, buddy, but okay. What happened? No one's telling me or Corey or anyone that's not Stiles and Lydia anything. "

Liam winced, knowing just how determined his friend could be. "It's not my story, Mase."

"It is if it's the reason he's staying at your house and you told everyone that it was a permanent thing."

After a while, Liam sighed, nodding. There was no holding off indefinitely. Someone was going to want the equivalent to a statement from him and the details would inevitably get back to the other younger members. Secrets were not a thing, not since he got thrown ass first into this crazy world, as much as he wished he could still have a couple. At least this way he could control what information got out, minimize the embarrassment, and prevent the more Theo-related details from getting thrown around.

"He freaked out, bad."

"No shit, Sherlock," Mason said through his mild chuckling. "You wouldn't have sent a pack-wide text about him relocating to your place if he had just, y'know, stayed at Scott's and not caused a ruckus, but it's Theo, so I'm not overly surprised."

Another growl rippled through the bathroom, although it was quieter than the last and left the fixtures in their quiet, resting state.

"Sorry, insensitive. Continue."

With a roll of his eyes, Liam began his grumbling explanation, "Scott said it started as soon as he got to the house, th-that he was acting all jumpy, and in the middle of the night he bolted. Like, ran straight out a second story window."

Liam shuddered at the thought of what could have happened, given he was a coyote at the time.

"Isaac was the one who called me, because Scott was running after him, but he was too fast and he-he…" The full force of Theo's utter terror hit him in the face again, the memory swamping over him momentarily. "You should have seen him, Mase. He…he was so freaked out when I found him. He lashed out, bit my wrist."

"Wai-wai-wait. Bit you? As in like kinky rawr bit you or less kinky more weird?"

Any other day, and he would be blushing like a tomato and snarling at his friend for the implication. He was well aware of his crush on the chimera, not to mention the fact that they were mutual anchors, and together, those two things meant something was going to happen between them, eventually. It would just require them to both be on the same page of the same book and be in the same library, sharing the book and reading at the same time.

"None of the above." Liam shook his head, dropping it forward till it rested in his palm, refocusing himself. "Something about being there did more than just scare him, it triggered him."

"Intense."

Though Mason's mouth was silent, his heart and breathing were anything but, as was Corey. The chameleon's mumbled words were too indecipherable to be properly understood, and yet, Mason was humming in agreement. Something in Liam's chest ached for a moment, pulling his free hand to rub roughly at the ribs, knuckles digging into the muscle through the fabric.

"I mean, not surprising," Mason said, an audible tightness in his throat as he spoke rising as Liam's chest rumbled. "Hear me out before you get wolfy. When was the last time he was alone with Scott? Like, alone alone, without a just in case shadow?"

The huff that left him turned into another grumble. Just in case. Stiles and Malia always said it when he used to catch them lingering after meetings, orbiting around Scott, chasing Theo away with their glares and snarls. His gums still itched at the memories. It was cruel. All the chimera had been trying to do was apologize and they kept at it, over and over.

But that had stopped over a year ago, once Isaac moved back to Beacon hills.

"Come on, Mason, it's not- That was ages ago."

"Dude, think about it." Mason took a breath, at which Liam rolled his eyes. Think about it was almost always code for I'm about to bore you to death with a college course level lecture with Mason, and he was not ready for it. "In the last like three years, I've never seen them alone together. And, not that Theo thinks he needs it, but I'm pretty sure they've never talked about it ."

There had to have been a time when they were alone. There had to be. They were pack, or almost at least, they interacted semi-regularly, it was beyond statistically unlikely they had never been alone together in the years since the library, since Isaac put a stop to the revolving guard around Scott…Yet, as he parsed through the various meetings and how groups split to tackle threats, not once were Theo and Scott ever even close to one another.

"But, he- It's been, like, three years. They had to have…" Liam trailed off, pursing his lips, brows pinching together. "It's not like he still blames him. He didn't have a choice, we know that now more than ever. We've seen what the coyote does."

"Yeah, but this isn't something we can logic at. It's instinct," Mason said, his voice pitching into his lecture tone. "To us, Scott's house is home, but that's because we're pack. It's natural, that's how it's supposed to be; alpha's den is synonymous with safety." Mason sighed, heavily, "But to him, i-it-it was probably more like, like being locked in a lion's den and if he's human again-"

"Not an if, he shifted. Full shifted."

"What? So he's, like, fine?" The confused scrunch on his friend's face was audible.

"No." It was Liam's turn to take a deep breath, shaking his head, still not quite believing it himself. "He couldn't— Mase, he was trapped in it, and he was terrified. You wanna know where I found him?"

Mason sighed. " No, but tell me anyway."

"First, my front porch, and then, after he got scared and bit me, in the sewers, where- where he was, where I…" Liam's throat tightened, pitching his voice as he continued, "He was cowering, Mase. Theo. Cowering. Like he thought I was gonna send him back."

A choking gasp filled the sudden silence as Liam struggled to stay quiet and resettle his stomach. There has always been something so unflappable about the older supernatural, a visceral sort of notion that told the world to fear Theo as opposed to the other way around. Seeing him so scared, so flighty, ready to run at the shake of a leaf or a disapproving eye twitch.

"That…god." Another deep breath rattled through the phone, Mason's rabbiting heart slowing down gradually.

"A-and he, he wouldn't let me near him. But, I kept pushing, told him I'd never let anyone do it, that I…" Liam hesitated, throat clenching around the words, threatening to keep them locked inside. "I told him I'd, if anyone ever did put him back, that I'd-"

"Go to hell for him, with him." He rolled his eyes. Without a doubt, Mason was smiling, the big dopey, idiot smile that said he had figured something out on the other end of the line. "You finally ready to tell him?"

Liam froze, eyes widened, a sudden realization hitting him. Without a shadow of a doubt, he betrayed the best friend code of immediate dissemination of relationship related news. Mason was going to kill him, sans mercy or hesitation, just straight outright murder.

Leaning away from the phone, he mumbled, "Kinda already did, in the truck."

"And you didn't lead with that because…"

"Because he was asleep." He winced, fully prepared for the indignant screech that followed.

"God damnit, Li. You said it WHEN HE WAS ASLEEP?!"

"Felt kinda weird to say it when he was awake. He shifted back in my arms-"

"Wait." Liam paused, weary of the near growl in his friend's human voice. "You had him in your arms, naked , like full on no clothes, and you DIDN'T tell him?"

"Yes?" Liam squeaked, shying away from the phone, preemptively this time.

"You're killing me. Killing me. That was like prime time to say it, my dude." Mason sighed again, Corey's quiet chuckle, still an octave lower than normal from grogginess, filled through the phone. "Sooo, he was naked and in your arms? How'd it feel?"

Liam's wolf surged forward, forcing out a growl that filled the bathroom before grit his teeth and stifled it. There was nothing more to it. Just a vulnerable moment between him and the man he was hopelessly gone for.

Mason sighed and Liam practically heard the eye roll through the phone. "Not that way, I'm not Stiles. I meant for your wolf, dumbass."

Oh. It took Liam a moment to answer, having to delve back into memories and parse through them. "Good. Happy. Calm."

"And clearly he felt the same, since the bastard fell asleep. Let me tell you, that man has way too many coping mechanisms revolving around sleeping like three hours in two days."

Liam smiled a little at that. He already knew what it meant that the chimera had fallen asleep, not just in his arms, but in the sewers and, even more specifically, in that tunnel. There was little else in the world that scared him as much as that place — which had been a revelation in and of itself when Theo admitted it months before this shit show started, because Theo never seemed afraid, even with the Anuk-ite around — and yet, he had fallen asleep. Theo trusted him as implicitly as he did. Well, more than trusted…

"Theo's in love with me too," Liam blurted. Thoughts tumbled out of him faster than he could process or stop, blurring together as he spoke, "I mean, he didn't say it, but he kinda did, in a way, sort of. I'm also pretty sure he was asleep, so not sure it counts, because I don't even really know if he was talking about me, but he used the nickname, the one I hate and I know he doesn't use it for anyone else, but like, there's no way he meant to say it or imply it, or whatever. He didn't mean– he couldn't have. He's–"

"You're an idiot."

That stopped Liam's racing brain in its tracks.

"Of fucking course he's in love with you. Was that in doubt? Please tell me you're not just realizing this."

"Maybe?" Liam squeaked, still trying to catch up with the current topic.

"Why are all werewolves so fucking dense? I swear, between you, Scott, and Derek you could make a whole new planet with the level of density in your thick skulls."

"Please, Mason, help me. I have zero clue what to do, and if I do the wrong thing he's gonna leave. He already tried to, soon as he woke up at the lake house. Scott barely got him to come back."

A dumbstruck silence hung in the air, seconds ticking by until a drawn-out groan filtered through the speakers, loud enough to have Liam wincing.

"Why are you both such emotionally constipated idiots?" Mason's question was more whine than grumble, but the annoyance carried through nonetheless.

Liam frowned. "Because I'm a volcano half the time and he's…Theo. Do I need an explanation, beyond the obvious torture and lack of social opportunities?"

Mason's facepalm was, once again, audible through the phone. "Rhetorical question." His huff and sigh were heavy as if weighed down by the inexplicable idiocy of his chosen friends. "We both know he meant what he said, you just gotta get his conscious, overthinking, self-deprecating brain to turn off so he'll actually say it out loud and you can go 'yes, fucker, I know, me too' at him and then screw his brains out so he doesn't forget."

Liam's groan was louder than he meant, and more bothered. "Just how do I do that? It's not like I can just ask him to talk about his feelings. A, that's weird, and B, he either runs or ignores those conversations."

Corey's chuckle rang through the call as he said, "Do what you two do best. Fight."

"You know, he's not wrong," Mason added with a laugh of his own.

Liam squinted at the blank screen on the counter, waiting for the next thought, from either of them. There had to be more. The pair have been in a steady, stable relationship for nearly five years now, they have to have better advice than that .

"Pretty sure that's the opposite of what you're supposed to say to someone when they're asking for advice on getting INTO a relationship," was all he came up with as he sat, head dropping between his hands again.

"I've given up assigning you guys to any kind of norms. You're a true alpha's first bitten beta with emotional regulation and abandonment issues, and he's an unnatural supernatural with decades of repressed trauma related to kidnapping, murder, and genetic experimentation. Nothing is normal." Mason took a breath, exhaling slowly before he continued, "Just do what you guys do best and fight it out. Then fuck." His tone changed from gentle and supportive to a frustrated growl, "Please for the love of god and everything that is good, just fuck him already."

"One step at a time, Mase." His chuckle petered into a quiet groan, a pit opening in his stomach. "I…I'll call you later, okay?"

"Much later, like tomorrow later, preferably," Mason said, his smile leaking into his words.

Corey's barely audible sigh and soft, "Don't think, just talk," were the last things through the line before the disconnected beeps rang through the small space.

The ensuing silence seemed louder than his friends, settling heavily in the air, pressing down on him with every breath he forced into his chest. Beneath his ribs, his heart pounded frantically, threatening to burst through bone with the force of each contraction. Of all the things to come out of the last two weeks, this was not something he had prepared for, or fathomed was even a remote possibility. What had been a pipe dream he held under as tight a lock and key as he could was within reach, a tangible thing he was so close to grabbing hold of.

When his wolf began to stir, unsettled by the thrums of panic, the urge to bolt to the Preserve rose. His wolf howled in response, sending a wave of elation and frustration coursing through his being. Running was the only bandaid that had held him together even the slightest bit. Before the bite, as a human, it had been the only real relief he got, other than lacrosse. Throughout the last year, it had been his best solution to managing his wolf.

As he held himself still, muscles coiled, ready to explode into motion, he stretched his hearing beyond the tiled walls of the guest bathroom. A soft thump-thump drew his attention.

The vise around his lungs released the tiniest degree, allowing him to take a steadying breath. All his focus poured into the steady heartbeat, matching his own to it and using the rhythm to count his breathing, just as Theo had taught him years ago.

It had been the first thing he ever taught Liam, and was by far what he used the most.

A thin smile broke the panicked scowl that had planted itself on his face.

It was all down to him, though. Whether they crossed the line, no matter how it was going to end, was solely up to him. No way the idiot of a chimera down the hall was ever going to make a move.

"Okay," he muttered, shaking out his arms and legs as he stood. "I can do this. Just talk. Talking. Easy."

For the sake of his sanity, he opted to ignore the obvious jumping in his chest at each statement as he stepped out of the bathroom. Lying to himself had been considerably more effective back when he was human. One of the many things he missed from time to time. Crazy as his life was nowadays, and as much as he missed his sense of blissful ignorance regarding so many things, there was little he would ever willingly change.

A thin smile crept to his lips as he stopped, hand half extended towards his bedroom door knob.

Some things happened for a reason, whether good or bad or somewhere in between, and his joining the ranks of Beacon Hills' supernatural guardian crew was one of them. Without all the chaos and near-death experiences, he never would have met, let alone gotten to know, the man he was beyond hopelessly in love with. Sophomore year left the chimera with little time or drive to interact with Beacon High's normal student population.

"Just talk to him," Liam repeated to himself, closing his fingers around the knob, and turning it before he could chicken out, all but flinging the door away from himself.

The last thing he expected to see as his door swung open was Theo sitting on the bed's edge, hoodie – thankfully – still over his lap. All the meager courage he cobbled together fled, leaving him frozen in his doorway, hand still curled around the knob. His eyes dropped to the floor, inspecting the woodgrain closely. When no chuckle or wry jab at his lack of knocking came, furrows entrenched themselves on Liam's face.

"Theo?" He slowly raised his eyes, concern creeping into his voice, "Theo, you okay?"

Still, no response came. Eyes dull and expression entirely blank, he stared at the wall.

"Shit," Liam hissed under his breath, worrying at the edge of his lip.

Fugue states were nothing to mess with, particularly when it came to a supernatural being trapped in one, and doubly so when it was Theo. In the dozens of times he had stayed over, there had been a handful where the nightmares were too real for comfort and left him out of it. This was worse. Even then, he could get some sort of response, whether it was a twitching finger or flick of green in his direction. For him to so fully disconnect…Liam shook his head, closing the door softly behind him, letting his fingertips linger on the metal handle.

"You're okay, y'know. This is a safe place. You can come back," he mumbled, stepping towards his desk.

No response.

A deep heavy breath rolled out of him, too large to be a sigh but with the same kind of weight. The bright green Liam associated with mint and limes was dull, two steps above lifeless, all energy drained. Similarly, the chemosignals he no longer had control over without his supernatural side were faint, more whispers than true scents, little snippets that could be one of a thousand different emotions. Silence was better than screams – god how he hated the sheer terror Theo's screams carried at night – but he wished there was a way to skip over the chimera's in-between state and bounce him all the way back to reality.

The only fool-proof remedy was time. He took a breath, sliding into his desk chair. Time, which they had plenty of, and patience, which he had worked hard over the years to develop specifically for this. For Theo, he could be patient.

Light snuck through the curtains, spilling over the mostly clean floor in a single bright stripe. Minute by minute, the shade of gold deepened. As it shifted and stretched throughout the space, the beam approached the chimera. Slowly, it swept over his face, bathing the too-pale skin and deadened eyes with a warm glow.

At the uptick in Theo's steady heart rate, Liam's wolf whined, wanting nothing more than to smother their would-be mate in an embrace strong enough to anchor his wandering mind back to his body. Experience taught him that would do exactly the opposite. Besides, they were nearly through it.

Not five minutes later, Theo began shaking, a shuddering gasp flying into his lungs, spurring a fit of blinking. Life flooded back into the green of his eyes and color to his cheeks. The thundering beat of his heart slamming into panicked overdrive was likely audible from the first floor.

"You back?" Liam asked, standing slowly, fighting the need to reach out.

His wolf wanted to leap across the room, to take the man into a deep, bone-shattering hug and never let go. It was almost painful to forcibly ignore the urge, each of his limbs tensing more by the second, a tight pain growing the longer he forced himself to stay still. Space was integral to Theo's functioning in the world, he had to be careful taking any of it for granted.

"How'd I get here?" The chimera asked, head shaking side to side, the heel of his hand pressing into his temple.

"Figured you didn't want to go back to Scott's."

"Go back?" The incredulity in his voice had Liam raising an eyebrow. "I…I don't remember leaving."

Oh.

Shit.

"Well, uh, you kinda, sorta, shifted into a coyote and leapt out a window and spent the night running around town. Nothing bad happened," he rushed to add as fear spiked in the room. "Promise, you didn't do anything bad. You ended up here and then in the sewers, but I brought you back to my house because Ididn'twanttotakeyoubacktoScott's."

Theo's unimpressed, confused expression almost made him smile, "Why not?"

The honest answer was easy. He had never wanted him to go to Scott's in the first place. Saying it was another matter. Not that Theo was likely to take it well to begin with. Positive emotions were the stuff of nightmares for him, and while it made sense, given the gruesome upbringing, he could not help but want to throttle him whenever he dismissed them.

"Reasons you're not gonna like," he huffed, walking to his dresser.

He rummaged through his pants, pointedly ignoring the subtle itch at the back of his neck and the silence accompanying it. Loathe as he was to admit it, Mason and Corey were right; their best communication usually was accompanied by balled fists and bloody noses. A quiet chuckle, hardly even a puff of air, bubbled out of him. Dysfunctional seemed like an understatement as far as they were concerned.

The silence continued as he wordlessly pulled out a pair of black sweats and chucked them over his shoulder. The rustle of fabric behind him did nothing to lessen the weight of eyes on his back.

"Are these–"

Liam nodded, worrying at his lip again. Most, if not all, the clothes Theo had scattered over the Preserve had made their way through his house at one point or another. He made a point of putting as many as he could bear back, but some clothes he just could not bring himself to return to their hiding spots, substituting some of his own instead.

"Why are they here?"

He turned back to the chimera, nearly biting through the skin of his lip as he came face to face, and only several feet away from, a very shirtless Theo standing up from the bed, one hand sliding into Liam's hoodie. Fast as he could, he strangled his chemosignals, reeling them in as much as possible. Unhelpful as ever, his wolf whined, its desires, simple and strong, pulsing through him as the chimera slid his other arm in and pulled the jacket over his shoulders. Before, it never would have fit. Much of the definition had been lost - unsurprisingly - but that did little to detract from god-like physique.

"I–I spent a lot of time in the Preserve the last six months," he said quickly, stuffing his hands into his jeans pockets to stop them from shaking.

"You spent a lot of time there before–" Theo cut himself off with a shudder, blankness swamping his features again before dissipating in a blink, "Before everything, and you never stole my clothes."

"Not stealing if they're just left laying around."

The soft chuckles seeping out of them both died quickly, the heavy silence crashing down around them again. More than anything, that was what Liam was coming to hate the most from the whole ordeal. Talking with Theo used to be one of the most natural things, easy as breathing despite being more frustrating than trigonometry at times.

Theo cleared his throat, pulling Liam's focus back to him, though he made a great effort to keep his gaze centered above the chimera's shoulders. Heat rose in his cheeks, worsened by the subtle smirk playing on the other supernatural's face. Near as fast as the playfulness appeared, it vanished, a wave of fear and regret spilling in its wake.

"I, I'll just, y'know." Theo shook his head, stumbling, over his words and a shirt, as he edged towards the door, "I'll just go. I'm… Sorry for all of this." His awkward hand wave at himself and the air around him had Liam frowning again. "Thanks, for bringing me back, a-and not just last night, but before. I, uh, I-I wouldn't have, without you."

A thick, familiar scent flooded the room as Theo dropped his eyes and turned to the door, bitter and briny. Grief. It slammed into Liam as forcefully as if he had taken a punch to the chest, knocking the air from his lungs with a puff. He was frozen, rooted in place, only able to watch as the chimera stopped just a foot shy of the door. A brief spark of hope flickered in his gut, that Theo was rethinking his decision.

Green eyes glanced over his shoulder, a sad smile on his lips. "See you around, little wolf."

Before he took so much as one more step, Liam launched forward, snatching one of Theo's wrists in an iron grip. It took him a moment to realize his claws had sprung out in his panic. Whether it was his hand shaking or the one captive in it, he had no clue.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" He let all the hurt coursing through him and his wolf bubble into his voice, his hand tightening reflexively, unwilling to let the statement be true.

"That's what I just said, Liam," Theo huffed, a fake smile plastering itself on his face.

Of course, they were back to pedantic word games. If he was scared, he could only imagine how outright terrified Theo had to be. The man thought his dreams were taunting him with being held tight and kept safe, for fuck's sake. That they were both scared said a lot. Neither of them wanted to fuck up so badly that they ended up stuck in a push-and-pull. Between the two, he had always been the braver one, the one to take the first step. It only made sense for the role to fall to him with this too.

"Stop playing games," Liam growled, his wolf's frustrations bleeding into his tone, adding an animalistic note to the words. "Something's got you scared, and rather than face it, you're running."

"There's nothing wrong, and I'm not running!" Theo wrenched his hand free, staggering forward a few steps, crossing the threshold into the hall.

"Then why did it sound like more than just a 'see you tomorrow' goodbye, huh?"

"Because it might be!" Theo's annoyed huff turned to a snarl, his eyes narrowing, a hardness tinting the green. "I…This–" A deep scowl, followed by a frustrated groan tore through him, his hands gripping roughly at his hair. "I'm supposed to be alone, that's how I survive, that-that's how I've always functioned, and know that's not how you guys work, a–and that's fine, I just, I'm not used to it."

"I'm not questioning that, Theo. I'm asking why it's making you run."

"I told you, I'm not running." The snarl redoubled, a bright glint flashing in the green depths before he stalked towards the stairs. "I, just, I need a new perspective, okay? Like when Isaac left." His shoulders deflated as he sighed, rubbing at his nape. Theo's head shook from side to side. "He did it, and he came back better. I, I need to be better."

A new ripple of anger surged through him, courtesy of his wolf, who was equally as annoyed. He stormed out, snagging the older supernatural's shoulder, spinning him around midway down the stairs.

"Keywords being: he came back . You planning on doing that?"

The chimera's face remained carefully neutral, placid as a rock, an answer in and of itself without ever twitching a single muscle. It was obvious. Half-measures were not Theo's style, so if he ran, it was with the intent to never look back, to stay gone for good.

"Didn't think so," snorted Liam, eyes narrowing as they flashed gold. "You're not trying to fix anything, you're just running." His lip twitched, eyes flaring again. "And, as we literally just saw, running doesn't fix anything"

"What else am I supposed to do Liam?" Theo snarled over his shoulder, not pausing in his descent of the stairs. "Things can't go back to the way they were before, and I can't stay here, not like this ."

It was Liam's turn to wince as his friend gestured at himself, but more specifically at his head and eyes. After a decade of sharing his head, being alone had to be uncomfortable, scary even. Hell, everything going on the last half a year should have been scary to all of them, but the idiocy of Beacon Hills and its damn Nemeton was the lack of fear cultivated in this pack.

"I'm a liability, and this pack doesn't need that on its radar."

The glassy glint, foretelling tears as he continued, nearly sent Liam to his knees. His wolf, on the other hand, let a rough snarl rip from him at the words, their sting sticking in his gut like a hundred needles. The steadiness of Theo's heartbeat as he spoke was only one of the reasons his wolf was whining so loudly, nearly pushing a keen from his chest. Another was the sheer fallacy of that statement.

"Stop pretending you're doing this for any reason other than protecting yourself," he growled, hands fisting at his sides. "Is it selfish as fuck? Yes. Does it hurt a little to realize that? Yeah, but at least it's the fucking truth.

"Hell, I'm not even sure why I'm surprised. After all, it's just so stupidly in line with typical Theo behavior." Liam sneered, teeth lengthening a fraction, his nailbeds itching in turn. "You're a selfish bastard and that's never gonna change. So yeah, go ahead and run off to France or Serbia or WHEREVER with your damn tail between your legs, whatever, but," a deathly seriousness bled into his words, a sub-vocal growl filtering in behind it, "don't you fucking dare pretend there's any reason behind it other than you being scared."

"I'm not scared!" Theo snorted, turning back towards the open kitchen door.

"Oh, yeah? Tell that to my face."

Electric currents sparked beneath his skin, alight with the tell-tale of his anger. He knew his wolf was bleeding out of him, taking over his eyes, flaring them a bright gold at the idiot ten feet away. Before this hell hole of a year, sure, Theo might have been able to fool him, but the acrid stench of fear was painting a pretty clear picture throughout the kitchen.

"You only run when you're scared. The ghost riders, after you came out of the ground, since we got you back…Every time you're really scared, you run. Every. Damn. Time."

Theo stopped moving as if someone had pressed pause on a remote and frozen him mid-frame, one foot mostly off the ground and hand on the door jamb.

Quiet and pleading, he said, "For once, just stay."

At that, Theo spun around, the hoodie's zipper smacking against the frame as the fabric fluttered around him. The depth of furrow in his brows would surely have had his eyes blazing if his animals were present. Grateful as he was that the man was no longer beelining towards the door, the sudden fury in his eyes was disorienting.

"For once? ONCE ?"

The hot metallic tang of anger rippled through the room, not unlike when Liam's would overtake him. A little swell of pride had him smirking. It was nice to turn the tables for once, to have Theo being the one losing control and taking the bait laid carefully at his feet. After falling for it so many times, it made a weird sort of sense that he would have no issues returning the favor.

"I stuck around for five years, Dunbar. Five," Theo growled, shoulders straightening out, taking up more space as his anger simmered into a darker scent, closer to rage. "Half a decade I've been here for this damn pack. Was going through literal Hell, being tortured by crazed psychopaths and keeping you from committing murder repeatedly, letting a hunter play games with my head just to…"

A shudder wracked through him, knocking the chimera back a step with the force of it. Liam's hands itched at his side, glued there to keep from reaching out.

"But you want me to stay just this once ?!" Theo was stalking towards him now, somehow more terrifying than he had ever seen him be, despite the lack of glowing eyes, claws, or fangs. "Why the fuck should I stay? Huh? Where's the benefit?"

The raw fury in the chimera's eyes was almost enough to rattle him, blazing like an unbridled storm in the green-gray depths with a force he had never seen. A hurricane was made of lesser forces than the things swirling blatantly in the eyes glowering at him. Negative emotions were still emotions, and, hey, Theo was talking instead of running out the door, so that was progress. They were far from done yet, though.

"There's a bunch of reasons you should stay," he started, keeping his voice soft, nearly quiet.

"Sure, Liam." Theo rolled his eyes, lips twisting in a deep sneer. "And what are they exactly?"

Something salty and sour wafted towards Liam, unsettling his already on-edge stomach, and roiling the contents. The smell of sadness and dismay was exactly on the wrong side of pleasant, tinged with the special hate the chimera only held for himself and the assholes who ruined his life, or at least gave him a fucked up one.

"The pack—"

"Yeah, maybe if I were part of it, that'd matter. But, as everyone took such joy in pointing out when I first came back topside: I never will be. Scott's got enough on his plate without adding a teenage serial killer." Without a doubt, the derisive tone was meant for himself, not Liam, but it cut into him nonetheless. "I'm the punchline to a sick joke, Liam. This is Scott's territory, and he's allowed a trespassing omega long enough."

"But you grew up here, it-this is your home! How can you trespass if this is home?"

"No, it's not," Theo said point blank, expression grim and somehow placid. "I was born here, but it was never home. Not even before. I grew up in the clutches of off-kilter sadists who somehow managed to show me more affection than my own father." His shoulders rolled forward again, scent thickening with the heavy weight of sadness and loss, the same grief he had first identified on the bridge. "There's nothing here for me."

A deep, bone-rattling sigh squeezed out of his lips, a peculiar note clinging to his scent. It was a warm sort of scent, one Liam was used to smelling on Scott or Mason, especially around their respective partners.

"Nothing, except you."

A jolt of electricity zinged through him, his wolf going from whining at him to entirely silent. All of him froze, actually, apart from his chest which somehow was still pulling in quick breaths. That was all he needed.

"That's why you should—"

"No! " The growl filled the room, echoing briefly.

A niggle at the back of his head told Liam that it had not been entirely human. The thought disappeared near instantly as he watched Theo's chest heave, face tightly scrunched up, snarl lines thick and deep across his nose and cheeks. An inkling of pre-victory giddiness spread through him. Theo had already said the words, but the fight was far from done. So, he stayed quiet. There were always a thousand more reasons why the other supernatural refused to do things, but he had long since learned to read between the lines, to hear the things unsaid and catch the glimmer of a thread to pull and unravel them when it came to Theo.

"That's exactly why I can't."

He caught a flash of green as Theo's eyes opened, but they dropped immediately to the floor, and stayed there, unmoving from some fixed point. The crease in the other's brow deepened, a wave of

"I will not be the reason your life is any harder, but that's the only thing that's gonna happen if I stay." He shook his head, angling his body back towards the door. "You deserve more than me, more than I can give, but I can't be here if you're ever gonna have a chance at that."

Finally, he lifted his eyes, meeting Liam's again. A sudden, albeit brief, look caught between surprise and confusion flew across the once-unflappable chimera's face, only deepening the smirk parting Liam's lips. It was a wide, wolfy kind of smirk that he had learned from the man in question. The signature softness that he prided himself on was replaced with something sharper, mimicking the stupid look Theo would flash as he hit a nerve, struck the right cord, and confirmed a suspicion.

Realization dawned on the chimera's face, twisting it into a snarl again, "You bastard! You manipulative son of a bitch, you, you fucking– How? Who the–" He cut himself off with a hiss, running a hand through his hair, grabbing briefly at it before dropping the hand to his thigh with a loud smack. "It doesn't matter. I'm leaving, whether you want me to or not. It's what's best."

"Bullshit."

"Liam," Theo warned, a growl rising in his chest.

One of his own answered, fueled by his now raging wolf writhing beneath his skin. The words had finally been spoken aloud, laid bare for both of them to see, there was no way Theo was running now. Not with Liam still breathing.

"You don't get to make a choice like this alone, not when it affects both of us and you're making the wrong one for stupid reasons."

"Don't you get it? I'm trying to protect you!"

"From what?" Liam all but roared, surging toward him, claws and fangs fully erupted, his beta shift taking over briefly

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Liam." Theo's answering shout rumbled with a base too animalistic to be entirely human. "Me! I'm protecting you from me!"

"Well, stop it!" Liam said, so matter of factly that he almost startled himself.

The chimera was certainly stunned, mouth hanging half open, retort dead in the water. Taking advantage of the silence and momentary pause, he grabbed one of Theo's hands, squeezing it tight. If one of the knuckles popped out of place, he honestly would not have been surprised, given how desperately his wolf was trying to cling to the other supernatural.

"I don't need it," his sigh was long and heavy, punctuated by a brusk shake of his head.

His free hand came up to slide over the flat plain of Theo's neck, curling around the back of it, the same way Scott always did to him. A thrum of static settled into the palm of his hand, leaving his wolf giddy and egging him into stepping further into the thin space between them, wanting to eliminate it altogether. Through sheer force of will, he stayed where he was, ignoring the disgruntled huffs and singular snap at the reins.

Liam shuddered as he said, "I just want you."

Another jolt of static filled his hand before he released his grip, shifting his hand down to lay flat over the hollow of Theo's throat, his fingers settling over his collarbone. The frenzied beat beneath his palm made him smile, settling his own racing pulse and wolf simultaneously. Yeah, he was scared out of his mind, but not of Theo or of what he was doing right then. It was the thought of losing him, of losing the part of himself that had gotten so irreversibly tangled up with the chimera, the part that he had already been missing for almost a year.

"All of you," he whispered into the scant inches between them.

A distinct whine pulled from the chest beneath his hand, shaking out of it. More static rippled into him, accompanied by a barrage of chemosignals spilling off Theo faster than he could parse through them. Joy. Awe. Hope. Excitement. Love. Panic. Devastation. Guilt. Fear. God, did he hate the stink of Theo's fear and how the damn scent churned his stomach.

Half-aborted words crawled out of the slack-jawed chimera, almost indecipherable at first but steadily careening towards a semblance of: "No you don't."

Liam's wolf growled in response as he caught the mumbled words. The pads of his fingers clenched, effectively grabbing at the meat of his anchor's chest, pinkie and ring finger dipping into the valley between his pectorals, settling over a ridge of soft skin. A subtle wave of tension rolled beneath his hand, pulling his face into a quizzical frown before he realized just where his hand had settled — right over Theo's heart, over the scar he had no idea was there— and he had grabbed at it.

As his face fell, cockiness morphing straight into a bewildered, apologetic frown, Liam went to wrench his hand back, only for a rough, near bruising, grip to steel itself around his wrist.

"Stay," was the only word to breach the chimera's lips, left to hang between them.

The warmth spreading through Theo's hand and chest from where he was touching Liam had the stolen heart in his chest close to exploding. With every beat they touched, the tiny infernos grew. He swallowed back the traces of bile in his throat, forcing his breathing to level out, tilting his head down and tucking his chin ever so slightly.

The wolf and coyote might be gone, but the near decade with them left enough muscle memory to effectively function still. He looked up, bangs hanging in the way, obstructing his view of the bright blue eyes glued to him, but he caught glimpses of the electric gold seeping in. The purr he built deep in his chest was not even remotely close to the enticing rumble he was used to hearing, but it was as good as he could do on his own.

Liam's hand spasmed, gripping his chest tighter before nearly releasing him. A guttural hum filled the space between their chests. He shuddered as the force of it rolled through him, vibrating along his ribs, down his spine, straight to his gut, igniting a spark. Without hesitation, his hands snapped up, grabbing at Liam's shirt and arms, scrabbling against skin and cotton, trying to grab ahold of something, anything. He had to ground himself or risk floating away.

"It's not real," he whispered, head dropping to the imagined meat of Liam's shoulder.

His own body began to shake.

This was another dream, just a torturous dream where his head was dangling what he could never have in front of him. When did his brain become this creative? Tara's torture had been so easy to predict, a set course of events that he could do nothing against. The inevitability of it was what he learned to hate. Nothing he did in his nightmares after Hell ever brought about some new revelation. But this, this was on a whole new level of screwing with himself.

"Theo," the wolf said, voice somewhere between soft and broken, nearly hoarse with how tight it sounded. "Look at me."

The chimera shook his head, resolutely pushing his nose further into the crook of fake-Liam's neck. He couldn't. If anything was going to break this reality, it was that. He could only imagine the things his cruel head would put in those blue eyes. Would it be hatred? Disgust? Or, worse yet, apathy? His stomach rolled. That would truly be the worst of all. The others implied any sort of continuous feeling or that he crossed the beta's mind every so often, unbidden and unwelcome, but it happened. Apathy would be just the kick in the teeth his head liked to lay at his feet.

"Please," Liam begged, a keening note to the whine following the words.

He wanted to scream, "No!" , and bury his head further into the warmth and fake spice smell that was blanketing him, seeping into his pores. How he wished he had his sense back, just for a second, to get a single last lungful of Liam's true scent. Just one.

"How am I supposed to kiss you with your face down there?"

Even if this was a dream and it all went south after their lips touched, at least he would see the smile he knew was sitting on the beta's face and feel the imagined softness of his lips for the briefest part of a second. It was as close as he would ever get to the real thing. Who was he going to hurt if he gave in just a little?

Before his conscience or better judgment could talk him out of falling into the trap of his new favorite nightmare, he threw his head up and slotted himself closer against the beta's chest, and crashed his lips down the two inches that separated them in height. Reality be damned, if he had a choice, this was where he would stay. Locked tight against the man he never had a chance at getting and an even slimmer one in terms of keeping.

The kiss was rough and raw, more a desperate clash of teeth and tongue than the soft, easy one he initially pictured. It made a weird sense. Nothing about them was gentle. Why would their kiss be any different? He nipped at the soft, plump flesh of Liam's lips with blunt teeth, smiling into the kiss as he savored the wolf's little moan.

He tilted his head, pressing their foreheads together, both of them breathing into the pocket between their lips, scents mingling. This was too much, too vivid, lasting far beyond the point where his head would have capped a dream. But, it had to be in his head. There was no way Liam would ever willingly feel the same. They were opposite ends of a spectrum, like oil and water, designed to repel one another, and yet, he had no way of denying how right his whole being felt.

A wince took over his face.

"Tell me this is real," he pleaded, the hand still caught in Liam's gripping the wolf just as tightly. "Th-it can't be, but I-I don't kn-" Air would not stay in his lungs, the pressure around his rib cage increasing, pressing the bones more and more inward, threatening the delicate organs beneath them. "I don't know what's real, little wolf."

The soft rumble and gentle nuzzling at his hairline sent another wave of heat southward, further pooling in his groin, and pumping into his dick.

"This is real, Theo," Liam assured, his head tilting up in turn, nose pressing into his cheek.

A weak, shuddering breath trickled from him. No skips, no changes in rhythm. No lies, just truth. Truth. This was real. The force of the spasm rocked through him, throwing his eyes wide open and stealing the breath from him. His hand snapped from Liam's wrist to the back of his neck, fingertips digging into the skin, pressing their faces closer together.

"This is real," he repeated, tears rolling unbidden, and uninterrupted, down his cheeks.

"Yeah. It is," Liam said with a slight nod, a smile forming beneath his own tears. "Let me prove it to you."