Theo could see where this was going. His father, before his brothers and pack mates had blown it to smithereens, had run the facility.
"Andrew never came home?"
"I tracked him for months, visited the facility hundreds of time, but could never find him. Finally, I got word from a source that he had shown up in Texas and he was..." Faith stumbled over her words and a lump formed in his throat. If she burst out crying he would have to kill someone, anyone who was responsible for it.
"He was dying. Dad sends them away from the clinic to die on the streets like unwanted garbage. I know."
Theo finished the sentence for her. That was what happened to the wolves his father and his team of lunatics 'made' in Mexico. For the most part they seemed to choose the mentally ill but sometimes regular people got sucked into it too. After they forced a violent, disgusting transformation on them, the wolves required the administration of a particular drug--a drug that even his brother Azriel who could seemingly do anything--couldn't recreate.
When Kendrick abandoned the poor unfortunate souls, the first thing that happened is they went through terrible withdrawals that left them violent, and the second was they died. The biggest problem was that since the building had burned down in Mexico they had no idea where his father had relocated his misbegotten experiments.
Faith's Andrew had obviously been amongst the unlucky.
"Was he past the violent phase when you found him?"
The woman whose every mood he now absorbed as his own closed her eyes. "No."
Fix this.
He wished he could. It seemed so simple for his wolf. There was a problem with Faith; they needed to make it better. But Theo knew there were some things even those who loved you best in the world couldn't fix for you, ever.
"How much longer did he live?"
"One and a half weeks. It was gruesome."
"Did he shift?"
"Several times. I tried to get doctors but it was like there was this vast conspiracy. He wouldn't do it in front of others. I just kept promising him he'd be okay but he wasn't, not ever again."
Theo wasn't going to make Faith describe the details. He could picture them in his head. Az had brought two wolves to the island after the Mexican facility had burned. Watching his brother had been fascinating for Theo, even in the midst of his own decreasing mental health, and seeing how awful those people fared had been one of the catalysts Theo had used in making his decision to separate his madness from the pack.
"And then you went back to Mexico yourself."
"Broke in, determined I would find proof and instead I found Summer."
"Who you attempted to rescue and in the process had a shift forced on you, but quite differently, and that was how you discovered you were one of us."
She nodded. He'd heard the story when the pack had returned to the island. Although he'd been so caught up in his own stuff at the time he hadn't given much thought to the woman they'd found and promptly left at the Mexican border with promises she would come to Westervelt when she was ready.
It had never occurred to him that she could be his mate, which brought him back to what he still didn't understand.
"Faith, in none of this are you culpable, none of this makes you 'unworthy' of me. By the way, that was just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say."
"I never listened to him. He called me from Mexico before he approached IPAG to tell me he thought something was very wrong. He was afraid. Lately, he'd been lazy in his work, trying to get out of things. Andrew was susceptible to a lot of temptations. I don't think he ever learned how to turn something that was bad for him down. If I wasn't there to tell him something was a bad idea, he seemed to forget it was. When we were growing up he would go through these times where he would do a lot of drugs. I could always tell which one he was doing based on how he behaved. If he was hyper and super on top of things, then he was most likely on speed. If he got lethargic and hungry, then he was doing a lot of marijuana. He was trying to get out of work a lot back then, so I thought he was smoking pot again. I went off on him, berated him. If I hadn't done that..."
Theo shook his head. "Not your fault. You had no way of knowing."
"Wouldn't you think that a woman who spent a large portion of her childhood insisting the impossible was possible wouldn't be so fast to dismiss out of hand her oldest friend's fears?"
"It's like deciding to turn left instead of right on a walk somewhere and boom you're struck by a car. Split second decisions we can't take back, they shape and define our life. Who we are, will be, and what happens to us is all a series of decisions. If Andrew was really afraid, he was an adult who lived in the world, he could have decided not to go in."
He watched as her eyes moved back and forth in her sockets, as if she thought deeply about what he'd said. "I feel responsible for it and I swore revenge but I'm stagnated on that too."
"We will get Kendrick--the whole pack will--and together we'll avenge Andrew."
He was certain about it. Not certain yet that she fully believed him when he said it wasn't her trial to bear alone, he was shocked when she reached up and pulled his mouth down on hers.
After a moment, she released him. "Theo, please, I want to be your mate in all ways possible. I don't want to live without you another day. Let's do it, let's connect like that."
Want my mate.
Theo agreed. He wanted her too and just the thought of it made his groin go hard. Reaching out, he grazed the side of her face with his thumb wishing he could memorize her profile.
"You know Faith, the time we have spent together, both in the past and in the woods, I have to tell you, if none of this mattered--if we didn't have destined mates chosen for us by the universe--I would still pick you."
Her eyes got wide and a glorious smile crossed her face. He continued. "If we were just two people who met somewhere and had the choice of anyone in the world to date, I would desperately hope that you would date me."
"Oh Theo." Faith threw her arms around his neck. "I feel the same way."
In his mind, Theo knew this was a pivotal moment for the two of them. Whatever happened next, and besides the sex for which he would admit he was looking forward to, the binding aspect of the mating experience was unknown to him, he could feel in his pores that although it would be important this very second spent between the two of them was as crucial as anything to come.
Staring at her, he just had no choice. He needed her as he required the air around him to breathe. Guiding her lips to his, he kissed her hard--a kiss of utter possession. Realizing she was on tiptoes, he somehow walked them both to the bed and was happy when he didn't trip while doing so.
"I love you." The words needed to be said and he meant them from the depths of his soul. Truth was, he'd been in love with her since she'd pulled him out of the water in the woods and falling even more so every second since. The woman tried to shield him from his brothers and had saved his life in the worst moment of his existence without hesitation. Faith was his and he would worship her, as flawed as he was, for the rest of his existence.
She ran her hand over his eyebrow. "I love you too."
He didn't know why he deserved that but he would take it.
Faith's scent overwhelmed him and he growled, his wolf smiling inside of him. She pushed at his chest and he felt the wolf fill his eyes, relieved when hers did the same.
"My wolf is rather fond of yours. She's practically dancing."
Like that image.
He did too. Suddenly, they both had on too much clothing. Not caring if her pajamas were the most valuable item she owned, he tugged at them until in frustration he finally ripped them from her body. She yelped, a smile present in her wolf eyes.