Liam hated the idea of having a soulmate. It was all a bunch of bullshit. He glanced down at the now darkening tattoo on the inside of his wrist that had appeared on his thirteenth birthday. The three telltale claw marks that looked like ripped skin. He had been so confused when he first noticed them, he couldn’t understand how he had gotten cut but wasn’t bleeding. When his mom noticed, she cried tears of joy. Her little boy was growing up and the universe had finally picked someone just for him! She explained that the tattoo would only ever be three colors: gray, black, or red. Gray when the universe picked your soulmate but you hadn’t met them yet. It changed to black when you met or came into contact with them. And the tattoo would burn and turn red when your soulmate died. She had gotten him all excited for what it would mean for the rest of his life. Unconditional love and support and someone to be with all the time. As a kid, it sounded pretty great.
And then it all changed. His fourteenth birthday marked the start of a new era for him, he started high school and it was like something in him snapped. He was angry. Angry when he woke up, angry if his pencil broke, just… angry. His stepdad suggested that he try a sport, that maybe it would give him an outlet for his anger. In reality Liam thinks it made it worse. Lacrosse came with so much pressure to perform and be perfect. Liam will never forget the day he had his first outburst. He beat the shit out of someone on his team because they kept messing up the drill. He had a few more outbursts and ended up having to change schools.
Then it all changed again. He had tried to control his anger, even agreed to take medication. Everything was going better… until he got mixed up in some trouble and Scott McCall had bit him. Being a werewolf had its pros and cons. Being a werewolf with an IED was an all-out task. He was constantly fighting a battle with his inner animal. The wolf loved his strength and aggression and Liam could barely control it. What kind of soulmate was going to love him? He was a beast and not a nice one. He could hurt them, and now he would have to take care of someone else. How could he take care of someone else if he could barely take care of himself? He looked down at his wrist again and scowled at it as it was almost fully black now. He had met his soulmate. He closed his eyes and let the finality of it all sink in.
All of his friends had found their soulmates. Mason had found Corey and they sported matching chameleons. Nolan and Gabe had guns, something all his friends laughed about regularly. Hayden’s tree had shown up randomly one day and left Beacon Hills the next day with her soulmate as soon as it turned black. Stiles and Lydia each had half of the infinity symbol that would make up the whole thing if their wrists were placed next to each other. And Scott, well Scott had two. It was extremely rare and Deaton had only ever heard of one other who had it. Turns out true alphas get a second chance if their first anchor dies. Scott had an arrow that had turned red on his left wrist and a black coyote howling at moon on his right, matching the one that appeared on Malia’s wrist a few days ago.
Liam had no idea who it was. There had been so many new people in town due to the hunter’s gearing up for war. Yet another thing adding to his inner wolf’s battle to be let free. He shook his head taking deep breaths trying to get a grip on himself. The more he thought of his soulmate the more anxiety he would have and he couldn’t lose it right now. He promised Scott he would stay in control.
“Whenever you’re done pitying yourself or whatever it is that you’re doing I could use some help.” Theo stated dryly, breaking through his thoughts. He turned his head to glare at the obnoxious chimera as he dragged another sleeping bag over. They were staging a living situation at the zoo as a distraction for Scott, Lydia, and Malia to break in to the hunter’s warehouse.
“If you could just not talk that would be great.” He shot back. But he moved to help Theo with the last few sleeping bags and pillows.
“That would have been possible if the stench of your anger and anxiety hadn’t suffocated me.” Theo replied with a twinkle in his eye telling Liam he was mocking him.
“Are you trying to get me angry?” Liam practically growled as he threw the last sleeping bag down and stood to face Theo.
“Someone should, we’re about to fight a war. If all of you think you’re going to win by staying calm you’re mistaken.” Leave it to Theo to get him all riled up.
He didn’t know why, but Theo had challenged him the most recently. Every time he was with the chimera, his control was dangerously close to slipping. Until he’d catch Theo’s scent or he would give him a smirk and then suddenly his anger would disappear. It freaked Liam out honestly. The first time it happened Liam had to leave his friends and clear his head, not even his meds could take away the anger like that. He had almost thought that Theo was his anchor, his soulmate, but that thought died quickly when he noticed that Theo didn’t have a tattoo of any color on either wrist. Theo coughed, “You’re doing it again.”
“You’re lucky that sword is gone or I swear- “ Liam was cut off as Theo got in his face.
“What, you’d send me back? Poor you, poor Liam. You’re stuck with me now.” Theo put his hand down hard on Liam’s shoulder and squeezed. “Now be quiet, or they’ll hear you.” Liam growled in return his eyes flashing yellow a few times. He grabbed Theo’s hand and threw it away from him as he marched away to get some fresh air.
“You promised Scott, you promised Scott” he repeated quietly but the farther away he walked the angrier he got. “The sun, the moon, the truth.” He rushed out hoping it would work like it did when he was actually with Scott. “The sun, the moon, the truth!” He shouted feeling the change coming, claws slowly sliding out. He heard and smelled Theo approach from behind but even Theo’s scent couldn’t bring him back this time… he was too far gone.
“Liam… don’t.” Theo said with warning. Liam’s yellow eyes snapped up to look at him. He started to move, circling Theo.
“This is what you wanted Theo,” he continued circling letting his fangs drop down and the rest of his claws slide out, “you wanted me angry. You wanted me like this.” He smiled darkly as he scented Theo’s adrenaline.
“Liam don’t make me hurt you.” Theo said confidently. “I’d prefer not to, but I will.” Liam charged him or maybe his wolf charged him. Liam couldn’t decide who was who anymore, his animal was out.
He woke up in his bed with a killer headache and groaned. The bed dipped and Theo’s scent wafted up through his nose. Groaning again he opened his eyes to find Theo staring at him.
“What happened.” He asked groggily but thanks to his quick healing and Theo’s scent the headache was already beginning to fade
“You wolfed out and tried to attack me so I had to put you down.” Theo smirked at his choice of words before grabbing Liam’s face and turning it side to side. “Looks like you’ve healed, the bleeding stopped.”
“How many times?” Liam said through gritted teeth as he tried to jerk his head out of Theo’s grasp. The way Theo smiled at him told him he didn’t want to know. He went to get up but Theo pushed him back down to the bed and moved towards the bathroom.
“Five,” he heard Theo chuckle but his scent of worry was confusing him. He walked back with a wet washcloth and threw it Liam. “You might want to wipe the blood from your face and chest, your mom is on her way up.” Liam heard her footsteps coming up the stairs and looked down to see that he A. didn’t have a shirt on and B. was in fact covered with dried blood. Quickly wiping himself off he glanced over at Theo and noticed he was wearing one of his sweatshirts.
“Why don’t I have a shirt on and why are you wearing one of my hoodies?” Liam said in a rushed whisper as his mom approached his door. Theo just shook his head and put a finger to his lips in the universal sign of be quiet and then put his hands together and laid his head on them telling Liam to pretend to sleep. He had just flopped on his side when his door opened, and his mom came in.
She walked over to him and pushed his hair back from his face in a sweet soothing motion. Liam tried to keep his breathing as even as possible so she would leave without seeing Theo. His mom went to go tuck his blanket over him some more when she suddenly screamed. Shit she saw Theo, he bolted upright ready to come up with some bullshit excuse for why there was someone in his room when she grabbed his wrist and turned his side lamp on.
“You found them! You found your soulmate!” She exclaimed excitingly her heart beating a mile a minute but it was the second fastest next to Theo’s. Weird. “Honey I’m so happy for you. Tell me all about them!”
Liam went to open his mouth when he saw bright yellow eyes suddenly appear in the corner of his room. He shook his head in that direction telling Theo to stay put. His mom thought it was for her and shoved his wrist in his face.
“Liam Dunbar don’t you dare lie to me the proof is the BLACK ink on your arm.” He sighed closing his eyes quickly.
“I don’t know who it is mom. It just happened today.” He looked up into her eyes and saw pure excitement. “Why are you up so late?” He questioned, his mom was always in bed by 10pm. Unless he had been out for longer than Theo let on.
She looked at him strangely for a second and responded “Honey, it’s 6am. I’m leaving for work but I wanted to say bye because your stepfather and I are leaving for that medical conference this weekend.” Liam nodded vaguely remembering her telling him about this earlier in the week. “I left money on the counter for food. We’ll be back late Sunday night.” With that she kissed his fore head and got up to leave. Before she closed his door she poked her head back in and said, “I can’t wait to hear all about your soulmate when we get back! I’m sure you’ll have met him or her by then!”
Liam out a sigh of relief when he heard her go down the stairs and out the front door to her car. Theo stepped out of the corner looking like he just ate something sour and was scratching at his wrist. “What’s your problem?” He spat out. “You almost gave yourself away AND gave me being a werewolf away.”
“Nothing. I gotta go.” Theo said with almost zero emotion still picking at something on his wrist.
“You never answered why you were wearing my sweatshirt.” Liam caught him right as Theo reached for the door knob. Theo froze. Taking two deep breaths before he spun around quickly taking the sweatshirt off.
“You ruined my last shirt when you let the wolf control you. Fuck! Here take it,” Liam was suddenly hit in the face with the sweatshirt as it flew across the room. Before he could even say anything Theo was out the door and down the stairs. What in the hell got in to him?
That same night Scott called a pack meeting. They were all sitting around discussing strategies because they knew the war would be happening within the next 48 hours thanks to the tip from Nolan and Gabe, the pack’s double agents. The tension was so thick you could feel it everywhere in town and it had finally reached a tipping point. Everyone had a solemn expression on their face even Peter and Derek who had showed up at the last minute. The only person who didn’t say anything the whole meeting was Theo. He leaned against the wall in the back staring blankly at another wall. Something was wrong.
Eventually Scott had decided everyone should get some sleep and Liam watched as he leaned over to whisper to Malia and gave her a quick peck. As everyone stood Liam went to go ask Theo what his deal was but Scott had beat him to the sulking chimera. “Can I talk to you for a second?” Scott asked earning just a simple nod from Theo as he followed him out of the house. Corey and Mason came over and started talking to him about his now black tattoo trying to lighten the mood a little.
“So who do you think it is?” Mason asked excitedly as Corey grabbed his hand and pulled it up for a kiss.
Liam shrugged. “I honestly have no clue. I haven’t spent time with or even really run into anyone new.” Corey and Mason shared a glance and then both looked back to him.
“Do you think…” Mason said just as Corey started with “Have you thought…” they both paused and laughed making Liam give a small smile at how connected they were. “What we are trying to say is do you think it could be Theo?” Corey finally spit out. A weird feeling hit Liam and he didn’t know what it was.
“No, he doesn’t have a tattoo anywhere.” He murmured with a shake of his head. Corey let out a snort as Mason got a devious look in his eyes.
“Anywhere? Just how much exactly of Theo’s body have you seen?” Mason questioned. Liam blushed and stuttered.
“Seriously? Not much. We don’t even spend that much time together.” He added with a hint of something like sadness in his voice. What the fuck was happening to him. Ever since he woke up from Theo knocking him out he had been doing and saying weird things. Like for example… the sweatshirt that Theo had been wearing earlier… was now currently on him because he felt he couldn’t leave the house without his scent after Theo had stormed out upset about something.
Mason raised an eyebrow at him and Liam made a hand gesture for him to say whatever it was that he was holding back. “Dude… you and Theo have been together every day since the Ghost Riders.” Liam thought back on it. Okay maybe Mason had a point but that’s was because he felt the need to make sure that Theo didn’t fuck his pack over again. He was just checking on him… right?
He was about to say something when Scott walked back in the house without Theo drawing his attention. “I have to go.” He said quickly to his best friends. He asked Scott where Theo was playing it off like he wanted a ride home and when Scott told him Theo went to scout the woods he freaked. He tried to follow Theo’s scent but lost it deep in the think forrest. His phone vibrated so he pulled it out to look at the text, surprised when he read Theo’s name.
Go home. His head snapped up and he looked everywhere around him trying to sniff the air to catch a scent. His fingers moving fast against the keyboard Where are you?!
His phone vibrated almost instantly. LIAM GO THE FUCK HOME. THERE’S HUNTERS OUT HERE. He read the texts and looked up from his phone again trying to listen for a heartbeat and found a faint one but it wasn’t Theo’s. GO NOW. Popped up on his phone and he started moving in the direction he came from but not quick enough. He heard a gunshot and was on his knees before he knew it, the pain hitting him like a truck making him roar. He heard a deeper roar come from behind him and then the world went black.
Ow fuck fuck fuck ow it’s burning oh my god. Liam’s eyes fluttered open as he was placed on a cold metal table in the animal clinic. He watched as a frantic Theo ran back and forth from the cabinets looking for anything to help stop the bleeding. He groaned and Theo shot back to him.
“You’re so fucking stupid. God damn it Liam.” He snarled as he pushed a towel down on the 3 gaping holes in his chest. Liam started gasping for air as pain sliced through him and he cried out with half a human yell half roar. Deaton came around the corner with a bunch of tools that had his wolf biting back a snarl.
“The bullets are burrowing.” Deaton said calmly. “We need to get them out of him now.” Deaton said glancing at Theo. “I can’t because they’re moving. I need you to dig them out.” Theo’s face dropped.
“Wh..what?” Liam managed to gasp out. “He..he c-can’t. Digthemout.” Still squirming and stuttering from the pain.
“Theo, now. Any further and the wolfs bane will hit his organs.” Liam watched as Theo’s claws popped out. Theo shakily dug one nail in the bullet hole and dragged his nail down cutting Liam’s chest open making him scream out in pain. As in Theo screamed out in pain. He pulled his hand back and ripped his shirt open exposing his wrist showing a black ink claw mark ripping its way through his skin. “Theo you have to keep going!” Deaton yelled.
Theo went to the second hole digging his nail in again and started to rip down to the bullet finding it and pulling it out. Both he and Liam gasped and sputtered at the pain. One more claw mark started to etch its way up Theo’s wrist. Liam passed out, the pain finally becoming too much for him. Theo gritted his teeth through the burning sensation currently splitting his arm open and dug into Liam’s last bullet wound.
Deaton worked fast patching up the holes and wiping the blood mixed with wolfs bane from Liam’s skin. Theo sank to the floor and stared at his wrist in disbelief. The dread doctors told him he wouldn’t be able to find a soulmate because he traded his soul to them. He was product of the doctors and therefore no longer privy to the benefits of the universe.
He sat there staring blankly even as Scott and the rest of the pack rushed in to check on Liam. He sat there when Corey and Mason came to talk to him. He sat there while Scott thanked him for saving Liam. He sat there when Lydia squatted down next to him pulled his, now tattooed, wrist away from his body and looked at it. She looked up at him and then glanced towards Liam and then smiled back at him sweetly, patted him on the shoulder and said “You’ll be good for him.”
Liam let the scents filter through him as he slowly started to wake up. Theo, worry, blood, Theo, pack, Theo. Theo, he let his scent take over and it encouraged him to open his eyes slowly. When he finally managed to get them open, everything came rushing back to him.
He was shot, Theo cutting him open, and the tattoo. HOLY SHIT the tattoo! He sat up so fast that he groaned wincing at the pain thundering in his chest. He found Theo sitting on the floor next to the metal table he was on with his head in his hands. Liam swung his legs over the edge and jumped down hissing at the pain. The sound must have caught Theo’s attention because he slowly picked his head up and then rushed to his feet to put Liam back on the table.
“Are you trying to cause yourself more pain?” Theo said harshly. “God why don’t you ever just do what you’re supposed to do,” and then more quietly “, what you’re told to do.” Liam grabbed his arm and tried to pull it towards him, but Theo fought it. Liam pulled harder and Theo finally let him have it exposing his wrist.
Liam gasped and traced the three claw marks that resembled his own making Theo shudder. He dropped Theo’s arm and choked out a “How” as he looked up and met Theo’s eyes. Theo shook his head, stepped back still staring into Liam’s eyes, and then began to explain what the dread doctors told him. He listened as Theo explain the pain he went through while cutting Liam open. And then they sat in silence. Liam was unsure how much time had passed before Deaton came in but he jumped as he wasn’t ready for it.
“You know that the soulmate mark has to mean something to each person. For Liam it was that he was going to be and be with a supernatural being. For Theo I’m guessing his didn’t show up until he was ready to care for someone more than himself.” Deaton said looking between the two. “Theo you couldn’t stand to hurt him, which is what sparked your soulmate mark to present itself. It symbolized the pain you caused Liam and it manifested making your soulmate mark appear in the same way.”
Liam and Theo looked at each other and then back to Deaton. “Ooookay, well now that we’ve got that cleared up… I’m going to take Liam home.” Theo said standing up and helping Liam off the table. They went to walk out the front door and were greeted by the whole pack. Liam grabbed Theo’s hand and squeezed, both silently reassuring him and also telling him he wasn’t ready for all this because he was still in pain. Everyone stared at their intertwined hands and waited for Scott to speak. When he finally did both Liam and Theo sighed in relief, “We just wanted to check to make sure you were okay Liam. We also wanted to say congrats-“ Stiles grumbled something and Lydia smacked him upside the head, “congrats on finding your soulmate.” Scott finished.
Corey and Mason hugged him ignoring his silent inhale of pain. Theo pulled him back to his side and started walking towards his truck. When they got to Liam’s house he noticed how tired Theo looked. So he walked upstairs knowing that Theo would follow and sat down on his bed. Theo followed suit and sat down and then gave in and laid down finally showing his exhaustion.
He didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t want a soulmate. He didn’t want someone to take care of, someone to have to protect from himself. “Could you hurry up and get done with your over analyzing everything, I could really use some sleep.” Theo opened his eyes to smirk at Liam and then snuggled deeper in to the bed taking a deep breath in.
“Did you just smell my bed?” Liam asked in disbelief at lighthearted Theo. He had never seen this side to him before and he didn’t know how to react. Theo was his soulmate now though so maybe -
“You’re doing it again.” He sighed. “And yes, you smell good.” Liam laid down next to him and blurted out his thoughts.
“I didn’t want a soulmate.” He felt Theo freeze, sharply inhale, and then realized how it sounded. “No, no, no I didn’t mean it like I don’t want you. I do want you! Oh my god.” He covered his face with his hands. “I just meant that I didn’t want anyone to be stuck with a defective/broken mate.” He whispered out.
He felt the bed shake, and then it shook some more when Theo let out an uncontrollable laughter. “God making you squirm is so fun. I know you want me; I can smell it.” He said as he winked. “But you’re not broken. Ah ah and before you try to fight me on this just remember that you’re a future alpha. You got this.” Theo wiped his fingers across Liam’s lips. Liam leaned up and brushed his lips tentatively against Theo’s. The spark that ran through them both was enough to have them pulling away from the kiss breathing heavily. Both opened their eyes to find their animals staring back.
“But don’t for one second let yourself think that you have power over me.” Theo stated while pulling Liam’s hair at the back of his neck. “I’m still older and stronger than you baby wolf.” And then he kissed him hard. Liam kissed him back just as hurried, like the world was ending and this was the last time they would be together. Because who knows, with the hunter’s around, it just might be. Except he would die trying to keep his soulmate from leaving him. He just got him and he wasn’t planning on losing him.
Theo nipped his lip, “Stop thinking Liam.” Theo’s scent flooded over him and made his wolf snarl. Theo rolled on top of him and smirked. “There he is, there’s the baby wolf I love.”
