Chapter 25

It was warm. 

There was a heavy weight behind him and on his waist. There's a hot breath against his neck and it's just so warm. It feels safe. And Cobie just wanted to move closer. So he does. He smiles sleepily, his eyes still closed. He closer and let his hand rub lightly on the arm around his waist. 

"Baby, are you awake?"

Cobie's eyes shoot open at that and he quickly turns around. He stared at Erik with wide eyes and moved even closer. He raised his hands and cups Erik's cheek, his thumb stroking as if to make sure the man beside him was real. 

"Morning." Cobie whispers.

"Morning, Precious." Erik replies, leaning forward a bit to place a kiss on Cobie's cheek.

"Are you alright? No aches or pain anywhere? Is it over?" Cobie asked, his eyes trailing Erik's clothed body to check for signs of bruises or tell-tale signs. 

"I'm alright, love. I'm fine. And yes, it's over, thank goddess. You on the other hand smell like my favourite things. I love your new scent." Erik says, his nose in the air as he sniffed.

Cobie's cheek flush a bright red and he couldn't help but smile. "Can you give me a couple of minutes? I want to freshen up." 

"Sure, I'll get you a cup of tea." 

"Thank you." Cobie says. He gets up from the bed at the same time as Erik does. The Alpha gives him a little wave before walking out of the room. Cobie made his way to the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush. As Cobie brushed, he thought about what happened a few minutes ago. Erik looked better, he looked great, he wasn't all growly and rut-ty. Is rut-ty even a word? Cobie chuckled to himself as he repeated the word in his head.  Rut-ty. 

He rinsed and splashed water on his face a couple of times before drying it off with a towel. He was going to talk to Erik today. He was going to tell his mate enough about it, if not all. He's just going to talk until he couldn't anymore. 

Cobie made his way out of the bathroom and crawled up the bed again. He grabbed his phone and pressed the home button and pouts when he sees no messages. He sighs and throws the phone back onto the bed. He wonders how the wolves were doing this morning. Erik walks in with a large tray. He places it on the bed and Cobie lets out a loud groan. It smelt so good. 

"Thank you." Cobie says as he stared at the stacks of pancakes with chocolate syrup and sliced strawberries. 

"Anything for you." Erik says, reaching up to scratch at his neck lightly. There's a light dusting of pink on his cheeks and Cobie is endeared. "I want to apologise for what happened this past weekend." Erik says just as Cobie takes a bite of his pancakes.

"It's okay."

"It really wasn't. I could feel your distress." Erik says, absentmindedly rubbing at his chest. Cobie watched his mate's hand as he did that and wondered what Erik had really felt. "I just couldn't stop myself. You smelt so good and... I'm sorry. You deserve better."

Cobie dropped his fork onto the plate and reached for Erik's hand. He intertwines their hand and squeezed it a little. 

"Yes, I was a little scared and confused, I just wanted to talk to you before we do anything, before we take one final step that seals the deal."  Cobie says. 

"I just couldn't control it." Erik confesses as he moved closer to Cobie. 

"I think there are some things you need to know." Cobie says as he slides the tray away. Erik takes the initiatives and lift the tray, he places it on the ground and pulls Cobie closer to him. .Cobie bites his lip as he stared at Erik. He has a lot of things to say but he doesn't know how to start or where to start.

"You don't have to tell me now."

Cobie takes a couple of deep breaths before speaking. "When you were... unavailable, I had a talk with Michel. I said a couple of things and I promised a couple of things. But when I walked into the room and you came right at me, your hands everywhere and your lips insisting, I just couldn't do it because it felt like I had been lying to you. And the truth is, I think I might have been. Not lying, just omitting the truth." 

"Baby..."

Warmth pols deep in Cobie at the term of endearment. He hasn't been called that before and it was making him feel all tingly, his skin buzzing with this foreign energy and he knows that his eyes were a deep pink.

"Look at me, Precious." Erik says, his fingers finding nudging Cobie head so he could look him in the eye.  Cobie gulps when he looks right at Erik, the Alpha was looking right at him, his eyes tinted a little red. 

"If it's making you uncomfortable, you can just tell me any other time."

"I can't push it off any longer. They are almost here and I want you to know a couple of things before they get here." Cobie says, his voice low and soft. 

"Who's getting here?" Erik asks, concern laced in his voice. 

"People who are important to me. People I want you to meet too." Cobie says. He lifts a hand and takes the hand Erik has on his cheeks, he intertwines their finger and took a calming breath before speaking. 

"My mum was this really beautiful woman. She ... um.... had dark hair that was styled into a bob and she had these gorgeous blue eyes. My favourite things, the things I loved the most about her was her laugh and her warmth. She was always by our side, never leaving." Cobie starts. "She never actually said how she met my dad, any time we'd ask, she'd just shake her head and get this fearful look in her eyes. I never really understood it. " Cobie sniffs, his eyes stinging with oncoming tears. 

"Come here, baby." Erik said. He pulls Cobie backwards a little until they were leaning against the headboard, Cobie's head on his shoulder.  

"My eyes first changed when I was six. I was mad at my ... brother-"

Erik's eyes widened at that, the shock could not be concealed. Cobie peeked up at him and almost giggled at how wide Erik's eyes were. 

"My eyes flashed red and I remember everyone being excited. We lived in this tiny town in Austria, everyone knew each other and we were close. So when news spread about my eyes flashing red, they thought I had presented as an Alpha. I was so happy! Even though mum never spoke about our dad, she did tell us that he was a wolf. I thought he would be so proud me me, you know? My mum was really happy, she made me my favourite food and read me my favourite bed time story. My eyes changed colour a few days after that, they turned orange during lunch break when I was at school, the kids kept pointing at me, they kept moving away from me like I was this..." 

"Shh, darling. It's alright." Erik says, his hand softly stroking Cobie's arm.

"I was just a kid you know and all of a sudden I was all alone. The only people I had left were my mum and brother. We didn't move, I used to beg her to let us move, to leave the small town and go to the big city like we used to see on tv. But she didn't, she said, we would be safer here." Cobie says with a sigh. "I never understood that, we both never did. He came like a thief in the night. The streets were quiet and the deaths were silent. No one screamed, I didn't hear anything. I heard movement within the house and my first thought was to grab my brother and head straight to mum's room. That was the first time I saw wolves. Our village was mostly filled with humans and draids. So seeing wolves in real life and not on a tv, was quite scary." 

"Were they huge?"

"Astir wolves are bigger than the wolves I've ever met." Cobie huffs out, lightly hitting Erik's chest.

"Do you want to go on? We can stop here." Erik says, leaning a little to place a kiss on Cobie's hair. 

"I'm fine. I can do it." Cobie says, squeezing their locked hands. "Standing in front of my mum was this bald son of a bitch." Cobie spits. "He held onto mum's hair with his blood stained hands and was screaming into her face. Stupid little me, burst into the room, my eyes flashing one colour to the next and the Alpha just smirked. In the blink of an eye, the wolves beside him circled around my brother and I, we could not move, we could only watch as he slit mum's throat with a claw."  Tears slid down Cobie's face as he spoke.

Erik was about to speak but Cobie interrupts him. He was going to power through this.

"The Alpha grabbed me by the neck and made me watch as they tied my brother to a chair. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a girl walked in. She looked a little bit older than me and had pure white hair. She was holding onto gas and a lighter. I remember crying so much I couldn't see. The next time I opened my eyes, there was smoke everywhere and he was still in there. My brother was still in the house, the house that was burning. I remember crying and struggling against the Alpha's hold. I remember screaming, yelling for him to come out but there was nothing I could do." Cobie whispers, his tears still rolling down his cheeks. 

"We can stop here, Precious. You're crying and hurting and I don't want that." Erik says in-between peppering kisses all over Cobie's forehead and hair.

"I just have to say it. Let me say it. I have kept it bottled up for years, I had no one who would listen to me for years and I want you to know. I want you to know every part of me, from my past to what the different colours of my eyes represent."

"I will always be here. To hold you, to kiss you and to listen to you." Erik declared, his words settling in Cobie's head. It helps him to relax, burrowing closer to Erik who had reached up to wipe his tears away.

"The Alpha moved me around a lot. One day I'd be somewhere sunny and the next it'd be cold as hell. "

"You never knew where you were?" 

"Nah. I was always knocked out. We moved from hotel to hotel until he finally settled somewhere. I didn't get the chance to glimpse around because I was blindfolded, my hands were bound and I was thrown into a cage. The one thing I'm sure of is that, the house was huge and it had different rooms for different things. I was kept in a cage..." Cobie shivered and tried to will his mind not to go there. Everything was alright, he was alright now. He was safe. 

"He t-tried to force me to marry him. To stand by him. The Alpha believed he was the one a prophecy was talking about and he thought I was also part of the prophecy too. I refused his advances and got beat up for it. He had a lot of Goblins working for him and they made sure I felt every hit. I don't know how long I stayed there for but I was moved from one cold room to another."

"Oh my god..."

Cobie sighs sadly. "It gets worse."

"How much worse can it get?"

"They tried to gauge out my eyes." 

Erik's breath hitched in his throat, it was so loud that even Cobie could hear it. 

"Whenever they tried to stick a knife in my eyes, it ends up breaking. I was in so much pain. I had no one left and I just wanted to go, I just wanted to die." Cobie said, his lips trembling a bit. 

"No, don't say that."

"Back then, that was all I wanted. It was after I got out that I realised I had been with the Alpha for 8 years." Cobie said. "The only light I got was through the small window in the room. I grew up in that cage, I was never given clothes, what I had on was just rags. The Alpha had this habit of cutting into my skin. Since he couldn't get me eyes and couldn't get me to marry him, he tried to torture me to submission. He cut into my skin and it healed. He did that again and again. I was in so much pain." Cobie raised his hand a little and started at his wrist and arm. Though the cuts have sealed over, he could still see it. The blood was engraved in his brain. 

Erik pulls back a little and turned to face Cobie so he could see his full face. They seat across each other and Erik takes Cobie's hands in his. He raises Cobie's left hand to his lips and peppered kisses starting from his wrist to his elbow. He does it to the other hand to before leaning back to look at Cobie. 

"You are the strongest person I know." Erik says, his voice strong, leaving no room for questioning. "You are brave, you are .... You are just wonderful, Cobie. If you don't know this, if you don't believe this, I will keep telling you this every day for the rest of our lives." 

Cobie's heart skips a beat at Erik's words. Every day for the rest of our lives. That's how long this gorgeous man, this courageous Erik wants to spend with him. Cobie couldn't help but cry at that. Erik coos and pulls him closer. 

"Don't cry."

"I can't help it." Cobie sniffs.

"Do you want to go on?"

"I'll say just a bit more and I'll stop. Is that alright with you?" Cobie asked, burying his nose into Erik's chest. 

"Whatever you want, Precious."   

"I was fourteen when someone else was brought into the room with me. He was older and bleeding out a lot. I called him Pa. He barely had clothes on and ... he just looked torn up, in every sense of the word. We were both tortured for so long."

"How did you get out? What about your gifts as part merman?" Erik asked. 

"Mum didn't get to teach us how to hone and use them. The magic in me remained dormant until I was taught. I don't actually fully recall what happened the day we escaped. The Goblin were having fun with me that day, they pumped me full of drugs and everything became hazy. I remember there being a lot of blood and screams. Every time I blinked, I was in a different place. I tried to reach out for Pa, to make sure he was okay and this voice, this totally new different voice told me everything was going to be alright. I blacked out afterwards." 

The room falls silent for a while. Neither Cobie nor Erik saying a word. Cobie sniffs and tried to stop his lips from trembling. Time goes by, the sun rises higher into the sky and yet Cobie doesn't speak. 

"Are you alright, Precious?" 

"Just trying to calm my mind." Cobie replies truthfully. 

"It's okay. You are okay. You are safe. If anyone tries to get you, they have to go through me and my pack." Erik says wit conviction, his hold on Cobie tightening. 

"Erik, a lot of people could die. He doesn't just have Berzerkers and Goblins at his call. He has a large following consisted of cast-outs." Cobie says, pulling back a little so he could look Erik in the eyes. "I don't know what I'll do if something happens to you." 

"I don't know what I'll do if something happens to you too. Let me protect you, let me fight for you." 

"Only if you let me fight for you too, Erik." 

"Anything for you, Precious." 

"You say that a lot." 

"That's because I mean it, lovely." Erik says with a big smile. He closes the gap between and kissed Cobie softly. He pulls his mate towards him, his hands tightening around Cobie's waist as they kissed. Cobie places a hand on Erik's chest, the other around Erik's neck as they kissed, a warm and fuzzy feeling settling within the both of them, sparks shooting up their veins. It wasn't dirty, it was just soft and full of feelings they couldn't convey with words alone. 

They pull apart a few minutes later and just stared. Erik reached up to brush his knuckles against Cobie's cheeks. 

"Your eyes are gold."

Cobie's eyes widened in fear at that. 

"Now there's specks of black in it." Erik says. "What does it mean?"

It means I'm in love with you, Cobie thinks to himself. He tries to find something to say but he feels like if he opens his mouth, he would blurt out I love you and that was the last thing he wanted to do this morning. He doesn't think he'd be able to lie about this either, he's not sure he could keep his heart steady enough to lie. 

"I'll make you a list." 

"You said that the last time." Erik pouts a little. 

Cobie couldn't help but laugh. He pokes Erik in the cheek, the stubble grazing his finger as he did, Erik knew that Cobie had reached his sharing limit for now and so he tried to take his mind of his past and keep him locked on in the present. He grabs Cobie's finger and nibbled playfully on it.

"What are you, six?"

"More like eight." Erik adds with a wink.

"You dirty minded man." 

"You can't blame me." Erik says with a shrug. "You asked and I told you plus you smell so good."

"That's all thanks to you." 

Erik's smile falls at that.  "I am so sorry for biting you, everything just happened so fast and I couldn't grab on to the reins fast enough."

"It's alright, no damage done." Cobie says, pulling his shirt down so Erik could see the smooth skin. Erik reached out and softly stroked Cobie's skin. 

"It healed. Not even a scar."

"Yeah, I used a little water." Cobie says with a small timid smile. 

Erik wants to ask, wants to know how Cobie learned how to do that but he just couldn't bring himself to, he didn't want to see or hear or even smell Cobie cry anymore. They had a lot time to talk about everything, there was no rush. 

"Can you show me how?" Erik asks instead. 

Cobie stared at him with wide gold eyes.  No one has ever asked him to do that before and he was a bit nervous. He gives Erik a small nod and looks around the room. 

"Can you grab the bottle water?" Cobie asked and Erik doe, grabbing the bottle from the tray of forgotten breakfast. "Okay, when I open my palms, I need you to empty the entre bottle them." Erik just nods. 

Cobie cups his palm and tells Erik to pour the water. Erik pulls off the cap and tips the bottle into Cobie's palm. He held his breath as the water fell and let out a loud gasp when the water hover above Cobie's palm, filling up in a neat circle. Cobie snickers as he watched the look of awe on Erik's face. He drops one of his hands up and let the water hover over one open palm.

"That is amazing." Erik says. "What else can you do?" 

"This." 

Cobie closed his eyes, took a deep breath and threw the ball of water towards the ceiling. As soon at the water touches roof, it bursts. Instead of water droplets, snow flurries falls instead. The tiny white droplets fell all around the room, the temperature of the room falling a bit. 

"This is incredible. You are incredible." Erik says as he shuffled closer to Cobie.

Cobie blushed and shyly scratched at the side of his neck. "It took me a while to learn that." 

Erik cups Cobie's cheeks in his hand and leaned in. "You are wonderful, darling. Beautiful, strong, courageous, smart, brave and a lot of other things. I am so proud of you and how far you've come. You deserve the best and I want to give you that, I will try my hardest to give you that." 

I love you, Cobie's heart sings. 

"Thank you for trusting me with your past, thank you for staying here with me, thank you for giving me a chance." Erik says before pressing a kiss to Cobie's cheek. Cobie wants to tell him that he's more grateful to Erik for providing a safe place, for making him feel normal, for waiting for him, for listening and asking questions, for being the reason he feels more alive that he has ever been. 

"Of course I trust you, you are my Alpha."