I watch the door creak open and eye Ian's tousled hair pop out of the doorway first. My gaze stays on him suspiciously when I notice his hands behind his back.

"What now?" I grumble.

He beams at me with the brightest smile despite my lack of excitement.

"Someone woke on the wrong side of bed, I see," he jokes.

"And what side of the floor did you wake up on?" I retort. "Your hair is more fucked up than usual, Ian."

"Wow," he breathes out. "Thanks, sis."

"Your one and only."

He rolls his gorgeous amber eyes but soon another smile reaches his face.

I always wondered how he could be so cheerful.

How could he be so carefree?

"I brought you something!" He tells me, excitement radiating off of him.

"My usual meal?" I question, boredom lacing my voice.

He brings his hands in front of him and states, "A CAKE!"

I couldn't hide the smile on my face. His glee was rubbing off on me.

He settles the box of cake beside me on the bed.

"You're welcome!"

I roll my eyes but still, a smile was present on my face.

"Thank you," I tell him softly.

I watch his smile stretch wider, only for it to fall down as fast it came.

"A-and—," he hesitates to continue.

"I know," I assure him, hoping that the bitterness didn't show in my voice.

Ian laves the room and comes back with the usual tray full of a small meal and a cup with disgusting contents.

He smiles at me one more time before leaving the room entirely.

I sigh and decide to eat the cake first, glad that I at least received a gift.

"Well, happy birthday to me," I whisper to myself and shrug my shoulders.

___

I wake up to the comforts of my bed, Theo's hand laced in mine, and his hair tickling my arms.

He was situated on a chair, his body bent uncomfortably so that his head was resting on my bed—just beside my stomach.

I bend my knees and move myself further down the bed so that I could catch a glimpse of his face.

He looked so peaceful and so fascinating. Often, his appearance reminded me of an intimidating and cunning CEO of some sort. But right now, he looked pretty.

I wanted to sprinkle him with gold dust and dress him in one of those Roman togas. In my eyes right now, he appeared to be some Adonis. I wanted to place of leaf headband on his head and make his hair more tousled. I wanted to paint him with his fingers running unto the strings of a harp.

I rub my thumb over his dark brows, mesmerized.

Damn you, Moon Goddess.

My eyes remain fixated on his face as I trace my fingers along his unbelievably perfect nose and down to his plump lips.

Feeling brazen as always, I run my thumb along the bottom of his lips. I was enthralled by this man's beauty.

The Mood Goddess is so unfair.

His lips lift into a smirk and I process this movement too late.

He bites playfully on my finger and I retract my hand away from him.

"You bitch," I cuss at him and pulling myself away.

Theo lifts his head off the bed and stretches his arms, a small yawn escaping his mouth.

He laughs and says, "Seems like you've kept yourself busy. How?"

"By checking you out," I answer him blatantly.

"You're not so bad yourself," he jokes, a smirk on his face.

I merely roll my eyes. Deciding that my body felt too stiff on this position, I try to raise my body, only to be met by a sharp pain on my leg.

"Fucking hell!"

Theo chuckles at my wide set of vocabulary but aids me in bringing myself up. He places a hand on my back and delicately positions me so that my back was against the headboard

"Thanks," I mutter.

He sits back on his chair and scoots more forward towards me, leaning into me in the process. No one talked for a while so I resorted to playing with my fingers.

"When you were shot," he starts off, interrupting the silence. His head stays low, but he grabs my hand once again, massaging it. "I was confused—frightened even. You weren't healing as fast—just like a regular human. As dumb as it sounds, I didn't know what to what to do. You were in so much pai—."

"You know," I disrupt him. It was now or never. It was itching me and I was burning to tell him for the longest time. "The rogue packs created my wolf to find ways to kill the Lycan."

Theo's head remained low, but his body stiffened and his thumb stopped rubbing circles on my palm. He didn't speak at all and continued to listen.

"They say the experiments began when your Grandfather was born. They took in captives—some even volunteered—and made their wolves stronger. They'd try to alter their wolves so that they were powerful enough to kill a Lycan, although none of them was even close enough to replicating a Lycan's strength.

"But every action has their own consequences. The rogues tried to make these wolves so strong that it took a toll on the human part of them. The human were noted to experience fatigue, lack of immunity, which led to poor healing, as well as poor behavior in strength. That's why I'm so weak and that's why I can't heal properly."

Theo didn't speak. The only indication of his response was how his hand tightly held mine and the how his body heaved heavily. His hair covered his face since his head was bowed down, hiding any emotions he felt at the moment.

I watch as his muscles soon relax and his breathing became more even.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, his thumb rubbing circles on my palm once again.

He says sorry a lot.

"You shouldn't be the one apologizing," I whisper to him, a frown on my face.

"No, Alexandria," he tells me firmly. "I should be apologizing. In fact, there's a hundred things on my list that I need to apologize for. Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being such a jerk and not treating you as my priority. I'm sorry for letting others look down on you. I'm sorry for not being a proper mate and treating our bond like it was some game."

I gape at him for God knows how long, surprised by his sudden honesty. I observe him as he runs his other hand through his hair and brings it to the hand he has been caressing. Two hands massage my hand so delicately, prodding me to say something.

He reminded me of a little kid waiting for an approval.

"I accept your apology," I reply, my heart feeling lighter than ever.

Not knowing what else to say, I open myself arms and wait for my well-deserved hug.

When Theo didn't hear a response, he looks up for the first time.

I drop my arms when my eyes land on his pain stricken expression. His lips were pursed together and down turned.

"A-are you actually about to cry?" I gasp out.

"Well, fuck you," he curses out. His brows furrow and his eyes narrow at me suspiciously.

An uncontrollable smile breaks out on my face and I let out a laugh. I open my arms again and brace myself for a hug.

"Stop smiling," he huffs out. Then, he lifts himself off the seat and settles beside me. "How could you be so carefree right now?"

"I didn't know you were such a big softie," I tease him. He releases a playful growl and scoots closer to me. Bringing a hand to the side of my head, he gently moves my head so I laid on his chest.

"I'm not," he huffs out.

""Then what are you?"

"I'm a big bad multi-millionaire possessive Alpha who exerts dominance," he says proudly with a smirk.

I laugh and hit his chest playfully. "Then what am I?"

"My little runt who's submissive to me," he ridicules.

I roll my eyes and laugh out, "Sure, sure, Mr. Softie."

"No I'm not," he huffs out.

"Oh really," I question him and raise a brow. "Was it an act?"

"It was my way of seducing you," he lies.

"Oh shut up."

"It worked, didn't it?" He says smugly and pulls me closer to him.

I scoff sarcastically and he chuckles.

We lay silently like that for another while: me on his chest and him rubbing his chin on the top of my head.

"Ask me questions," I incite, noticing how his eyes seem to burn with questions when I looked up at him.

He opens his mouth to say something, but hesitates and switches to a different question.

"Are you planning to kill me some day?" he says lightheartedly like it was a joke. Still, I somehow felt the sternest in his voice, pleading me to say otherwise.

"Assassinating you would have been a perfect plot," I joke, going along with him. "But no. The rogues use us as guinea pigs and damage our wolves to see how strong they could become before we couldn't handle it anymore.

"I don't know specifically what the rogues would do, but then they'd use this information they gathered from us to create a safer ingredient. This safer and better 'poison' is given to another more important person who no one else but the rogues themselves know. But the goal is the same: to kill the Lycan—to kill you. Fortunately, they haven't even gotten close to a solution. They either die or go apeshit. We're simply pawns for a king. So no, Theo. I wasn't sent to assassinate you at nighttime while you're sleeping. Although, that would be a pretty cool storyline, if I say so my—."

"How," he growls out. "How could you say that so lightly?"

I pause and when I notice his other hand curling into a fist, I decide to laugh it off.

It irritated him more.

"Stop that," he commands me in a resolute manner.

"Stop what?" I question him, genuinely confused.

"Using laughter as a defense mechanism," he huffs out. "It's okay to feel unhappy. It's okay to feel ashamed, weak, or vulnerable. It's okay to feel not okay."

My breath hitches, feeling stunned myself. I hold back another nervous laugh in fear of confirming his statement.

How could he interpret me so easily? Am I really that goddamn obvious?

"It's okay to feel like a softie, too," I tease him. I made sure to keep his previous words in my mind.

"Now," he chuckles. "That's a way different story."

I don't speak, my mind craving space and time to finally think.

It feels like a dream.

When not another word was spoken, I look up only to be met by Theo's peaceful sleeping state.

A light laugh escapes my lips when a soft snore leaves Theo's parted lips.

I watch him dreamily as his brows furrow and he murmurs, "I'll kill them for you."

Another smile tugs at the corner of my lips, but my brain bombards me with a hundred thoughts.

I sigh out in relief. A part of me was glad that he didn't ask about my brother.

Because frankly, I didn't know the answer either.

A/N Rewriting a few stuff so that the story makes more sense because I reread it today and honestly, some shit didn't make sense to me either. 💀