Change

She pulled her hand away abruptly, while I was still pondering the gesture.

Sophia looked sideways, deliberating. But I managed to see the conflict in her eyes right before she removed them away from me.

"I was on lockdown" She finally said, her voice was gruff.

"Huh?" I had no idea what she meant by that.

She sighed then looked back at me, her eyebrows pulling together, "I was grounded, severely. Even my phone was taken away from me."

I pulled myself up again and transitioned into a sitting position. "That's strange, Olivia doesn't strike me as the type to punish that harshly." She was the wingless angel after all.

I wondered what Sophie did to deserve the verdict.

"It wasn't mom," her lips pressed into a thin line. "My father was the one to decide," she shrugged, looking upset.

"Sorry sparklers," I wanted to comfort her.

Maybe her father was the strict type.

The only thing I knew about the man was that he hardly ever came home being an extremely busy person that was dedicated to his business.

"Hey, Theo…" Sophie seemed to want to talk about something else when Liam came in through the door, the vibes in my room changed and we both focused on him.

His eyes were red again.

'Not your conventional hero,' I thought to myself.

He hurried to where I was and pressed our foreheads together, holding my neck firmly with his hand, a moment later, he pulled away from me.

"Li,"

Where to begin?

I wanted to ask about Elizabeth but was too afraid of his reaction, I had no idea what state he found me in, and if I looked the way I felt back then, he must've thought I was dead in that forest.

He sat on the bed next to me and rubbed his eyes. I decided to give him a moment.

He needed it.

"I'll make some sandwiches." Sophia declared. She turned and walked quickly away from us.

I heard her light footsteps as she went down the stairs to the kitchen. My stomach grumbled in anticipation, I couldn't remember the last time I ate.

"How are you feeling?" Liam finally spoke, his tone dejected. But it meant he was ready for my interrogation too.

"I have a headache," I frowned as I remembered it. "Otherwise, I'm as good as new."

He glared at me, not appreciating my sense of humor.

"How did you find me?" I asked him before he got the chance to ask me anything else.

He clenched his jaw and his shoulder visibly tensed. "I was informed that you left the mutual territory," he looked at me with disapproval, "I left immediately to get you." He raised his hand and then swiftly brushed my forehead with his fingertip. "I'm glad I wasn't late."

I remembered what Elizabeth had said about werewolves and their inability to cross the border to the territory that both sides labeled under mutual.

"Shouldn't werewolves adhere to a certain geographical restraint or something?" I asked. Not sure if I got the whole agreement werewolves and purebloods had between them correctly.

He must've heard my hesitation.

"You're not mistaken, that applies to the pack that signed the treaty, whereas, your reliable brother is a lone wolf," He winked at me, "Not just any wolf, a lone Alpha." He looked and sounded smug; I was more confused now.

"Weren't they taking orders from you and all?"

I remembered the image of him with two wolves behind, then I remembered when the red demon asked one of the twins to translate for him. "You said you were in the same pack as the twins." My doubts about their identity suddenly became baseless. I shook my head at my stupidity.

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. Something about my questions bothered him.

"It's complicated," He finally said while he looked away, then he glanced at me with a raised eyebrow, checking if I was going to let it go.

He continued when he understood that I wasn't.

"The pack is mine by default because of my bloodline, but I must claim it from the current Alpha, something I postponed so far." He nodded once, satisfied. "Thankfully." He brushed my temple with his thumb this time.

Why did he insist on facing all of those hard decisions alone?

"You left me in the dark for too long, Li." Let me help you. I said the rest to myself.

He grimaced apologetically. "I know you think I'm a part of this massive conspiracy against you, but it's not the case."

I raised my eyebrows; it was unbelievably shameless of him to claim innocence at this point.

"Our parents only came clean about it all when my wolf got into the picture,"

Did he mean when he transferred into the red wolf or was his demon a separate entity?

"It was long years of ignorance about the supernatural for me too," he paused. "I didn't ask for any of this, Theo."

I remembered how he flinched at the word werewolves when he first confessed to me about what he was. I had already concluded that he didn't accept everything. I knew him well enough for that.

While we sat on my bed looking at each other, something of importance finally hit me. My brother was finally talking to me about everything.

"What changed your mind about giving me the silent treatment and asking me to forget about it all?"

Not that I objected to ending his malevolent behavior.

"The fact that I was wrong." His tone was regretful. "I can't play dad with you, or to put it in a better way, I won't play dad with you anymore," he said.

"Um, I didn't know you had gone that far," I told him honestly.

He was always protective and got more so after the funeral, but I had no idea he was under that load.

It was ridiculous of him.

He smiled at me, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You're a teenager who went and got into trouble behind my back trying to learn something I could've shared myself with you. I made a mistake, and I learned from it." He placed his hand over my shoulder. "From now on, ask me anything. I won't push you away anymore."

Here comes the opening I was looking for.

"What happened to Elizabeth." I couldn't believe that my heart reacted this way when all I did was mention her name.

My brother searched my face for a long moment, his eyes drifted over my chest as if he heard my speeding heart rate and sat there measuring it.

"She was the one who guided me to you."