Broken Mate (MM) (COMPLETE)

Chapter Eleven

Knox Briggs

The date went fairly well, I think. I'm not too sure what Xan is feeling, but we just pulled into his neighborhood. He laced our fingers as soon as I started driving, and they are resting in his lap. Xan is really small, especially for a wolf. But his hands are still dainty in mine, and I kind of like it. They're not small like girls usually are, but they're smaller than mine.

"Did you have a good time?" I ask, and he has a cheesy, shy smile on his lips.

I didn't pull into the driveway of his house.

"So i uh, do you want to go in and watch something? Or do you want some space?"

"I'd like to cuddle, and maybe watch another movie. But if you need space, I could go to bed. I'm always able to sleep" he forces a smile, and i squeeze his hand.

"Cuddling and another movie sounds good. Do you want to watch it in your room?"

"Maybe downstairs?"

"Okay, i want to change though"

"Me too" he sighs, slowly letting go of my hand. We get out, and on the way to the house he laces our fingers back together. Is my little angel clingy?

I follow behind him, our hands still linked as we walk inside. Peyton and Zeke are watching a movie, they pause it and smile. "Hey boys, how was it?"

"Good" Xan's checks tint, "We were going to change and see about watching a movie"

"This one just started, we can restart it," Peyton says, and Xan looks at me. I give him a nod, and he beams at his parents.

"Sounds good, let us change first!" he heads to the stairs, keeping me anchored to him. He lets go once we're in his room, and i kind of miss the feeling of him being so close. I remind myself it's only for a few seconds, while we change and once we're downstairs I can have him cuddled up to me.

I changed into some sweats, and a loose t-shirt. Xan is already changed by the time I'm done, and he's fiddling with his sleeves. I can feel the tension radiating off him. "What?"

"Uh" he doesnt look up at me, just fiddles with his fingers. "Do my scars bother you?" he blurts out, making my brows furrow.

"No, of course not. Why would you think that?" i step closer to him, until i'm in his space,

Then I'm tilting his head up to look at me. "They don't bother me, angel"

"I hate them" he murmurs, his eyes glossing over. "They look disgusting"

"Don't say that. I'm sorry you feel that way, but they don't look disgusting. They show your battles, the ones no one knows anything about" i run my thumb under his eye, catching a stray tear.

"Thank you" he murmurs, stepping away he pulls off his hoodie. "Do they embarrass you?" he asks after a moment of silence.

"Absolutely not"

"Okay"

That's all he says, before he laces our fingers together and he's pulling me downstairs. We sit on the small loveseat, and xan wastes no time cuddling up to me. The one side is like a recliner, so we put that up and relax our legs on it. Xan's head is on my chest, and my arm wraps around him, resting on his hip.

"Ready?" Zeke asks.

"Yeah" Xan murmurs, and Zeke presses play.

We spent the rest of the night watching a movie with his parents. Xan clings to me, and I wonder what changed during dinner for him to be so comfortable with being touchy. A part of me is confused, but a much bigger part of me surges with pride.

—-

"So there are some cases, where the mate who is suffering attaches themself to their mate. They become co-dependent. And separating isn't in the best interest. At least not right away. They said they did it slowly. Like the co-dependent mate staying in one building, and the other mate goes outside for a minute, or a few depending on how long they can handle it."

Noah, the Alpha of this pack and Bransons mate, fills us in on what they learned.

"After doing that for so long, if there's progress, then doing it longer and longer. But they recommend staying close, and taking your time. Exposure is your best friend right now. We're going to assume, you became codependent on Knox during your-"

"Break down" Xan cuts in, and Noah gives him a forced smile.

"Right. Which is normal, and a lot more common in our generation, since we keep logs of these things. But don't beat yourself up over it, the pack we talked to that is a lot bigger than ours, told us about a lot of cases they had. We probably have more within our own pack, but people are too scared to come forward. So I'm just happy we can help you, Xan" Noah says, his voice isn't gentle with him, it's normal like Branson.

I wonder if Noah treats him like Branson does.

"Thanks Noah" my mate says, giving a small smile.

"Of course, I'll let you guys know if there's anything else that gets passed down. We're going to hold a meeting with the therapists to tell them this information to hopefully help more people.

"That's awesome" Xan murmurs, before standing up.

"It was nice seeing you guys again. Come for dinner soon, okay?"

"It was nice seeing ya" I say, before shaking Noah's hand.

"Yeah, later this week we will," Xan adds, before slipping his hand into mine. He laces our fingers, and tugs me along with him as we leave Noah's office in the pack house. Xan talked his parents out of going, saying he wanted to be an adult, and handle these things on his own. He said he will pass on the information, but he wanted to handle it just for us.

So they let him, and now we're walking back to his house to pass on the news. Which we do as soon as we see them, and Zeke reassures my mate that it's okay to be codependent, he just has to work on moving out of it.

That he shouldn't stay there forever. Xan nods along, but seems like he's starting to check out.

"I think we should talk more about this later, yeah?" I say, making all the heads snap to me.Zeke glances at his son, and must notice what I do.

"Yeah, why don't you guys go take a nap or something? I'll be starting dinner in an hour or so" he adds, and X and nods.

"Okay, wake me up when it's time?" he asks, and Zeke nods, kissing his son's head.

"Course."

We go upstairs, and Xan climbs right in bed. I don't plan to nap, but cuddling sounds nice. So I snuggle with him, and listen to his breathing even out. And I think about everything. Because I don't know what to do with this new information, but I'm just happy we know something.

But I want to do more, for the people who need help like Xan. I want to be able to help them, and give them a safe space. That's my last thought before darkness takes over. 

A/N

Xan being clingy is adorable. I love him so much he's so precious to me. I love how Knox views him too. It's just so sweet and I love it. 

Early access on my patreon! I will also be starting Ethan's story soon on there. Is it something you guys want on here too??