Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

LIAM’S POV

There was something wrong with Theo. He was too pale, too thin, he looked tired constantly and would often stare off into space or at a particular spot as if he could see something the rest of them couldn’t. Liam didn’t fail to notice the strong scent of terror and anguish that permeated from Theo’s room nor the fact that he was always somehow up and dressed and had prepared breakfast before the rest of them woke up. But every time he tried to speak to him, someone from the pack interfered, telling him to leave the murderer to his demise, sometimes even to his face. And at home Theo was barely there, a ghost. 

Slowly, he was losing his calm at the snide comments and threatening looks the pack gave Theo and his condition. 

He finally snapped when Mason commented how Liam should sleep with one eye open since he literally invited a murder to stay with him and he watched Theo flinch before his mask fell into place but it was enough for Liam to lose the control he had a tentative grip on. 

His claws extended and he dug them into his palms and felt the blood drip as he growled through a mouthful of fangs. The sun, the moon, the truth. He chanted over and over again but in vain he couldn’t calm down.  Until Theo whispered his name.  That’s it, just his name whispered, meant for only his ears. 

He took a deep breath, inhaling the warm scent of pine and coffee of Theo and his claws retracted leaving him breathless. He spun around to thank the chimera but he had disappeared leaving a disappointed Liam behind.

“Hey, Liam, I’m sorry I meant it as a joke I didn’t mean to upset you” mason apologized.

“It’s okay mason I get it but Theo’s changed. He's no longer a bad person, he’s saved my life multiple times and y'all just keep attacking him. I'm not asking you to forgive him, just leave him alone.”

“I know I’m sorry we will leave him alone” Corey spoke up.

Liam nodded before heading to the parking lot hoping Theo had waited for him cause he really didn’t want to have to walk. He was disappointed to not see the familiar blue truck in the parking lot but not wanting to ask Mason for a ride he started the trek home.

THEO’S POV

He wasn’t sure when it happened. Somewhere during the time when he was screaming himself awake in the back of his truck or hallucinating his dead sister or feeling the phantom pain of scalpels cutting into his skin, he started holding on to the one thing that grounded him. Anchored him. Baby blue eyes. 

Now as he was constantly reminded that he didn’t deserve the hospitality and compassion of a certain blue-eyed beta, the same eyes that anchored him also filled him with this indescribable emotion. It hurt soo fucking much but in the best way when he’d see Liam smile and joke around with his family or get frustrated over homework, he felt his (Tara’s) heart beat wildly and he didn’t know what it meant.

The sting of the pack’s rejection was nothing compared to the realization that they were right. He was a horrible irredeemable monster and that wouldn’t change and Liam was making a mistake in trusting and helping him.