In the Shadows of the Past (MXM)

Not a Monster

Chapter 13 - Present

There was only one thing that Callum wanted from Richard then... The honest answer of his friend.

Both men had been through so much during the years that they were friends, so the figure that was no longer Human without knowledge wanted to believe the words of one of the few people he could trust not only with his life but with his children's as well.

And although he wasn't sure what was happening to him, Callum wanted to use all of this as a justification for each one of his friend's actions, even if it was difficult amid the intense anger he felt toward himself...

... Which, whether he wanted to or not, he ended up using against Richard when he noticed upon waking up that he had been tied to the bed again...

"Alpha, may I..." Seeing the man calm down a bit, Doctor Park said those words that allowed his leader to easily understand what he planned to do while getting closer to him and Callum.

"No, it had been already enough." And unlike what anyone expected, Richard stopped him just as he was about to sedate Cal again. "... He doesn't need it anymore."

Like whispers in the air... The Alpha said before ordering the others to retire, leaving him alone with his Mate, who was still hiding his tears from him, despite holding the side of Ray's clothes without realizing it as if they were his anchor amidst everything that was happening.

... Making Richard be more than sure, then he could no longer keep Callum in the shadows to protect him, no matter how much he wanted to as his other half needs to learn about his new reality...

Slowly removing each of the chains that bound his Mate to the bed, the Alpha only took Callum's hands off his clothes when he needed to stand up to remove the last one that still bound his right foot.

"... I'm sorry, Cal... I swear I won't let them do that to you again." Richard's voice was so low that probably no one else could hear him outside, even if they were Werewolves. "I... I..."

He wanted to explain to the man who meant more than anything else to him that they had done this for his own safety and the Pack's too, yet everything seemed to get stuck in Ray's mouth as he bit his lips, unable to say another word.

... And of course, as someone who used to be with him all the time, the man who was only a few months older than him undoubtedly noticed it when he returned his eyes to Richard...

"I already told you that you should stop doing that... You'll hurt your lips..." Callum remarked, allowing a hand to touch his best friend's face as if they had momentarily returned to the past.

... Carefully removing the lip from under the teeth before running his thumb across Ray's lower lip, almost as if he wanted to make sure the other man didn't hurt himself... Cal didn't pay too much attention to what he was doing... 

Yet badly knew him about how this simple touch of his made the Alpha's heartbeat so fast that he could barely breathe then.

... It was the first time in a long time that something like this happened, so Richard certainly wasn't prepared for this after letting his guards down for so a long time...

"... I really am a monster now, aren't I?" However, his lack of reaction ended up interpreted as fear in the eyes of his Mate, who had no idea about half of the things that were going on in the Alpha's mind as he was the one who had turned him into this so-called monster...

"Please don't say that, Cal... This is all fault." Coming to his senses then, Richard mentioned, removing the hand from his face as he was unable to look into Callum's eye as he said such words to him. "You're not a monster. I'm the one who turned you into a Lycan like me... I'm the one who broke your trust and turned you into that without you even wanting it because I was unable to lose you again."