RETURN || SCOTT MCCALL [1]

||5.12||

"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you." I interject, hackles rising. "I get you love her and all, but are you seriously telling me she left you paralyzed at the bottom of a cliff?!"

Liam flinches. "Yeah, but later at the clinic when I was looking for Scott, she and I made up."

I roll my eyes. "And I'm assuming by made up, you mean made out?"

Liam glowered but didn't respond.

"Okay, but where did she get the gall to actually approach you after leaving you paralyzed at the bottom of a cliff- paralyzed, and helpless against the..." I trail off, looking to him helplessly, and he groans.

"The Beast."

"Right, helpless against the Beast that was chasing you both, and watched you both fall, so it knew where you were, and oh my God, why the hell would you even let her approach you?" I make a face, and Liam sighs. "And this is ignoring the fact that she's basically a zombie and Theo Raeken is he zombie leader, and she told you herself."

Liam looks disheartened. "Indi, I love her."

I crouch in front of him, waiting until he meet my eyes. "I know. Okay? I know. But... Li, I just don't want to see you get hurt." He opens his mouth to argue but I continue before he got the chance. "She's part of Theo's pack- Theo who did terrible things to you, me, and Scott. We're on opposing sides now, Theo's pack versus ours, and Theo manipulates."

Liam's eyes fill at Scott's name. "I don't even know if we're in opposing packs." he whispers.

My head tilts to the side, and I quirk an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Is this about Scott?"

He only nods, not meeting my eyes, and the guilt fills the whole room.

"Oh, Li,

* I think I was too lazy to write the uplifting speech so that's missing. Indi just encourages Liam that Scott has a big heart, and as Scott's only beta and part of his family he'd never kick him out. They just need a heart to heart *

"About what I said that day." he starts in a small voice. "About how I don't need you telling me what to do, and everything."

I nodded, long since forgotten it with everything that's happened lately, what with Scott literally dying, but I knew he needed to get it off his chest.

"I know why you do it. You tell me what to do, and how to behave." he mumbles. "You make all of the decisions because there's no one left in our family to make them except you."

My eyes fill with tears. "Li-"

"It's true. Mom's gone, Dad's gone. Justin is always at work, and it's just you and me." he interrupts calmly, shrugging. "Indi, you're my legal guardian."

"Liam, why are you mentioning this?" I whisper. "Every time before this it was silence. Why now?"

His eyes are watery. "Because I almost lost you too!"

Silence.

My mouth opened to respond, shut, opened again, then shut again. I was speechless.

"Indi, I can't-" His voice chokes off. "I don't want to be alone."

I'm pulling him into my arms, a sympathetic noise escaping me. "You won't. I promise you'll never be alone, Li."

His breath hitches, voice muffled from where it's pressed against my shoulder. "How do you know?"

I laugh a bit. "Li, your alpha just came back from the dead. Don't you think if worse comes to worse, I'll come back too?"

He shakes his head. "I don't mean like that, Indi."

I'm quiet for a moment.

"I mean what if we fight again? What if it's bad, and then-" his voice chokes off. "What if my stupid anger gets the best of me again, and then-"

"No." I pull him back to face me. "It won't. We're family, Li. Unconditional forgiveness."

"What if one day it's bad and I lose you?" he sobs. "Like I lost Scott?"

I think my heart is physically breaking. "Oh, Liam, no. Listen to me. You will never ever lose me, okay? Never."

"Even if-"

"Never."

"But what if-"

"Never."

"But-"

I grip his shoulders, shaking my head. "Never, Liam."

His eyes scan me for a minute, as if making sure I'm serious, before all but falling forward, wrapping me in a hug, and I hug back.

"Never."

After a few minutes, Liam speaks. "So you and Scott actually did the nasty?"

"Get out of my room."