I guess I should have realized it sooner. It was pretty obvious. The way he always searched frantically at pack meetings before seeing me and quickly relaxing. The way he always checked up on me when I was getting settled with the Wilson's. The way he seemed to want to say so much to me but never got around to it.
The one thing I didn't understand was the two year wait. Did he think I wouldn't believe him? Honestly, if he had told me when I was sixteen it would explain a lot of things. The way I wanted to be close to him. The way I loved when he said my name.
Theo was a complicated man though and seven years observing him did not explain much.
However, as I saw him enter the Wilson's and walk painfully slowly towards me I knew I was about to learn a lot about him.
Every cell in my body screamed "Mate" and the shock passed as soon as it came. Like I said, it made a lot of sense.
His face softened which was usual when he was speaking to me. It made feel special that I was the only one who got that reaction from him.
Though he was no tyrant like his father, he still was an intimidating man and the expressionless added to the fear he witnessed. The pack was scared of him to an extent. Mostly that he would turn out like his father.
It was heartbreaking to watch as the pack obeyed him but isolated him to a point of comfortable safety. Theo was utterly alone. His mother passed before I arrived and I was well aware of what happened to his father. He had no other family and the only one who wasn't on edge with him around was the beta, Mason.
And me.
Carefully, Theo raised a hand and though the people in the house flinched I knew what his true intentions were. He rested his palm on the side of my face and used his other hand to pull me closer. When he searched my eyes for any resistance and saw none, he drew me into a tight hug.
The Wilson's gasped as they saw the intimidating Alpha hug the outsider.
"You waited two years?" I whispered, burying my face into his shoulder and breathing him in, not caring about the people surrounding me. They were always nice and hospitable but there was a line. A line between this pack and me. I was and always will be an outsider. Though I couldn't complain, they haven't had anyone join the pack in many years. It was a new experience to them.
He didn't answer, he just held me even tighter.
"Uh, Happy Birthday?" Mrs. Wilson said obviously uncomfortable that my mate turned out the be the Alpha.
It was my eighteenth birthday and on a wolf's eighteenth, they are able to identify their mate. Sure, people normally had an inkling or knew before but just on the eighteenth was it confirmed.
I remembered Mrs. Wilson talking to me yesterday about mates and how I shouldn't be sad if I didn't find him on the exact day.
I smirked and looked up at her.
She smiled brightly back. Though she was baffled she was happy for me. The woman had become my mom over the last seven years. She may needed a lot of push to see me as one of her own but these days she was as close as anyone could be to me.
Theo apparently realized that he had stopped my small birthday party because he awkwardly shuffled out of my grasp and stood beside me, observing the people staring at him.
Though, there wasn't much observing it was more like a hard glare and a "don't fuck with me" type of attitude.
"Alright well, Theo, want to join us for some cake?"
He looked down at me, since he was so tall, with those gorgeous blue eyes before hesitantly joining us for cake.
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As the four of us sat around the table nibbling the delicious cake, I decided the awkward silence needed to end.
I turned towards Mr. Wilson and asked about his company. The man ran a successful construction company that was his entire life. Even though he was normally the silent type, once you got him on the subject of work he never stopped.
He smiled and relaxed in his seat. "It's going great, we have gotten a new project so I have to start making plans for that as well as picking my best guys to work on it. Great opportunity. Have you heard of Kieran West? Well he wants us to build him a house! A house! How amazing is that?"
I froze at the sound of that name. Theo seemed to notice as he gave me a confused look before returning stoic.
I expected him to say nothing about it or do anything but he slowly held my hand and used his thumb to rub circles on the back.
Gradually, I relaxed and leaned back in my seat. I was rested so that I could turn my face and met his gaze.
"So I assume, she is going with you?" Mrs. Wilson asked, timidly. I wasn't sure why she was scared of Theo. The woman wasn't scared of anything. I remembered my first year of grade ten I had come back crying because some of the girls there were calling me names. Normally I was hard to upset but they appeared to know the right buttons to push. Mr. Wilson marched up to the school and demanded compensation as well as suspension for the girls. Though the principal was firm on not listening since the girl's parents were huge benefactors of the school he quickly changed his mind once Mr. Wilson turned partial wolf.
Theo nodded but then looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. As if to ask if that was alright. I smiled and nodded back.
After we were done eating, Mrs. Wilson helped me pack some overnight clothes and things.
She sat on the edge of my bed, picking up clothes and folding them into a bag. I was running around the room trying to be fast as I didn't know what Mr. Wilson and Theo could be talking about downstairs without me.
"Hayden?" Mrs. Wilson asked tentatively, stopping her folding and waiting for me to sit down beside her.
"I hope you know you don't have to go with him. I don't want you to feel pressured by him to do anything you don't want to and if you have any trouble please, sweetie, please call me and I will be on my way as soon as possible."
I knew she was just watching out for my safety but my heart still broke by how scared she was of the Alpha.
Taking a deep breath, I sat on the bed beside her and continued pilling things into the suitcase before replying. "Do you remember that day I was attacked by Jiaolong? I was swimming in the river a few miles up and the dragon grabbed me and pulled me under water?"
Mrs. Wilson teared up at the mention of that day three years ago. She had yelled at me and thrown me out of the house because I was getting into fights at school, my grades were low, and I was not good at listening. In a way to rebel, being teenage and all, I ran away as soon as the door closed behind me. I found the river after a few minutes of wondering around aimlessly and decided swimming was exactly what I needed to get my mind off all the worries that seemed to pile up.
I didn't see it at first but soon the water dragon had dragged me underwater. It was a few seconds of knowing I was going to die before the dragon was off me and someone pulled me up and out of the water. Since I wasn't under for long I just choked on the water but didn't pass out or need CPR.
Theo had saved me, unsurprisingly. He had a hard look on his face while giving me a lecture about my recklessness. Funny, the seventeen year old telling the fifteen year old to not be so rebellious.
It was honestly the most I had heard him talk ever. Normally it was a few words here and there but this was a full on speech.
After he was done he sat beside me and pulled me into a tight hug. Like I said, there were many signs of him being my mate.
He breathed out loudly and gently let go so that he could look me in the eye. "Are you okay?"
Once I nodded, he picked me up and carried me home. Bridal style. I told him I could walk but he clearly wasn't putting me down.
"I'm sorry. I just, I see so much of his father in him." Mrs. Wilson cried out, bringing me back to the present. "I'm so sorry."
I smiled softly at her and nodded, hoping that maybe she would stop judging Theo for his father's actions.
She wiped away her tears before putting the last items into the bag and zipping it up. She stood and held it out to me before walking ahead of me and out the door.
Once I was in eye sight of Theo he quickly looked over me and although he was his normal indifferent self, his eyes showed worry.
Perhaps he was worried that Mrs. Wilson had convinced me to stay.
Smiling, I walked up to him and placed my hand in his, hoping to soothe his fears. At first I thought I had read the situation wrong since he was still tense so I started to pull away but his sudden reaction of holding tighter made me brighten and not move.
"Alright well, you guys better be going it's getting dark out. Hayden text me when you guys get there so I know you got back safely." Mrs. Wilson hugged me and then held me at arms length looking over my features. "I love you."
I wasn't an over-emotional person but hearing those words brought tears to my eyes. After all my years in this household, we never said that to each other.
Mr. Wilson smiled and then moved to whisper in my ear. "Thank you, for showing me to not judge so harshly, without you, I can't even imagine what I would have done."
I pulled her into another hug before moving over to Mr. Wilson. He laughed as I told him to take care of Mrs. Wilson and not to get into trouble.
"Honey, I think you should be saying that to my wife not me."
I laughed with him before promising that I would be back eventually not gone forever. With that I turned and left, with Theo by my side.