Chapter Text
Theo Raeken always had a contingency plan. Shit, even his contingency plans had contingency plans. And yet, somehow, not once had he ever dreamt that his parents might open the door, only to catch a glimpse of him and Liam standing awkwardly on the front stoop, and say, “Sorry, no soliciting” before shutting the door in their faces.
Theo blinked at Liam. Suddenly his plan from last night, of flinging himself off Tara’s bridge into the icy water and sharp rocks, seemed more appealing than this. Maybe Liam sensed that Theo was preparing to flee the premise with the last remnants of his pride in tact because Liam rang the doorbell again.
“No solicitors!” his mother called through the door. Her voice was just as airy and soft as he remembered. The same voice that wrapped him in a comforting hug when she used to read him bedtime stories. Even at six years old, he’d asked for the scariest ones and then wake up frightened that a monster was lurking under his bed. Now, he was the monster.
“We’re not solicitors,” Liam called back. “Please, we just need a moment of your time.”
The door creaked open, and Theo’s mother eyed them warily. He did his best to make himself seem small and unintimidating.
“My husband isn’t home, what do you want?”
Theo fought the urge to grimace. Had no one taught her that she should never say that to two strangers? That if they were actually here with malicious intent, her being alone in the house would be the perfect scenario.
“No, nothing like that.” Liam, ever the charmer, offered her one of his most dazzling smiles. He shifted his weight as he wrung his hands—keeping them in front of his body as a way of signaling that he meant no harm. “I, uh, were not selling anything, but please, in the spirit of Christmas, just hear us out. I think you might want to hear what we have to say. That maybe you’ve been waiting to hear it for about 10 years.”
“What?” Understandably, she was bewildered.
“It’s me,” Theo blurted, completely abandoning the script he’d spent hours crafting in the middle of the night while he’d tossed fitfully throughout the night. “Mom, it’s me. Theo.”
Her gaze sharpened, and it was so much like Tara that Theo could feel himself shrinking beneath her appraisal, studying him for any trace of her lost 8-year-old son.
“No. It can’t be. Theo—he died. He and Tara—they’re dead. Both of them are dead.”
Theo winced. Tara would’ve known exactly what to tell their mother to convince her. Theo tried to tune into her heart beating in his chest, to synch it to Liam’s steady drumming beside him, and tried not to think that Tara should’ve been standing on this porch instead of Theo.
“They found Tara,” Theo said quietly, “but they never found my body.”
His mother paled.
“I know this might be hard to hear,” Liam interjected, “but Theo has been through a lot, and it’s a long story. Can we come in?”
“No. I have no reason to believe—”
“Peter Pan,” Theo whispered.
“What?”
“You used to read Peter Pan to me every night before bed when I turned 8. I was obsessed with the Lost Boys.”
“Lots of boys love Peter Pan.” Doubt clouded her eyes. “That doesn’t prove anything. Now, if you excuse me, I’m in the middle of something.”
The door was shutting, and frantic energy crackled through Theo’s veins. He could practically feel his chance at having a family again slipping through his fingers.
“Don’t forget your inhaler,” Theo called. His mother froze with the door half-open. “That was the last thing you said to me before we left that night.”
His mother inhaled sharply.
“You asked Tara to keep an eye on me, because of my asthma. I couldn’t go more than a few hours without it, and you almost didn’t let us leave the house, but Tara promised that she’d have me back before dinner. You were making meatloaf, I think. Then you kissed me on the cheek, and Tara took my hand, and we left.”
A fissure formed in his mother’s expression, and tears gathered in her eyes. “Theo?”
“Hi, Mom.” The words barely escaped around the knot of emotion in his throat.
“Oh my god. Oh my god, Theo.”
The door flung open and his mother wrapped him up in an embrace. He barely remembered to breathe let alone return her hug. During his childhood, his mother had been a force of nature—the picture of resilience. She made every holiday special and her smile brightened even the darkest of rooms. Now, as he wrapped his arms around her, she felt small, and he was careful to be gentle even though it was Theo who felt the most fragile of all.
The scent of her perfume, floral and sweet, had hot tears spilling onto his cheeks. When she still didn’t let go, when his mother clung to him, Theo gave in and buried his face in her shoulder. Her long hair tickled his bare neck, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care because for the first time in almost a decade, he had a mother, again.
Melissa and Jenna had warmed to him, treating him like another son, but nothing could compare to this.
“It’s you. It’s really you.”
When his mother finally released him, she held him at arm’s length, inspecting him. He wondered distantly if she could see beyond the years that had passed on his skin. He wondered if, somehow, she could see what the Dread Doctors had done to him. The havoc they’d wreaked. The power he’d been given in exchange for Tara’s life.
“You’re all grown up,” was all she said, swiping at a fallen tear. He wiped the rest away on his sleeve, but she brushed her thumb across the stubble forming along his jaw. “Do you and your… friend?” she asked cautiously, glancing at Liam, “want to come inside? I can put on some coffee or tea. I have so many questions.”
Liam nodded his encouragement, and Theo was struck by the tears that clung to the bottom row of his boyfriend’s eyelashes.
“Yes, we’d love to,” Liam answered.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” Theo added, and his mother shook her head, holding the door open for them.
Theo reached for Liam, threading their fingers together. “This is Liam.” Theo had never had to introduce him before. All of his friends had been Liam’s friends first. He also had never had to come out to anyone before. “He’s… my boyfriend.”
His mother’s smile widened without missing a beat. “Well come on inside, both of you, before you freeze out there.”
They both followed her inside and shed their jackets, securing them on hooks in the foyer. The house was warm and cozy. It was clean but well-lived in, and smelled of cinnamon and rosemary and something tart, maybe cranberries. On instinct, Theo marked the exits. The sliding back door, the window in the hallway bathroom casting a shadow across the hardwood floor, and the front door as Liam closed it behind him.
Nostalgia struck him so intensely that memories from his childhood bubbled back to the surface of Theo and Tara chasing each other around a different house with the same energy.
His mother had already disappeared into the kitchen, and Theo stepped further into the house. Photographs decorated the side of the stairs. His eye snagged on an older photograph of the four of them—his mother and father on either side of him and Tara. Her braided hair was tucked to the side, and her smile was broad—she’d stomped on Theo’s foot seconds before the photo was taken in revenge for him tugging her braid.
Tara’s heart ached. If it had still been his own, Theo might have worried that it didn’t have the capacity to feel so much love and so much hurt at the same time, but not her heart. He trusted Tara’s.
“Is that you?” Liam asked, gazing at the old photo. “You were adorable.”
“Were?” Theo asked without his usual bite.
Liam squeezed his hand and whispered below human-hearing-capacity, “Yeah, now you’re just a menace to society.”
Theo snorted, thankful for Liam’s attempt to disperse some of the tension. He tore himself away from the wall of photographs, refusing to let himself be drawn in by more of them, and joined his mother in the kitchen.
The kettle was already rumbling at a near-boil. “I can put on a pot of French press, Sam—your father—got me a fresh bag of chocolate hazelnut flavored coffee for Christmas. Or I have about a dozen types of tea. Oh, and hot chocolate, of course.”
“Whatever’s easiest,” Theo answered automatically. The last thing he wanted to be was a burden.
“Coffee sounds great,” Liam said. “Theo’s only had, what, about six cups so far today?”
“In my defense, it barely noon.”
His mother chuckled. “You have your father to thank for that. He is a relentless coffee fiend, too. I swear he can drink a pot of coffee at 9 in the evening and still be asleep by 10.”
Theo offered her a shaky smile, still trying to process everything. He could’ve spent high school doing homework at the dining table and learning to bake with his mother and barbeque ribs with his father. He could’ve had a roof over his head instead of the curved arch of the sewer tunnel. He could’ve had a room instead of a rotting mattress and clothes without holes from shifting, but no. He had to be selfish. He had to send the Dread Doctors after Tara. He had to—
Liam’s warm hand snuck beneath his shirt. His thumb stroked along the small of his back and grounded him, keeping him from spiraling further.
“That photo of all four of you in the hallway is lovely,” Liam said. “I’ve never even seen a photo of Theo as a kid before.”
His mother grinned almost mischievously as she poured boiling water over the grounds in the French press. The rich scent of coffee, accented with notes of chocolate and hazelnut, blossomed in the air.
“Really?” she asked, before realizing her mistake. Of course Liam hadn’t seen photos of him before since all of them from his childhood were here in this house. “Well, that’s easy enough to amend.”
The next thing Theo knew, his mother had pulled out three dusty binders filled with baby photos of himself and Tara. Theo gnawing on a toy ducky with only a single baby tooth in his otherwise gummy mouth, Theo learning to ride a bike, Theo and Tara on a swing set, baby Theo bundled up in Tara’s arms with her long hair between his chubby fingers, toddler Theo on his father’s lap at with a turkey leg the size of Theo’s head in his hands.
Theo might have been embarrassed if not for the sheer elation wafting from Liam as he basked in this piece of Theo’s history.
All the while, his mother regaled them with tales from when Theo was a child—how she used to have to put him in the car and drive around just so he’d go to sleep and how when he finally got used to the crib, Tara would curl up in his room with him to make sure he wasn’t lonely.
“Do you mind if I take photos of a few of these?” Liam asked.
“I’ll make copies of any ones you want to keep.”
“I’d love that!” Liam said, and Theo could practically read it in his expression that he couldn’t wait to show the rest of the pack. He made a mental note to ask Jenna for more embarrassing pictures of baby Liam to even the playing field.
When her timer went off for the coffee, his mother poured three cups and offered different creamers and sugars.
“Why don’t we move into the living room?” she asked. “I need to check on the fire anyway.”
“I can help with that.” Theo took his mug with him into the living room where the Christmas tree was still lit with a star at the top. The fire was smoldering and almost out, but nothing a few fresh logs wouldn’t fix.
Family dynamics were hard. Old memories were hard. But fire? Fire was easy. Fire needed oxygen, heat, and fuel. He knew exactly how to balance all of those with ease.
Maybe that was the key to family matters—balance.
Except that in his search for more logs, Theo’s eye was drawn to the stockings hung above the mantle. Classic red stockings with white trim at the top and names were embroidered across the top. But there weren’t just four—there were five.
And Theo didn’t recognize the name embroidered across the top: Mia.
Theo scanned the room, searching for any evidence that might confirm his suspicions and landed on a more recent photograph of his parents with a little girl. Her dark hair, her stubborn chin, her soft smile were all so Tara, but her eyes were Theo, through and through.
The coffee slipped out of his hand, and might have shattered against the floor except that Liam dove out and caught it.
“Whoa!” Liam exclaimed. The coffee sloshed over the sides and onto the hardwood, but Liam set the coffee down, a furrow appearing between his thick brows. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Before Theo could even begin to find the words, his mother appeared and absorbed the shock in Theo’s expression.
“I was trying to figure out how to tell you this, but you have a little sister,” his mother said. “She just started first grade this year, and she’s as smart as you were—are—I’m sure. She’s napping, but I can go wake her up.”
“No,” Theo said quickly. “That’s okay. I… I was just surprised.”
His mother nodded and returned to the kitchen, coming back with a towel to clean up the splash of coffee on the floor and the ring beneath Theo’s mug and the coaster. Theo turned his attention to the fireplace, finding a few smaller log from the pile and tossing them into the hearth, coaxing the flames with a long exhale until they danced back to life.
Liam crouched beside him. “Are you okay?” he whispered in that almost inaudible volume again.
Theo didn’t know. All he knew was that this was so much more than he’d bargained for. All of this was so much more, so much better, than he deserved.
But Liam’s words from last night echoed back to him, That’s the funny thing about love. It doesn’t have to be earned. Except that up until Liam and the rest of the pack had taken him in, Theo had had to earn every scrap or semblance of love he’d ever been given.
So Theo forced his lips to tip up in a smile to reassure Liam. “Fine.” He stood and dusted his hands off.
“I know this must be overwhelming,” his mother said gently, “but I’m dying to know where you’ve been all these years.”
Theo had prepared for explaining the supernatural, and even though part of him was still hesitant to bring them in at all and expose them to the dangers, Theo was certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was strong enough now to protect them. Plus, explaining everything that had happened would be impossible without that.
Still, he couldn’t quite find his voice as he plucked his now-dry mug from the table and sat across from his mother on the love seat beside Liam. The pressure of Liam’s knee digging into his was casual and comforting.
“For the past few years, he’s been living with me and my family,” Liam said. Technically a lie. Theo had only been staying with him and his family since the war ended in the summer, but Theo didn’t want anyone knowing he’d lived in his truck. He already hated that Liam and Isaac and Scott had figured it out. He didn’t need anyone else being in on that little secret.
“Oh, that’s nice,” his mother said, her expression volleying between disappointment, suspicion, and a hint of relief. “Did you… I mean, you look well cared for, but you were so little, so sick, when you disappeared. Are you still…?”
“No.” Theo’s insides twisted. He was going to have to tell her the truth. Tell her that Tara was dead because of him. “My asthma cleared up.”
His mother’s brows lifted. “That’s a miracle if I’ve ever heard one. The doctors were convinced you’d need surgery, maybe even a transplant.”
Miracle. He doubted she’d still think so when she knew the full truth.
Theo drank a large gulp of his coffee and pivoted away from his rising guilt. “I thought you were dead.”
His mother coughed, near choking on her coffee. Theo regretted not softening that blow. “You thought we were dead? Me and your father?”
“The people that took me, took me and Tara, they… they killed her, and they told me that if I tried to escape, that they’d kill you too, and—” Liam glanced at him sharply. Even Liam hadn’t heard this part before. “Well, long story short, I did escape. For a little bit, at least, but they caught me before I got far, and after that, they convinced me that I had no family left.”
Theo fixed his gaze on the flickering fire, unable to bear the pity he knew he’d find in his mother’s eyes, but then pressure banded across his knee.
His mother had leaned forward and was squeezing gently. “Aw, Theo. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you. So young and thinking that you were all alone.” He found no traces of pity. Only pure devastation, and he wasn’t sure which was worse. “I’m sure us moving didn’t help matters.”
“It’s not your fault,” Theo said firmly. “If it’s anyone’s fault it’s—”
“Mommy?” a small voice drifted down the staircase. A little girl with pig tails in a bright green Grinch onesie padded down the steps. “I’m thirsty.”
“Do you want water, sweet pea?” his mother asked, twisting over the back of the couch.
“Yes, please.” The girl rubbed at her eyes with tiny fists.
Theo’s mom patted the seat of the couch beside her. “Come sit here, Mia, and I’ll grab you water. I want you to meet someone very special.”
Mia climbed onto the couch and eyed Theo and Liam like they might lash out at a moment’s notice.
“Do you remember the stories we told you about your older brother, Theo?” his mom whispered to Mia as she kicked her feet absently. “Well, Mommy and Daddy were wrong. He wasn’t gone, he’s right here. He came back to us.”
Mia squinted at him, clearly unimpressed. “How do you know it’s really him?”
Theo liked her already.
“You’ll just have to trust me on that one, sweet pea,” his mother answered before setting her mug down and heading toward the kitchen.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mia,” Theo said.
Mia’s suspicion had only deepened. “Uh huh. Who’re you?” she tipped her chin at Liam.
“This is my boyfriend, Liam.”
“Hi,” Liam added.
“Boyfriend?” Her little button nose crinkled. “Boys have cooties.”
Theo bit the inside of his lip to contain his laughter. “This one doesn’t. I love your Grinch onesie. Did you get it for Christmas?”
She brightened ever so slightly. “Yes! It’s my favorite Christmas movie. That and Home Alone.” But she said it was like threat—like the house might be booby trapped and she might hock a brick at his face if he didn’t behave.
Mia was a girl after Theo’s own heart.
“We watched that last night.”
Mia glanced toward the kitchen, as if making sure that their mother wasn’t coming back yet, and then tucked her legs beneath her and crouched, leaning forward to peer at him. “How do I know that you’re really my brother?”
Theo bent forward to match her energy, resting his elbows across his knees. “How do I know you’re really my sister?”
She quirked her mouth to the side as she considered this. Then she reached out and poked his cheek—her little finger digging into his skin. The movement was so quick and tentative and then she was bouncing back against the pillows that nearly swallowed her whole.
“Here, sweet pea.” His mom kept ahold of the water, though. “You have to sit up to drink it, though, I don’t want any spills on this couch.”
“What else did you get for Christmas, Mia?” Theo asked.
“A smelly brother, apparently,” Mia muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” his mother asked, genuinely not having heard her, and Theo had to raise a hand to cover his smile.
“A Nintendo!” Mia chirped.
“What games did you get with it?” Liam asked. Between the pack, they had just about every game console. Liam had an Xbox, Mason had a PS5, and Scott had a Nintendo Switch.
Mia scrambled off the couch and over to the TV, where she opened the cabinet beneath it and pulled out Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
“This is the coolest game!” Liam told her. “You got lucky, kid.”
“I don’t know how to play.”
“I can show you, if you want?” Theo asked. “It’s not just battling enemies. You can do stuff like ride horses and cook magical food and stuff.”
“I wanna fight enemies! I’ll kick their asses!”
Theo barked a laugh.
“Language,” his mother scolded.
“Sorry, I’ll kick their butts!”
His mother sighed and pinched the space between her brows.
“I can set it up for you, if you’d like?” Theo asked.
Mia brightened. “You’d do that?”
The hope brimming under her skin—like she was beginning to realize that maybe there were occasional perks to having a brother—was enough that his eyes burned a bit with the pressure of unshed tears.
Theo really had to get his shit together.
“Maybe getting a smelly brother for Christmas isn’t so bad?” Theo mused, and her eyebrows shot up and her cheeks brightened into a soft pink as she realized that he’d heard her earlier comment.
But after her initial shock, she doubled down. “You’re still smelly.”
After Liam and Theo set up Mia’s Nintendo Switch on the living room TV, Theo started a new profile for her.
“What do you want your name to be?”
“Bluey!” she exclaimed.
Before the Dread Doctors found him, Theo had vague memories of waking up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons with Tara. They’d sneak into the kitchen and make bowls of cereal—the sugary kind their father always tried to hide above the stove—and huddle under blankets on the floor in front of the TV so they could keep the volume quiet enough not to wake their parents. And come to think that Theo, the Chimera of Death, would actually be excited about watching kid’s cartoons to bond with his little sister.
Theo helped Mia with the game mechanics, and Liam sat patiently by his side, occasionally offering encouragement or a nugget of information.
When Mia finally got the controls, Theo wondered why the hell he’d spent so long explaining this to her. She took off immediately and even knew to sprint away from the Guardians when they locked onto her.
“You’re a natural,” Theo said.
Mia grinned. “I’ve played on my friend Stacey’s before.”
“Then why did you let me explain all that?”
She giggled. “I thought it’d be funny.”
Liam bumped his shoulder against Theo’s. “She’s just like you.”
No, Theo thought. She’s better.
Mia was off to the races, fighting against monsters and collecting different items in the game. When she accidentally ended up in a tussle with a stone talus, Theo and Liam barked warnings and laughed as she high tailed it to safety.
Theo sensed a presence. His mother was leaning against the wall, watching them with teary eyes and a bittersweet smile.
She cleared her throat. “Would you two like to stay for dinner? Sam had to go into work for a few hours, but he should be home soon.” A distant memory surfaced that his father had worked long hours at a law firm when he was a kid. “I told him I had news, but I figured you’d want to tell him yourself.”
It was already late afternoon, and Theo hadn’t planned to be here this long. He’d barely let himself dare to think that all of this might go as well as it had.
“Thanks, but we should really—”
Liam squeezed his shoulder. “We’d love to stay. We’re on break anyway, so it’s not like we’ve got any other plans this evening.”
They technically did have dinner plans with Liam’s grandparents, who’d driven into town for the day, but Theo had the distinct sense that Liam wouldn’t let him leave no matter what.
“Great, I’m making chicken pot pie, if that’s okay?”
“That’s perfect,” Theo said.
“Any food allergies?”
Theo shook his head. He’d found very few foods he didn’t like. After scavenging for years, Theo had found very few foods he didn’t like, and if someone else was cooking, he never turned down that luxury, even if it included mushrooms or, the worst case scenario, beets.
Liam planted his palms at his sides and rose to his feet, stooping to press a kiss to the top of Theo’s head. “I’ll come help.”
Which, considering that his kitchen had nearly exploded the last time Liam had tried to help with a family dinner, Theo wasn’t sure what exactly he could help with. But as soon as Liam was in the other room with his mother, Theo overheard Liam whispering, “He’s actually not a huge fan of mushrooms.”
“Another thing he and Mia have in common,” his mother said. “Here, want to peel some carrots?”
“On it. Your house is absolutely stunning, by the way.”
Theo turned his attention back to Mia, who had her tongue trapped between her teeth as she worked through solving a shrine puzzle. And when she couldn’t quite get it even after five tries, her entire expression shifted. Her bottom lip gutted out and the space between her brows peaked.
Those puppy eyes might be the death of him.
Theo stuck out his hand, and she handed the controller over. As Theo worked through the puzzle, he felt Mia’s gaze on him.
“If you’re gonna think that loudly, you might as well ask your questions, Little Bit.”
“Can you read minds too?” she whispered under her breath.
“What?”
“You heard what I whispered earlier, and I was so quiet even Mom didn’t hear.”
“Maybe I have super hearing.” Theo winked at her. “But I don’t need to read minds to know you probably have a thousand questions. I would, if I were you.”
Mia huffed. “Mom says I ask too many questions.”
Theo rolled his eyes. He doubted that Mia had ever let that stop her before. “Tell you what, for every question you ask, I’ll ask one, too.”
Apparently those were acceptable terms. “Are you really my brother?”
“Yes. Are Mom and Dad nice to you?”
Theo caught her nodding vigorously out of the corner of his eye. “Yeah. Sometimes Mom gets sad, which makes Dad sad too, but they’re always nice,” Mia said. “If you weren’t here, where were you?”
Theo met her gaze then. “The truth would scare you.”
She paled, but lifted her chin and said, “No it wouldn’t.”
Even so, Theo chose his words carefully. “I was with some bad people.”
“They weren’t nice to you?”
“No, but things are better now,” Theo assured her. “What’s your favorite part about school?”
“Soccer!” Mia said, and he was grateful that no traces of her sadness lingered. “I’m a fast runner, and—” she glanced around as if making sure no one else would over hear and spoke in the barest of whispers, “I get to tackle other kids.”
Theo could hardly imagine this kid being strong enough for that, but at least she had heart. “I used to play soccer. I was the goalie. When’s your next game?”
“In a few weeks. You should come!”
Yesterday Theo had felt like the loneliest bastard in the world, and now he was being invited to family dinners and his little sister’s soccer games.
“I’d love to.” Theo handed her the controller back. “There’s a tower over there you should be able to get to.”
Mia grinned as she started playing again, and Theo fielded about a dozen more questions from her—his favorite color, if he thoughts girls had cooties too, if he knew how to ride a bike, if he thought Santa was real, what grade he was in, when his birthday was, and what his favorite book was. He did his best to return them, getting her answers as he gave his own.
Mia’s next question nearly cracked Theo’s chest open.
“What was our sister like? Our other sister?”
Theo reached for his cold coffee, draining the dregs of it, before answering. “Tara was brave and kind, and she always made me feel safe.” Even though Mia didn’t ask, Theo found himself saying, “I miss her every minute of every day.”
“You came back. Maybe she could too?” Mia asked.
Theo could barely remember a time when he had been as innocent as that. When things had seemed so simple in his naïve mind before the world had broken him open and beaten icy reality into him until he was just as empty and cold.
Let her keep that warmth for as long as possible.
“Tara isn’t coming back, little bit.”
Mia opened her mouth, as if to ask another follow up question, that would only disintegrate Theo’s composure that much more.
“Theo,” Liam whispered from the kitchen. “Come bond with your mom.”
Theo rocked forward from his cross-legged position on the floor, thankful for the distraction, and Mia paused the game. “Where are you going?”
“Liam wants us to come help with dinner.”
“How do you know?”
Theo tapped his ear. “Super hearing, remember?”
Mia’s jaw dropped. “What! No way!” she called, chasing him to the kitchen.
“Hey, you two,” his mother said with a warm smile.
Theo nuzzled into Liam for a brief second, letting his scent sooth his frayed nerves. Liam’s lips brushed across his cheek.
His mother poured a thick soup-like chicken, carrot, and pea mixture into a deep pie dish covered in pie dough. She struggled to scrape out the last bits at the bottom.
“Here.” Theo gently took the dish from her so she could use the spatula to scrape without having to juggle the pan, too.
“Thanks, Theo,” she said with a smile that warmed Theo more than the fireplace in the living room had. “Mia, can you help set the table, love?”
“Sure!” Mia said and started gathering silverware for the table.
Their mother topped it with another layer of pastry and then slid the pie into the oven.
“Do you guys still make waffles and bacon on Sundays?”
His mother shut the oven and started a timer. “Of course. And now we do cinnamon rolls on Saturdays, too.”
“You’ll have to show me how to make those.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I’d love to.” The next time Mia came into the kitchen, their mom tickled her sides. Mia shrieked happily, giggling like a maniac until their mother released her. “Having fun with your big brother, sweet pea?”
“Theo’s not half bad.” Mia shrugged through a smile. “I guess if I have to have a brother, I’m glad it’s you.”
“Good, because he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.” His mother squeezed Theo’s hand. “Not if I can help it.”
Theo wasn’t sure what was wrong with him that his emotions were so close to the surface today. So unwilling to be shoved down deep where they couldn’t rise up unexpectedly. If it weren’t for Liam anchoring him, Theo would’ve crumbled right then and there.
“Can I help you set the table?” Theo asked Mia.
She shook her head and started to climb up the kitchen counter like a monkey. Except that she was short even for a 6-year-old kid, and she didn’t see the cutting board on the counter with remnants of onion and garlic and carrots that still held a massive knife.
Her little hand landed on the slick cutting board, and she slipped. The board tilted and sent the knife sliding.
Theo wasn’t fast enough to catch Mia from falling, but he was quick enough to catch the knife before it could even come close to hurting his sister.
Too frazzled to think through a better plan, Theo snatched the knife blade first. It dug into his palm down to the hilt. His hand burned and throbbed, but Theo barely noticed. He’d been through so much worse that this small cut was nothing as long as his sister was okay.
He didn’t even realize how much blood was trickling down his wrist until his mother’s scream of shock had his hair standing up on end.
“Oh, my god. Oh, my god, Theo, that looks bad. That looks really bad—”
But Theo had already pulled the knife out of his hand and was helping Mia to her feet with his clean hand, holding his bleeding one tightly to his chest. He didn’t care that he’d have to do a special load of laundry later. It wasn’t the first and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time that he’d cleaned blood from his clothes.
Mia was trembling but otherwise fine.
“Does anything hurt?” Theo asked.
“No,” Mia said, “but your hand.”
Theo held up his hand that was already healed. “Look, I’m fine. Promise.”
“I… I should go grab a first aid kit.” His mother was pale. Too pale.
“Li, I think she’s squeamish.”
Liam, who had hovered nearby as the scene unfolded, jumped into action and grabbed her elbow to keep her upright. “I’m fine,” she told Liam. “I just need that first aid kit.”
“Why don’t you tell me where it is, and I’ll help you,” Liam offered.
Theo mouthed a thank you at his boyfriend. Liam’s expression was tight—he hated when Theo injured himself even if it was in the name of helping others—but patient.
Liam and his mother disappeared down the hallway.
“But—I saw the knife. It was all the way in your hand,” Mia said. “And you can hear crazy things. What… what are you?”
“What do you mean?”
Mia was studying him with a sharp, inquisitive gaze. With a sudden burst of clarity, Theo wanted to laugh. If this little girl had been part of the McCall pack, Theo never would’ve tricked them. She was too observant, too smart for her own good.
A thought formed and took root in his mind before he could dislodge it—that Mia was the best parts of Theo and Tara. She had Theo’s precision and Tara’s sense of humor. Theo’s intelligence and Tara’s wary, protective nature.
Emotion climbed up his throat. He would’ve given anything to have a second chance with Tara. To protect her from the Dread Doctor’s sinister intentions. In his weakest moments, Theo had gazed up at the stars and begged the universe to bring her back so that he could have a second chance, and in some twisted way, the universe had heard him. This feisty little girl was everything he’d hoped for, and the protective edge deepened in his chest.
He wouldn’t mess it up this time. He’d keep his family safe this time.
“What are you?” she asked again.
Theo picked up the knife, moving to the sink to clean it and stalling for time. Most adults would rather deny the existence of the supernatural, but kids were so open to new things even if they were crazy. He knew that in telling his parents about Tara, he’d have to tell them about the supernatural, but he didn’t want Mia knowing. Not yet. Not when she was so young.
He was spared from answering, though, because the front door opened. Heavy footsteps crossed the threshold, and Theo caught a scent of cloves and nutmeg mingling in the man’s musk.
“Hey, girls! I’m home. Whose truck is out front?” his father called. “I could’ve sworn I saw it out there yesterday, too.”
“In here, Daddy!” Mia called.
His father appeared in the kitchen in a starched button up shirt and slacks. He was loosening the knot on his tie when Theo realized his mistake. His father’s eyes flared, his scent shifting from surprise to rage as he noticed the knife, the blood, the droplets that had dripped across Mia’s Grinch onesie. To his father, Theo was a stranger. A dangerous and armed one who had probably threatened his daughter moments before.
Mia seemed to realize a beat too late. She waved her hands dismissively. “Daddy, it’s not what it looks like—”
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” his father bellowed as he charged.
He wasn’t a big man. Theo could’ve easily taken him, but he dropped the knife into the sink and held his hands up in surrender.
Theo refused to fight his father.
“Wait, I’m—”
Even when his hand locked around Theo’s neck. Even when he lifted him, pressing him up against the upper cabinets and slamming his hips against the counter top. Even when all the air was pushed from his lungs. Even then, Theo merely gripped his father’s wrists and focused on taking shallow breaths to keep from passing out.
“It’s me,” Theo gasped. No recognition flickered in his expression. “Please.”
“Daddy, don’t!” Mia screamed, pounding her tiny fist against her father’s leg. “Don’t hurt him!”
His father ignored Mia entirely.
“It’s Theo,” he managed around the fingers digging into his throat. “Dad, it’s me.”
The moment of realization struck his father like a bolt of lightning. His grip immediately loosened. Theo coughed and sputtered as he slid to the floor, and he would’ve doubled over if his father hadn’t gripped his arm, keeping him upright.
“Son?” It was the barest of whispers.
“I told you, Daddy!” Mia was still shrill, still yanking on his pant leg. “Theo’s back. It’s Theo! He found us!”
His father tipped Theo’s chin up. Now that he no longer believed that Theo was an axe murderer who’d broken into their home, his touch was impossibly gentle. Theo should hate the man for his aggression, but he couldn’t. He respected his father’s willingness to protect his family. To defend first and ask questions later.
He peered into Theo’s eyes, as if he could somehow unravel the mystery of how his long-lost son had appeared out of thin air if he studied them hard enough.
“Is it really you?” his father asked.
Theo nodded. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He lifted his hand, the blood drying and caking between his fingers. “I cut myself.”
“Samuel!” his mother barked from the hallway, and Theo scented Liam’s distress from across the kitchen. He sent a silent thanks into the universe that Liam hadn’t been in the room a few minutes ago. The last thing he needed was to be keeping his werewolf boyfriend from eating his father alive. “What on earth are you doing?”
“What am I doing? Why didn’t you tell me that Theo was alive?” His father’s voice cracked on the last word.
“Are you okay, Mia?” Theo crouched to check on her.
She was shaking even more now, and Theo suppressed the urge to pull her into his arms and not let go, to balance her over his hip to keep her safe. He settled for smoothing the strand of hair that had escaped her pigtails behind her ear.
His father did scoop her up, then, and her little arms went around his neck.
“I wouldn’t have hurt your brother if I’d known, Mia,” his father assured her gently. “I didn’t know. I promise.”
Liam made his way through the kitchen, but Theo turned away. He couldn’t handle someone asking if he was okay right now. Especially not Liam. He merely shook his head as Liam studied him.
“And who’s this?” his father asked, belatedly.
“That’s Liam,” Mia said. “Theo’s boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend,” his father repeated. All things considered, his father was absorbing all of this new information rather well so far. “Right.”
Theo washed the blood from his hands and the knife. When he’d finished, his mother took his hand. The first aid kit was open on the counter top, but her brows knit together.
“How—” his mother demanded. “I saw the knife go through your skin. You were hurt. How is this possible?”
“I saw it, too,” Mia said, back on her own two feet now.
Theo supposed now was as good a time as any. “You may want to sit down for this.” To his surprise, his family actually obliged him. They sat, and Liam stood beside him, his arm pressed against Theo’s in a show of support.
“Do you remember anything… strange happening in Beacon Hills?” Theo asked. “Wolf attacks, unexplainable things happening?”
His mother shook her head. “I mean, maybe? I thought strange things just happened everywhere.”
Technically, Theo supposed that was true. The Dread Doctors had carted him to a few different cities, and it was always the same. People never quite paying enough attention to things outside their normal day-to-day lives to put together that maybe something beyond the ordinary might be going on.
“Yes.” His father pursed his lips. “A few of my clients from our time there had too many unexplainable things happen there. The Hales, the fire, nothing about that city was quite normal.”
Theo wrung his hands, but he supposed there was no easy way to tell your newly reunited family that you were a supernatural freak cooked up in a lab by mad scientists.
“I’m… a chimera. It’s like a werewolf, but manmade. The bad people that took me… they—they turned me into this. Along with healing really quickly, I also have fangs and claws and super strength.”
“A werewolf? That’s…” His mother searched for the right word.
“Insane,” his father finished.
But Mia leapt to her feet. “Waitdoyouturnintoawolf?”
Theo grinned, and he supposed this might be the best way to convince them. Definitely less terrifying than flashing his glowing eyes and fangs. Theo glanced at Liam, who nodded his encouragement.
“Don’t blink, or you might miss it.”
“Miss what?” his father demanded, but Theo had already drawn on his wolf. He felt the shift at the cellular level, breaking down muscle and bone and reforming every ounce of him into something else. Mind-melting pain flared through him as his jaw elongated, his teeth sharpened into fangs, his fingers became claws, his hair became a thick coat of fur.
Theo’s clothes pooled beneath him, and he padded around the kitchen. The scent of shock was ripe in the air—his mother had covered her mouth with her hands, and his father was frozen. But Mia squealed with joy and ran towards him, immediately burying her fingers in his coat. She stroked along his back, and Theo’s tail wagged automatically.
“He can also shift into a coyote,” Liam added helpfully. “I know it can be jarring at first, but there are quite a few of us in Beacon Hills. Theo and I have a whole pack. Derek Hale is one of our allies.”
“So you…” Theo’s father said. “You’re one of them too?”
“I’m a werewolf, not a chimera, and I can’t fully shift yet, but yeah,” Liam said with a sheepish smile. Theo nosed Liam’s hand and when Mia moved to scratching between his eyes—his favorite thing ever in his wolf form even though he’d be caught dead before he admitted that out loud—and licked her fingers. She descended into a fit of giggles.
A timer beeped, and his mother lurched to her feet in a daze as if a fire alarm had sounded instead of the oven timer, and it took her a second to remember that dinner was in the oven.
Liam carried Theo’s pile of clothes into the bathroom, and after shifting back, Theo rejoined the rest of them at the table.
“That was the coolest thing ever!” Mia proclaimed. “My brother is a puppy.”
Theo raised his finger to correct her before shrugging. He’d give her that one.
“I, uh, dinner is ready, but I think I lost my appetite.” His mother set the pot pie on the ceramic pad with a serving knife before sinking back into her chair.
“I know it’s a lot to take in.” His father folded his hands atop the table, studying Theo intently. “I understand if it’s too much.” When they still didn’t say anything, Theo said, “Maybe Liam and I should go.”
“No!” Mia said. “Don’t go!”
His father stroked his grey-flecked beard. “Why now? Are you in some kind of trouble? Do you need money?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Do you have a job?”
“Sort of.” Theo was working part time for Derek.
“Are you in college? You’re 18.”
“I’m working on my GED and taking classes at Beacon Hills Community College.” Theo had never been the best student, but tests were easy for him.
A scoff. “Then you are in trouble.”
“Sam,” his mother warned.
“No, I’m not!” Beneath the table, Theo picked at his fraying jeans. “I swear.”
“Then why now? The day after Christmas? You walk back into our lives like nothing has changed. You could’ve come back at any time, so clearly you must need something from us.”
Theo couldn’t do this. He couldn’t sit here and explain his emotions away when he barely understood them himself.
“He didn’t know,” Liam said quietly, and that gave Theo the confidence to continue.
“Up until yesterday, I thought that you were both—” Theo cleared his throat as he glanced at Mia. “That you weren’t alive. The people that took me, they were very thorough in convincing me. You had graves and everything.”
His father shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“I don’t need anything from you. I’m not in trouble. I’ve been on my own for a few years, and believe me, if I’d known you were alive, if I’d known that I still had family, nothing could’ve kept me away.”
That softened his father’s unyielding expression. “I… I’m still having trouble believing all this. As much as you look like my son, the whole werewolf thing, the kidnapping—I’m still not entirely convinced that you didn’t just see our house, see how well off we are, and decide to target us.”
“Sam, you can’t be serious,” his mother snapped. “I know in my heart that this is my kid.”
“Our kid was sick,” his father said. “He was frail, but he’s the picture of health. If you and Tara really were kidnapped, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that you survived and she didn’t.”
“Sam, that’s enough.” His mother’s eyes were wild.
“No, it’s okay,” Theo told her even though it was anything but. “You’re right. Tara should’ve been the one to survive.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Theo hadn’t wanted to do this today. He hadn’t wanted to dump everything on them all at once, but his father was pushing, demanding answers, forcing Theo’s hand.
“It was my fault,” Theo said quietly, eyes trained on a tiny imperfection in the table. “I’m the reason the Dread Doctors killed her. They took her heart and put it in my chest before I even knew what was happening. But they didn’t stop there. They gave me claws and fangs and turned me into…”
“A monster,” his father finished for him.
Theo inhaled sharply. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come. C’mon, Li, we’re leaving.” Theo was on his feet and almost to the front door when Liam trailed to a stop behind him.
“You know what?” Ire brimming in Liam’s tone as he doubled back to the dining room. “No. You people don’t get to call Theo a monster when can’t even fathom what he’s been through.”
“We’re not denying—”
“Let me finish,” Liam snapped darkly. “Theo has survived situations that would’ve killed most people. He’s walked through hell—and I mean that quite literally—and come out a better person. He’s struggled and fought for everything he is and everything he has. He loves harder than anyone I’ve ever met because he knows what it’s like to go without it. He spent years scraping by. Living in sewers. Sleeping in his truck. You have no right. No right to sit there and judge him when you have no idea the courage it took for him to even knock on your door today.”
Theo couldn’t take it anymore. Tara’s heart throbbed beneath his ribs. “Thanks for the coffee,” he managed before grabbing his jacket and finding the doorknob.
Before he could turn the handle, soft footsteps padded toward him.
“Mia!” his father called.
His vision blurred, but he could still make out the green tufts of Grinch hair as Mia reached for his hand. Gently, she tugged, and Theo wasn’t sure what compelled him, but he knelt beside her.
Tears streaked across Mia’s chubby cheeks, and Theo’s breath hitched as he fought against the sob threatening to wrack his body. Little arms looped around his neck as Mia hugged him fiercely.
“You’re not a monster,” she whispered.
Hearing those words from Liam, or even Scott or Isaac, was one thing. Hearing it from his sister was another entirely. He’d longed for years to hear those words from Tara, sure that if he could convince her that Theo wasn’t a monster, maybe he’d actually start to believe it himself. Mia might not be Tara, but the effect was still the same. She’d seem him shift and hadn’t shied away from him in the slightest.
She said it again, as if she somehow understood that he needed to hear it again. “You’re not a monster. You’re just my brother.”
“I haven’t been just a brother in a long time,” Theo whispered.
“Good thing you’re a natural.” Mia smiled and took his hand, tugging him back toward the table where both of their parents were on their feet now. His mother’s hands were clasped over her heart and his father’s breath was shuddering.
Liam hovered at his shoulder, and his protective energy was so all encompassing that he couldn’t even find the strength to be mad that Liam had told his parents all of the dirty secrets he liked to keep swept under the rug. At least now, everything was out in the open. All of his cards were on the table.
“Did you really live in sewers?” his father asked.
“Yeah. Sometimes.”
His father’s lip tremored for the briefest of seconds before he gripped Theo by the shoulder and hauled him into his chest. His arms swallowed him whole in the biggest bear hug of his life. “I’m so sorry, kid,” his father muttered, pressing his cheek against the top of Theo’s head and gripping the nape of his neck. “I’m so, so sorry.”
When Theo’s father finally released him, he swayed on his feet. Between yesterday and today, Theo was thoroughly hollowed out.
“Our gay werewolf son is back from the dead.”
“Chimera, actually,” Theo said. “And, technically I’m bi.”
“Good to know.” Wrinkles creased the corners of his father’s eyes as he smiled. “Any more surprises?”
Theo shook his head. “Fresh out of surprises,” he lied, but they didn’t need to know about the darker pieces of his past. Nothing good could come of that.
“Please stay for dinner,” his mother pleaded.
“I don’t think I’m up for it tonight, but I’d love to come back another day, maybe, if you’ll have me?”
“Yes, of course,” his mother answered, hugging him against tightly and kissing his cheek. “You’re welcome here anytime.”
“You have to come back,” Mia said. “We can play more Zelda.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Theo told her, and her answering grin was exactly what he needed.
Theo and Liam donned their coats, and his father walked them out to his truck.
“This is a nice truck,” his father asked. “Do you work on it yourself?”
“Sort of, but it needs a new rear differential. I’ve been saving up money, but—”
“I can do it for you,” his father said. “Or, I could teach you, if you’d like. I work on all our cars.”
“I remember,” Theo said. “Anything you wanna teach me would be great. The most I know right now is how to change the oil, the breaks, and how to duct tape anything that doesn’t work right.”
“Duct… tape?” His father cocked his head. “On an engine?”
“Don’t ask.” Liam waved a hand.
His father hugged him once more before Theo got in the truck and rolled his window down. His father tapped his closed fist gently over the window well of the door.
“Hey, Theo?” his father asked.
“Yeah, Dad?”
“Welcome home.”
Theo drove away, but he barely made it a block before he had to pull over because he couldn’t see through his tears. Liam leaned over the console and gathered Theo into his arms, whispering to him how brave and amazing he was.
Theo wasn’t sure about any of that, but he leaned into Liam’s warmth nevertheless and thanked his boyfriend for being so patient all afternoon.
* * *
Over the past week, Theo had driven out to his parent’s house almost every day. Liam accompanied him whenever Theo asked, and once Scott and Isaac joined him. Even Derek came along, but he merely stood behind Theo, silent and stoic, as he met his family—only breaking out a rare smile for Mia. Later that evening Theo caught Derek telling his father, “He’s a special kid.”
Now, Theo’s mother poured glasses of champagne and bubbling cider and passed them around. With only a few minutes to the New Year, they’d turned their attention to the TV where Times Square was packed with people celebrating.
Theo had learned a lot in the past week. That his father had never stopped looking for him, but that the trail had gone cold after his private investigator had mysteriously disappeared. That they’d moved from Beacon Hills to escape the haunting memories, and that his mother had quit her job as an accountant and become a teacher just in case a kid his age ever showed up. That his parents had separated for a few months before his mother’s pregnancy with Mia reunited them.
That Mia was the smartest in her class and was eligible to test out of first grade. That they visited Tara’s grave every year on her birthday. That since they had no grave to visit for Theo, they’d lit a candle for him every year on the anniversary that they went missing.
All those nights that Theo had stared up at the stars and wished for his family back, they were doing exactly the same thing.
A few hours into the party, Mia had curled up beside Theo while they played card games and promptly fell asleep.
“I’ll take her up to her room,” his father had said.
“I got it, Dad.” Theo had carried her up to her room where he’d tucked her in beneath her comforter. Her eyes had flicked open briefly before she nuzzled into her pillow. “Happy New Year, Little Bit.”
“Happy New Year, T,” she’d whispered. Tara’s heart had wrenched in his chest at the nickname their older sister had so often used for him.
Now, as the clock counted down the last seconds of this year, Theo was overwhelmed by the love surrounding him. His mother and father were swaying to the music with champagne flutes in hand.
“Five!” the TV newscaster chanted.
Liam wrapped his arms around Theo’s waist.
“Four!”
Theo leaned back against Liam’s chest.
“Three!”
Theo twisted in Liam’s arms until he was facing his boyfriend.
“Two!”
Theo mouthed, “I love you” to Liam.
“One!”
Liam kissed him, holding him close as the ball dropped.
There was something special about the old year ending and the new year beginning with Liam wrapped around him.
Guns and fireworks exploded all around them both on the television and outside the house, but Theo didn’t flinch, didn’t tense up—he was safe. Safe in Liam’s arms and safe with his family.
“Cheers!” his parents called when they’d broken apart.
Theo lifted his glass, and linked his arm through Liam’s before they both raised glasses to the other’s lips, carefully tipping them so the other could sip the cider but still managing to spill the sparkling juice all down their fronts. They dissolved into a fit of messy laughter.
“Any New Year’s resolutions this year?” his mother asked, handing Theo a damp cloth.
Theo shook his head as he dabbed at his neck. He didn’t dare say it aloud, but his resolution was to let go of the past and embrace the joy in his life.
He was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’d do it right this time. He’d keep his family safe. He would die before he let anything happen to his mother, his father, and his sister.
* * *
10 years later
The doorbell rang, and Mia’s voice carried down the stairs. “T, can you get that?”
“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t spend three hours getting ready!” he called back, secretly thrilled as he opened the door. A blonde teenager tugged nervously at his button up shirt and gulped at the sight of Theo behind the door.
“Hi,” he squeaked. “Is, uh, Mia here?”
“Who’s asking?”
“Tom.”
“Theo Raeken.”
“Nice, to, uh, meet you.”
“Uh, huh.” Theo was thoroughly enjoying the way this kid was squirming. “And what exactly are your intention with my little sister?”
“I… um, we’re supposed to go to the movies.”
Theo leaned forward. “Do I look like an idiot?”
The boy gulped. “Um, no?”
“I know what kids do in dark theaters. No funny business, got it?”
“Yes, sir.” The kid’s voice jumped up at least two octaves, and Theo let his lips curve into a malicious smirk.
“Theo!” Mia called as she ran down the stairs in dark jeans and a rose-colored sweater. She shoved Theo lightly. “Behave!”
“I’m behaving.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Tom is nice. We like Tom.”
To be determined.
“Sorry for the wait,” Mia told the boy who reeked of nervous energy. “You ready to go?”
Even though Theo knew Mia was more than capable of protecting herself—he’d started teaching her self-defense as soon as she turned double digits—Theo felt justified in flashing his chimera eyes at Tom while Mia’s back was turned as she grabbbed her coat.
Tom’s eyes widened and he paled. Theo thought the poor kid might pass out, but then Mia was shrugging on her coat and kissing Theo’s cheek.
“See you later tonight.”
“Have her home before midnight!” Theo called. “Otherwise, she turns into a pumpkin.” Then, under his breath, “And you turn into wolf food.”
Tom gulped and nodded vigorously. “Yes, sir!”
Mia looped her arm through Tom’s. “What did he say to you?”
“Nothing,” the kid said, glancing back at the house where Theo was leaning against the door frame. He waited until they were driving away in his old Toyota Camry before shutting the door.
“You really gotta stop doing that, love,” his mother chided.
“What?” Theo said innocently.
“Scaring off any boy that she remotely likes.”
“I’m just vetting them.” Theo smirked. “Anyone good enough for Mia wouldn’t be scared by little old me.”
The backdoor opened and shut as Liam and his father came in carrying the platter of ribs, corn, and zucchini strips from the grill.
“Did Theo scare this one?” his father asked.
“Yes,” his mother answered at the same time that Theo said, “No, of course not.”
Liam laughed and pressed a kiss to Theo’s cheek, rubbing his thumb over the ring on Theo’s left hand.
“At least this one didn’t wet his pants. There’s still hope for him yet.”
They all tucked into the dining table where Theo and Liam had stood so many years ago and turned his parent’s world upside down. Theo’s father cut through the ribs with ease and sliding them onto each person’s plate. His mother sipped her wine and leaned back in her chair.
Even though Theo had found them dancing and laughing that Christmas Day, something had loosened in their expressions since then. Almost as if having Theo back in their lives and having solid answers about Tara’s death had healed an old, festering wound.
“Wait, we’re forgetting something.” Theo rummaged around in the catch-all drawer until he found what he was looking for. He placed Tara’s candle atop the empty plate beside him at the table and lit it.
Theo could’ve sworn that, just for a moment, he felt Tara’s presence beside him, proud that after everything, he’d still found his way back home.