Dying For You

Chapter 8

Theo's POV

I shoot out of bed the second the sun shines through the window. I didn't sleep. I couldn't even close my eyes if I wanted to. Every cell in my body was buzzing with excitement and fear. I'm excited beyond words that I found my mate, the love of my life. I was scared that if I closed my eyes, I'd wake up only to discover it was just a dream.

All I could do was go over everything her parents told me repeatedly, ingraining it in my memory, so I didn't make a mistake and cause her to fear me. I will not do that again. I must treat her like a cornered chicken, liable to fight me or run away at the slightest movement.

I need a way to apologize for scaring her last night; in a way, she understands. What would a scared chicken want? Food. I will get her food. She didn't eat last night, as far as I know. She must be starving. What do people like for breakfast? Waffles. Chickens like waffles. That's where the combination of chicken and waffles came from. I should get someone to make her some waffles for breakfast.

I get ready and head down to the kitchen as fast as possible. As soon as I walk in the door, a she-wolf greets me. "Good morning, Alpha. Can I help you with something?" she asks.

"Yeah, um… can you make me a waffle?" I ask.

"Of course. I will get right on that. Anything else I can get for you?" she asks.

"Just the waffle is fine." I nod.

"Coming right up?" she nods.

I lean against a counter, trying to stay out of everyone's way. I'd try to help, but cooking isn't my strong suit. I can make cereal, but I don't trust myself to do anything that involves actual heating or making of food, and I'm not risking poisoning my mate, especially when she is in such a fragile state.

"How's your day going?" I ask.

The she-wolf glances at me questioningly. "Good. How is your day so far?" She answers as she pulls out bowls and different ingredients.

"Good," I nod.

She glances at me for a moment without stopping her work. "You're up earlier than usual." She comments.

"I couldn't sleep," I admit.

"Is it because you found your mate last night?" She asks with a side glance.

"Yeah," I nod with a smile.

"That's good. Congratulations," she smiles too.

"Thanks." I cross my arms over my chest as I settle against the counter. "What about you? Have you found your mate?" I ask.

She smiles widely. "Yes, Alpha. We had our first pup last year. He's the cutest little nugget and looks just like his Dad." She stops her work as she thinks of them fondly. That's cute. That's what I want. I want to be so in love that just the thought of my family makes me stop everything else. I want someone to make this all worth it.

We talk politely as she mixes the batter and cooks the waffle. Once done, she plates the waffle, gets utensils, and gives me syrup. "Thanks," I say, taking it from her. I turn to leave, then stop and turn back to her. "It was nice meeting you. What's your name again?" I ask.

She stops what she is doing and looks at me, furrowing her brows. What? Did she get offended by my asking her name? She didn't mention it earlier. "Abby. Theo. My name is Abby." she nods, looking annoyed. This is a large pack. Why would she expect me to know that?

"I'm sorry if I offended you," I comment. "I am just trying to be nice and learn the names of new people I meet." I apologize.

"We went to school together. I had at least one class with you every year from kindergarten until my senior year of high school. We've met hundreds of times." she sighs, returning to work.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember-"

"Of course, you don't. You're the next Alpha; why should you be forced to interact and remember the names of the people you will one day rule over," she says.

"Sorry." I hang my head and walk out of the room.

I head out of the kitchen and into the hallway, thinking about growing up when Abby says we went to school together. I don't remember her. I shake my head; I don't have much time to think about this. I need to get to my mate. I've been away from her too long. I need to see her again.

I head up the stairs and down a few hallways until outside her family's apartment. I know it's early, but I hope someone is awake. Warrior training starts in 30 minutes, and I'm sure Dad said her father was a warrior. I knock on the door, waiting for a response. It's probably open, but I don't want to barge into their home.

Within a minute, her father opens the door, looking confused. "Good morning Sir; I brought Laila a waffle." I'm an i***t. I sound dumb.

"Yeah, I figured you would be here this morning. Come on in." he opens the door wider for me. I step inside, closing the door behind me. He turns and starts walking. I follow behind him. "I have to go to training, but her Mom is up; she's already checked on Laila. Laila's still asleep," he explains.

"How was she last night?" I ask, desperate for information. I don't want to do the wrong thing and upset her.

"After you left, we pretty much just felt her alone. She cried for a while. Her Mom and I stayed in her room just out of her line of sight until she cried herself to sleep." he says with a sad smile as we walk into Laila's room. We stop before the closet so she can't see we are here. He takes a deep breath putting his hands in his pockets. "Alpha, I want to warn you that she might not wake up today. She is still healing, and she's on medicine that has side effects of being drowsy, so she can heal more. Honestly, I don't even think she knows she is on medicine. We try to wake her up daily to feed her, keep her hydrated, give her medicine, etc. But some days, no matter how hard we try, she doesn't wake up. We must force medicine down her throat while she sleeps when she is too tired. She had a big, emotional day yesterday. It wouldn't be surprising if she just slept right through the day." he says quietly.

"That's ok. I want to be here just in case. I want to see her, and if it's just her sleeping, that's ok. But if she wakes up, I want to get her used to my presence, so she doesn't panic again." I explain.

"I understand. You're welcome to stay as long as you want. There is a whiteboard and marker if she wakes up, and you want to communicate with her." he nods towards the bed.

"Thank you." I nod.

He leaves us alone, and I slowly walk in front of the open closet door to see the most beautiful girl in the world leaning against the wall, hugging herself with her knees pulled to her chest as she sleeps peacefully. That can't be comfortable. She has a perfectly fine bed right here. I set the waffle just inside the closet door while cautiously eyeing her. I don't want to scare her.

I exhale deeply; she smells amazing, but it's not as overwhelming as I thought finding my mate would be. I make myself to walk away. If I don't move, I will sit on the ground next to her, which will only scare her more. I grab the whiteboard off the nightstand and sit on the floor in front of the open closet door, giving her enough space to feel comfortable but close enough to smell her fantastic scent still.

I look at the blank whiteboard. I need to write something down so that if she wakes up and panics, I can try to calm her down. What to write? What to write? Hmmm…

'Good morning, Laila; my name is Theo.' Not too formal. I use the side of my hand to erase what I wrote.

'I love you.' No too much. I don't want to scare her away.

'Hi' No, too little. It needs more.

"Hi, I'm Theo. I'm sorry I scared you last night, but I will not hurt you." I write it down and then set the whiteboard on the floor beside me. I lean against a nearby chair, getting comfortable as I study her.

She's gorgeous. The long dark hair, she's too thin, but that's to be expected after everything I was told about her. She's short. I didn't expect her to be this short. I'm tall, about 6 foot 5 inches. She doesn't even come up to my chest. She has to be under 5 feet tall. That's so short, especially for a werewolf. I always thought my mate would be taller.

I thought my mate would be many things except what she is. I'm not mad about it. This will be more work than I thought. I'm not complaining; I'm already in love with her.

Just think. My mate was supposed to be in this pack. If she hadn't been taken, we could have known each other. We could have been best friends. We could have grown up playing together. We could have inside jokes and memories of growing up together. I could have taken her to prom and cheered as she graduated from high school.

Or would she be like Abby? I grew up taking classes with her every year but never noticed her until I was 25. Yet she would know who I was and have seen my asshole high school boy phase. Nobody could tell me what to do; I was the Alpha's son and next in line. I did what I wanted to when I wanted to, and admittedly, I wasn't very nice about it.

Oh s**t, if she had known me back, she would have seen what a player I was. I don't want her to know what an asshole I used to be to others, especially girls. I'm not that guy anymore. I haven't been that guy in years. I hope she never finds out about that.

Laila's Mom walks into the room with a glass of water in her hand and some medicine in another hand. "Good morning." she yawns.

"Good morning. Your mate let me in," I explain.

"He told me," she says, walking past me and into the closet towards Laila.

I lean up some, looking at her. "What are you giving her?" I ask.

"Blood thinners. The theory is it will help dilute the wolfsbane in her blood which will help with pain and other symptoms. It seems to be working so far. If she accidentally gets a scratch or cut and starts bleeding, it could be tough to stop though." she explains.

"So… are you going to wake her up?" I get excited at the thought of talking to my mate.

"I'm going to attempt to, but I don't think she will wake up." she sighs.

I observe as she gently starts rubbing her leg. My mate starts to stir, but her eyes don't open. Her Mom picks her head up off the wall, turning Laila's face towards her. She forcibly opens her mouth and puts the pill on her tongue before pouring just a sip of water down her throat. That's not good. She could choke!

I watch impatiently as Laila swallows the medicine, and her Mom leans her back against the wall while petting her hair softly.

Her Mom walks out of the closet and looks at me. "If she wakes up today, which I doubt she will, it won't be for hours. If you're busy-"

"I'm not. I want to be here just in case." I assure her.

"Ok," she says, then leaves the room. My eyes go back to my gorgeous sleeping mate.