Chapter 26

Cobie, Erik. Aetos, Randall, Michel and Gabriel were all seated in Erik's office. Erik was seated behind his desk, Michel in the seat across him while Cobie and Randall were seated on the couch, Gabriel perched on the table facing the two of them. 

"So you're a fish?"

"He's not a fish, Gabby." Aetos replies as he leans against the wall and faced the room at large. 

"Don't call me that."

"Don't call him that." Gabriel and Michel chorus at the same time. 

Cobie tilts his head to the side as he stared at the two of them, his brow raised in amusement. He bites his bottom lip to keep back his laughter. Gabriel's cheeks have a pink tint on while Michel on the other hand was staring at the ground, the tips of his ears burning red.  They were adorable. 

Cobie looks away from them, his eyes finding their way to Erik. According to what Gabriel had told him, Erik was the reason or was part of the reason why Michel and Gabriel couldn't be together. As he stared at Erik who was already looking right at him, he wondered why. 

Michel seemed like a good guy and Gabriel was smitten with him. So why? 

"If you're not a fish then what are you?" Gabriel asked.

Cobie doesn't look away from Erik who winked at him. "I'm half Merman, half Wolf." 

Everyone besides Erik stared at him with wide eyes, his answer seemed to have shocked Aetos the most because the man stood up straight and his mouth was slightly open again. No one says anything and not quite sure where to look, Cobie goes back to staring at Erik who stared right back. 

"That's ... wow." 

"Hmm." Cobie hummed. He didn't really need their opinion on this, the only person whose opinion really counted was Erik. Truthfully Cobie didn't want to tell them but he had gone through it mentally and decides it was just the best thing to do. It'd be one less burden or secret for Erik to carry. 

"Do you have a tail? Are you one of those halfies who turn full Mer when they touch water?" Randall asked.

"I'm not. I can do other things but I don't ...um.... Have a tail and such." Cobie replied, his cheeks heating up. The questions were getting a bit much and he wasn't sure he could answer anymore. Erik notices the way Cobie was nervously shifting and decides this conversation was over. 

"Alright! No more questions. If you have anything to say or to ask, shove it into a box and push it to the back of your mind. Leave my mate alone." Erik snaps.

"I actually wanted to tell you all that I am leaving today. I have a couple of things to sort out with my clan." Aetos says, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. "If you need me, I'm just a call away." 

"Have a safe trip." Erik replies, standing up from his chair. He makes his way around it and pulls Aetos in for a tight but brief hug. Cobie watched the two men and wow... he's going to save this image in his head for a while. 

"I have pack training to get to otherwise I would have driven you to the border myself. So I'll send some of our best with you." Michel says, standing up to give Aetos a hand shake. Though the Vampire had come with bad news about a pack member, he was going to leave on a lighter, happier mood. 

"It's alright. Ii can go myself."

"I can take you. I need to get a couple of things from my house too." Cobie offered, sinking into the couch a little as all eyes turn towards him. "I've got a car, you all know this. Why are you looking at me like I just sprouted another head?" 

Erik had the decency to laugh. "Fine but if you are not back in an hour, I will come looking and you won't like what I would do." Erik says and Cobie couldn't help but shiver at his Alpha's words. There was a spark in Erik's eyes that mean something entirely different and Cobie was a little excited. However, the last thing he needed was to get a hard one, even a semi because these wolves would smell it and he doesn't know if he would be able to deal with it. 

"Okay." Cobie stands up as he replies. "Watch out for Jesse will you?"

"He's getting better."

"I know but just... do it." Cobie adds. "And make sure Erik doesn't snap someone in two." Cobie was tempted to roll his eyes as he spoke. No matter how many times Cobie tries to calm Erik, he still tended to go into beast mode as they have now taken to call it, he gets angry at people faster than the speed of sound. 

"Will do." Michel snickers, earning a sharp glare from Erik. 

It takes a couple of minutes for Aetos to bid everyone goodbye before he and Cobie made their way out of the study. Apparently, Aetos has been staying with the Elders and that was the first stop. They silently walked side by side until they got to the large garage. Cobie points at his car.

"Thank you for offering to take me." Aetos says when Cobie gets into the car. 

"It's not a problem." Cobie replied as he pressed the start button. 

"I won't be long when we get to the Elders Estate. My bags are already packed." 

"You can take your time. We have an hour." Cobie says with a chuckle as he remembered Erik's words. 

"You and Erik are fascinating, did you know that?" Aetos asks. "You just seem to... click, if that's even the right word to explain it. I'm a bit envious." 

Cobie briefly looks at Aetos who was staring out the window. Not knowing what to say, Cobie just tries to formulate the right things to say. "It's about finding the right one. That one person." Cobie finds himself saying and it's true. It's about finding that one person will treat you well, who will listen to what you have to say, who will support you, who will love you, who will want to spend their time with you and many, many more. 

"Thank you for saying that. I kind of needed to hear that." 

"Is something wrong?" Cobie asks. He needs up regretting it less than a second later. What if he doesn't give the right advice or doesn't know what words to use for comfort.  For fuck sake, he should have just kept quiet and let the drive be filled with awkward silence. 

"Nothing's wrong. " 

"Okay."

Thankfully, Aetos doesn't say much anymore. He just guides Cobie until they get to the estate. Aetos tells Cobie to wait right outside the gate while he goes to get his stuff. Aetos gets down from the car and made his way to the gates. They part a little for him to walk in and in the blink of an eyes, he was gone. 

Sometimes, Cobie forgets Aetos was a vampire. He has gotten so used to seeing him walk around in the sunlight to just forget that last part. In his life, Cobie has never met a vampire like Aetos, nor has he ever heard of a vampire like Aetos.  Any way, it wasn't like he was going around looking for different creatures while he was on the run. He just wanted to hide and keep his head out of the water for a bit.

Aetos appeared just as fast as he had disappeared, this time he was holding a duffel bag. He gets into the car and places the bag on the back seat. 

"Are you ready?" Cobie asks.

"Yeah, thank you for waiting." 

Cobie pulls away from the driveway. He flicks on his radio and SYML's Ghost comes flitting through the speakers. Cobie wants to ask Aetos how he could walk under the sunlight without getting burnt. He wants to ask Aetos how he became friends with Erik. 

"I think you will make a great Luna." 

This startles Cobie, so much so that he almost swerves off the road. 

"You actually act like it. The Elders told me about your help with the Berserkers, some of the pack members talk about you helping them with their training and with the cooking and such. You and Erik balance each other out and it's quite refreshing to watch." 

This was the second time someone was telling him something like this. He wasn't sure what to say in that moment, so he just grips onto the steering wheel tightly. 

"You know, I've lived long enough to not understand couple of things about the world." 

"Like what?" Cobie finds himself asking.

"Like the prophecy for example. Why did she end up cursing her children and then create a way to undo it?" Aetos asks. "If the curse is lifted, give or take a couple of years and then whatever it is she cursed the wolves for would start up again." 

"According to what the Elders told me and what I read online, I kinda understand why she did that. She wanted to teach them a lesson. Something close to you don't know what you have until you lose it. And maybe something close to I am your maker, I can give and I can take away.." Cobie says, it kind of make sense to him. 

"That actually makes sense. If she hadn't done that, she'd have watched her children, her creation kill themselves." Aetos adds and Cobie nods. "According to the prophecy, you and Erik have to mate before the curse is lifted, did you know that?" 

"Yeah. But the thing is once I mate with Erik that's the end. He won't get the chance to be with anyone else besides me. What if he doesn't like the other sides of me? It's been freaking me out a lot because there are a couple of things he doesn't know yet." Cobie's eyes widened a little as soon as the words leave his mouth.

"Why don't you tell him then?"

"It doesn't work like that." 

"Then trust me when I say that my friend is as gone for you as you are for him." Aetos says. "It's only a matter of time before he tells you he has fallen for you."

Cobie's breath hitched in his throat and he bites his bottom lip. Was it that obvious? For fuck sakes, his eyes reflect his mood and feelings, so yeah, maybe a few people would have picked up on it but none of them knew what each colour represent so, maybe they don't actually know. 

Cobie doesn't say a word. He drives Aetos towards the border and parks immediately he gets there. 

"Thank you for the ride." 

"You're welcome." Cobie says, tipping his invisible hat. This earns a smile of Aetos who just laughs before grabbing his duffel. Cobie watches for a couple of minutes as Aetos began to walk down the road. He wonders if there was a car waiting for the vampire half way through. When the man was out of sight, Cobie restarts the engine and headed towards the direction of his house. It's been a while since he was here. When he pushed open the door, he looks around and noticed the thin layer of dust on the table, he checks his office and his equipment before going upstairs. 

Everything was exactly how he had left it. The scattered bed, the opened pack of Cheerios, the milk-spoilt- milk in the fridge, his clothes in his closet, the small duffel bag containing three hand guns hidden at the back of said closet. 

He never knew he was going to leave all this behind. He thought this was where he was going to hide out before leaving in a couple of years and now, here he is weeks later, intending to stay. Here he is a week later, already calling Astir home. 

He checks if his speaker was charged and did a little victory danced when he saw it was. He connects his phone to it and Happier by Bastille featuring Marshmallow comes on. He grabs his vacuum and starts cleaning up his home. It takes him a couple of minutes and when he was done, he grabs a dry cloth and wiped the tables and counter clean, when he was done with that, he changed his sheet and threw the old ones into his laundry basket.  He dressed his bed neatly, fluffed his pillow and folds his duvet back into the closet. He pulled out the bag containing the hand guns and placed it on the bed, he pulls out the magazine of each gun to check if it the clip was loaded. They were still loaded, so he shoves it back into the bag and takes said bag to the couch. Just as he was about to walk away, a soft sound catches his attention, it was coming from his balcony. Shit, why did he open it! 

He quickly grabs the gun and aims it right at the balcony. He takes a couple of quiet steps towards it and holds his breath. His aims, his finger resting on the trigger just as someone jumps onto his balcony. The feeling of Déjà vu was so strong, especially when he sees Erik smirking at him.

"I almost killed you." 

"You wouldn't." Erik says as he walked into the house.

"Was there something wrong with the door?" Cobie asks as he drops his hand. He was so tempted to roll his hard so hard. 

"I don't know what you laced it with, it burns to touch it." Erik replies as he looks around the room. "What did you put on it?" 

"Just a little wolfsbane and silver." Cobie replied as made his way back to the bag. He shoves the gun back into it and zips it up.

"Ouch." Erik whistles. "How many guns do you actually have?" 

"I'm not really sure. I do know it's more than twelve though. I just buy when I really need it." Cobie replied. Erik hums but doesn't say anything else. He just walk around the house, taking in the space.  It takes him a couple of minutes to declare.

"I never had the chance to look around the last time I was here. I like this place." 

"Yeah, you were too busy thinking I kidnapped Blue." Cobie says as he made his way towards the fridge. However, before he could get there he was lifted off the ground and thrown over Erik's shoulder. Cobie couldn't help but laugh, his legs kicking a little. 

"Let me down."

"Nope. I told you to back in an hour and you didn't, so this is your punishment." 

Cobie let out a loud yelp as he was thrown onto the bed. He couldn't help the smile on his face and he could feel the heat on his cheeks and tip of his ears. He pulled his legs apart as he shyly looked at Erik. The Alpha crawled towards Cobie and pressed his nose against Cobie's neck, breathing in his scent. 

Cobie wraps his legs around Erik without hesitation and just bared his neck a little. He shivers when Erik began to place small kisses around his neck, his hands finding their way to Cobie's ass. 

"Erik..." Cobie moans, the sound coming out loud. He could feel himself getting hard as Erik lips kept brushing his skin over and over again. Everywhere felt warm, everywhere was tingling and all Cobie wants is more. His hands claw at Erik's shirt, whining a little as he tugged. 

Erik pulls back until he was on his knee and tugged his shirt off.  Cobie's eyes trail over the skin, the muscles, the abs and goddess, he doesn't believe this man was actually his. 

"Come here, baby." Erik says, his voice deep and eyes dark. Cobie finds himself kneeling in front of Erik as the Alpha practically rips his shirt in two. Cobie's heart was going a mile a minute, he lets out a sigh when Erik cups his cheeks in his hand. 

"Your eyes have been gold for days, love. Even now, they're still gold." Erik says, his voice soft and his fingers slowly stroking Cobie's cheeks.  He leans down and pressed a kiss to Cobie's nose, then another to his cheeks and then Cobie's forehead. 

"Erik..." Cobie says, the words I love you sitting on the tip of his tongue. He's so close to saying it, so darn close but he stops himself before he could by leaning up to press his lips against Erik's. Erik's hands fall from Cobie's face to his waist ad he pulls the vet closer as his tongue works its way into Cobie's mouth, licking, tasting and just claiming. 

The touch of their skin intensified everything and it gave Cobie the courage and strength to push Erik until the Alpha was lying on the bed. He winks at Erik who just stared at him in wonder. Cobie takes his time, trailing kisses along Erik's body. The Alpha let out a loud gasp when Cobie wrapped his mouth around a nipple.  Erik pushed his fingers through Cobie's hair as he continued to pressed kisses down his chest. Cobie fumbles with Erik's belt for a bit before it snaps open. He dragged the man's pants and boxers down at once. He stares in awe at Erik's cock. It was thick, hard and curved. Cobie doesn't hesitate to wrap his lips around the head, his tongue playing with slit. 

Erik's grip in Cobie's hair tightened as Cobie swallows him down whilst he wrapped his hands on the bit he couldn't reach. Cobie hollows out his cheeks and sucks hard, bobbing his head as he does. His tongue drags up the underside of Erik's cock as he bobbed his head. Erik's groans and moans pushed Cobie on as he sucked his Alpha's dick like it was the one thing he wanted to do in the world. He pulls off with a loud obscene pop that sent a shiver down Erik's back.

"Fuck, baby, your mouth." 

Yeah, Cobie knows how good his mouth was. This wasn't his first time giving head. He had spent enough time in clubs while trying to sate his thirst.  He maintains eye contact with Erik as he swallows him back down, everything wet and so... so good. He pulls off Erik with another pop. The Alpha growl and in the blink of an eye, Cobie was on his back and his jeans along with his underwear were on the other side of the room. 

"My turn." Erik growled as he wrapped his big hand around Cobie's cock. "But this time I want to see you come untouched." Erik flips Cobie onto his stomach and pulls up his hip until Cobie was bare and open in front of him, his hole winking at Erik as if daring him to beckon closer. Cobie let out a whine and clutched the bed sheets in his hand.

Erik peppered kisses on Cobie's cheeks before pushing them apart. The first brush of Erik's tongue against his hole made Cobie moan so loud. The sweet musical sound urged Erik on. He took his time as he explored with his tongue. His hands finds Cobie's nipple and plays with them as he rimmed the vet to within an inch of his life. Spit dribble down Cobie's mouth as he rests his head against the bed. He unconsciously pushed his ass back into Erik's face. He repeats a mantra of fuck yes, there, right there!

"I want to come, Erik. I want to come daddy." Cobie cried as he pushes back against Erik. The Alpha goes still at Cobie's words, with a growl he climb on top of Cobie and pushed three finger into Cobie's mouth. He watched with dark eyes as Cobie wrapped his tongue around each digit.

He pulls them out of Cobie's mouth and circled the vet's rim with one finger. 

"Do you want my finger, Precious? Do you want me fucking you open until you come?" Erik asked, his finger teasing. "Tell me what you want, darling." Erik commands. 

"You. I want your fingers. I want to come with you."

Erik pushed a finger in, slowly pushing it and pulling out. He closed the gap between his and Cobie's lips. Every movement, ever touch, every thrust felt intensified. Cobie's eyes were closed and he was about to burst. He tugs at Erik's bottom lip with his teeth and begged for another finger. One turns to two and then three. Erik has never seen or felt anyone as beautiful and as soft as Cobie. The man's face was tucked into Erik's neck, his hot breath brushing Erik's skin. It takes one final kiss from Cobie for Erik to explode all over his mate's stomach. He picked up the pace with his fingers until he felt Cobie clench tightly against him, until he feels Cobie sink his teeth into his shoulder as he comes.   

Erik falls onto his side, his chest rising and falling in time and pace as Cobie's. It takes him a bit to gather his breath, he turns to his side and brushed Cobie's hair out of his face. his mate's eyes were already closed and his heart beat was returning to normal.

"Are you okay, Precious?" Erik whispers.

"Hmm." Cobie hums. 

"Go to sleep darling. I'll be here when you wake up." Erik whispers before pressing one last kiss to Cobie's forehead.