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"Mason?"
"Hey man, how long do you think you're gonna be?"
"I'm nearly done, I'm just coming back by the river-" a ferocious growl echoed through the speaker of Liam's phone. "What was that?"
He heard Mason chuckle uncomfortably, "is there any way you could be done like now maybe?"
The growl increased in volume until it morphed into a roar.
"Mason what's that noise?" Liam demanded, hurrying his pace along the river to cut back through the preserve to his house.
"Uh well, it's Theo. We kind of had to barricade him in the bathroom."
"What?"
"He woke up screaming and totally wolfed out, nearly took Corey's head off again so we hit him over the head with your mom's lamp and locked him in your bathroom that he's currently trying to break down the door of so if you could get back here that would be great."
Liam shoved his phone into the pocket of his jeans and started running.
.
As he entered his house the roar became deafening, he was surprised the neighbours hadn't called the police yet. Sliding to a stop in his living room, he was soon accosted by Mason and Corey both trying to explain what happened over the top of each other.
"Guys-guys! Shut up, just tell me where he is."
"He's still in the bathroom, your door must be made out of corrugated steel or something cause he still hasn't gotten out yet." Corey panted.
"Liam, I know you're getting closer to him and he's less horrifically violent and all the rest of it but maybe we need to call Argent in for this one."
"No."
"Liam-"
"We're not calling Argent, I can take care of it just," Liam took a deep breath as he tried not to wolf out himself, "I'm sorry he freaked out on you, but I can handle this without Argent getting involved. I need you to leave-"
"Absolutely not." Mason refused.
"Yeah, he's not in control right now Liam. He is going to hurt you." Corey agreed with Mason, standing tall next to him in front of the beta.
Another roar ripped through the house, the picture frames shaking as Theo pounded on the door to be released.
"Fine, don't leave but you need to step outside for a minute. If he's in a nightmare then the less people he can hear the better."
"Liam, we're not leaving you here."
"You can either leave by yourself or I can make you, but you have about 10 seconds to make your decision."
Liam pushed past the two boys and ran up the stairs to reach the bathroom, placing a hand against the warped wood of the door.
"Theo?"
All of a sudden the house was plunged into silence.
"Theo?" He repeated.
A pitiful little whine sounded from behind the door, scratching sounds sending a shiver down Liam's spine.
"I'm gonna open the door Theo, okay? Just stand back for a second."
Liam ripped the padlock off and opened the door slowly to not spook the man stood behind it; he had his claws out just to be on the safe side but he doubted he'd need them.
"Theo?"
Another whine, louder this time as Theo poked his head through the opening, arm lunging through to grab hold of Liam's shirt.
"Li?" The chimera croaked.
"I'm here," Liam heard the front door open and close softly, "you gonna come out?"
Theo quickly nodded and pushed the door open, rushing out in a blur and wrapping himself around the beta, almost knocking him off his feet. "Liam."
"Yeah, I got you. I'm here." Liam held the other boy close, squeezing him tight despite the height difference. "You're still grumbling you know?"
Theo just tucked himself closer, panting hot breaths onto Liam's neck where he'd buried his head.
"You wanna talk about it?" The younger wolf offered.
"No," Theo ground out, wrenching himself away when he felt his control slipping again as his claws ripped holes in Liam's shirt. "I need to shift, it's too much."
"So shift." Liam shrugged, reaching behind him to untangle strips of cotton from sharp claws.
"You'll stay? With me?"
"I'll stay, promise. Now shift."
As soon as he finished speaking bones cracked and reformed into the familiar black wolf he was becoming well acquainted with. He trotted over and weaved his way through Liam's legs as the beta walked into the bathroom to assess the damage he'd have to try and explain to his parents. Luckily nothing was unsalvageable other than the door which was clearly misshapen and had claw marks scraped into the wood.
"You really did a number on that huh?" He asked rhetorically since Theo now couldn't answer, seemingly happy enough at the moment to continue circling himself through Liam's legs over and over again.
Making a mental note to fix the door before his parents got home, Liam left the bathroom and walked into his bedroom, closing the door behind Theo once he'd padded into the room as well. Although he seemed to be settling, as soon as the door was closed the wolf had taken hold of the bottom of Liam's shirt between his teeth and started pulling, ripping it even further.
"What the hell are you doing?! You owe me a new shirt asshole."
Throwing the now destroyed remnants in his bin left the werewolf shirtless, which seemed to be Theo's goal as he then started to pull at the waistband of his jeans as well.
"Hey hey, hey! Stop pulling, you'll break them and these are my favourite pair of jeans."
Liam was left standing in the middle of his room in just his boxers as the black wolf resumed his circling, seemingly deciding on something as he stopped and pushed Liam towards his bed with his snout, pushing and prodding until the younger werewolf was led down, following his lead and jumping up as well.
The wolf reclined next to Liam and led his furry head on warm skin, nuzzling into the familiar scent like he was trying to bury himself beside Liam's heart. Strong fingers began smoothing over his head, long strokes running down his back and up over his ears which made them flicker in sensitivity.
"You can chill out, I'll keep watch."
A strong set of jaws were suddenly a lot closer to Liam's jugular than he was comfortable with, Theo's familiar snout sniffing around before staying in one spot on the side of his neck, just below his ear.
"Uh Theo, you mind backing up a bit?"
A hot, wet tongue laved from his collarbone all the way up to his earlobe, covering every inch of skin in his saliva. Liam tried to pull away in surprise to no avail, he just groaned in disgust as Theo worked his way along his neck until it was glistening in the light.
"I'm gonna need a shower now." The werewolf stated petulantly, wheezing out a breath as Theo flopped his head back down on his chest.
.
A little while later (Liam totally didn't fall asleep with Theo led on him) a soft knock sounded throughout his bedroom.
"Come in."
Mason's head poked through the door, "everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah everything's fine. You guys can head home if you want, we're probably gonna stay here."
"Okay, see you later man."
"See you later."
Once his front door closed for definite, the black wolf nudged his head up under Liam's neck, purring a little as he woke up. Liam wiggled his fingers through the thick fur, up and down, over and over so Theo could wake up on his own terms this time.
Without opening his eyes the wolf shifted from being led on Liam's side to right on top of him, forcing himself between strong thighs with his paws on each of the beta's shoulders. He poked his tongue out and swiped under his werewolf's chin, sagging back to his neck happily after he'd had his taste.
"Feeling better?"
Theo's tail wrapped around his thigh, tightening and loosening in bursts.
"It's almost midnight and I need a shower. You wanna shift back and join me? You must be pretty tired."
Theo's little nightmare had occurred in the late afternoon, he was dozing on Liam's bed while he tracked him through his patrol in the preserve (though what he was looking out for Theo couldn't tell you since he'd kindly taken care of the hunters) when he must of dropped off without realising. He hadn't really come back round until he smelt Liam on the other side of the bathroom door, talking slowly to bring him back to his senses.
All that being said, he was completely exhausted. He couldn't handle his emotions safely around his Alpha earlier which is why he'd shifted, but now that Liam was letting him willingly lie on top of him, he was hardly going to squander this opportunity.
A displeased sound rumbled through Theo's chest as Liam tried to move him off.
"Theo, I need to wash all your gross wolf spit off my neck. Do you want to come or stay here?"
Another unhappy grumble as the wolf stubbornly refused to move.
"Come on, surely you want to clean off a bit. It's been a rough night, a shower might make you feel better?"
No, it wouldn't. Because Liam was led underneath him all pliant giving him pets and scratches and smelling of Theo. A shower would wash all that away. He'd have to switch his tactic.
The wolf whined, tail tightening even more around Liam's thigh as he lifted his head to look at him. Liam sighed at the pitiful sight.
"Look, I won't make you talk about it. But I really need to shower so you need to let me up."
After a couple of minutes of staring at each other it was clear the chimera had no intentions of moving so Liam rolled himself over to his side, effectively dislodging the heavy body so he could sit up.
"I'll be two minutes." He promised, smoothing his hands over the wolf's ears. "I'll leave the doors open."
Since he had promised, Liam jumped out of bed and showered as quickly as he could, trading his boxers for a clean pair but not bothering to put any other clothes on at risk of Theo ripping them off again.
Luckily the wolf seemed to have eased enough to give Liam time to run to his basement to change the bathroom door to a new one (no, not everyone just has a spare door lying around but he'd had to lock himself in the bathroom enough times to know it was probably best to have a new one available at short notice). By the time he'd finished he climbed back into bed with his history textbook, unfortunately being the unknown protector of Beacon Hills didn't excuse you from homework.
Theo was propped up next to him, eyes roaming over questions written on paper but it didn't really keep his attention. Every now and then he'd butt his head against Liam's hand for a stroke; he started off by licking at the skin closest to him but that ended when Liam threatened to put sweatpants on and they'd mutually decided a nudge for head pats was suitable for both of them.
It was nearly one in the morning when Liam's phone rang, and Theo couldn't be less bothered by it. His werewolf had taken to using his tail as some kind of fidget toy, swirling the finer fur between his fingers, brushing the ends between his fingertips, lifting and dropping his tail to feel the weight hit the bed.
But whoever this motherfucker was had just interrupted their alone time together, stopping Liam's hand from caressing his tail as he reached over to pick up his phone.
"Hello?"
"Liam, it's Chris."
"Is something wrong?"
"That's what I was about to ask you. I had a text from your friends, Theo lost control?"
"He had a nightmare, that's all. He's fine now."
"Can I talk to him?"
"Why do you wanna talk to him?"
"Just to see what state of mind he's in."
"No, you can't."
"Liam it's nothing personal-"
"You can't because he's a wolf right now. Like a fully shifted wolf and I don't see that changing anytime soon."
"Has he hurt you?"
Liam rolled his eyes, leaning back to rest his spine against his headboard. "No, and he won't."
"You can't be certain-"
"Yes I can. If he was going to kill me he would've done it when he first got out of Eichen House."
"Liam-"
"I'll see you around Chris."
Liam ended the call before Argent could respond, huffing before closing his history book and throwing it on the floor along with his homework. If it wasn't decided before that he wasn't going to school tomorrow, it definitely was now.
Theo carefully lowered his head to lick across the back of Liam's hand, bombarded with the smell of his anger. While he usually would've teased him about it, he had something else he wanted right now.
The black wolf stood up and retrieved Liam's phone where he'd thrown it further down the bed, taking it between his teeth and tossing it down to the floor to join his homework.
"I need to text Mason-"
Theo cut him off as he padded back over, butting his head against Liam's forehead.
"What?"
He did it again.
"I don't know what you want."
He bent his head and laved over Liam's ear into his hair this time.
"Eww, Theo! What the-oh. You want me to shift?"
A leathery tongue up the side of his face was his answer.
"...Fine."
.
The next morning Liam's phone was buzzing unrelentingly with incoming calls and texts from his posse all wanting to know why he wasn't at school. He clearly needed the rest though since he was still fast asleep, breathing evenly beneath Theo's chest.
Theo was awake, listening to the buzzing with a satisfied feeling. Everyone wanted Liam, but he was the one who had him curled up between his paws, beautiful brown fur rising and falling with each breath.
The black wolf chuffed quietly, rubbing his head against that same brown fur as he licked at brown ears, moving methodically down until he reached the tail intertwined with his own. He gave it its own brief lick, watching it jolt at the feeling before he led back next to his wolf, watching him sleep in the morning light.
To make his day even better, the little wolf began to purr.