Chapter 28

Cobie's breath hitches in his throat as he stared at the man in front of him. He tries to move, he wants to run but everything in his mind and body is telling him to scream at Colson to run away. After many years, after many phone-calls and texts, he was finally here and at the wrong time. 

Mel's laugh cut through the heavy silence, snapping everyone back into place. 

"My, my, my. This is great. I've got not one but two Deckard brothers. My Alpha is going to be so proud." 

Erik was this close to rolling his eyes, so instead he stalks forward, his fingers flexing as he moved, lightly flicking his tongue over his fangs. 

"Coming here was a bad decision." Erik growled, his footstep sure and confident. He could hear his pack members move along with him, Cobie's heartbeat filling his ears. Mel's head was still raised up, her nose in the air. Everything she knew about Astir was wrong and Erik was going to give her a little glimpse of what is hidden in his city. 

Mel snorts, "What can you do? Tickle me to d-" She trails off when her eyes falls on his fangs and claws. She was so caught off guard, she takes a step backwards.   "What is -"

Erik gives her a manic grins and lunged. Mel tries to dodge but fails. Erik wraps his hand around her throat, his claws meeting in the middle and digging into the skin of her flesh, blood dripping out of the wounds. The wolf beside her was now surrounded by Michel and Genevieve while Cobie was still staring at Colson, his eyes teary. 

"Here's what I'm going to do. We'll check if you've got any tracking device in you and lock you up until my mate decides what to do with you." Erik snaps, his grip tightening.  He watched as Mel's eyes roll to the back of her head and kept squeezing until she was limp in his arms, heartbeat still and neck still bleeding. Erik flings her body to the ground like she was nothing and rushed towards Cobie who was still standing. 

Erik looked across the field and found Colson was still standing there too, like he couldn't move either. Not knowing what to do, Erik wraps his arms around Cobie's shoulder and began to whisper. 

"Baby, I put her down. You are fine, he's fine. Why don't you go and make sure, alright?" Erik whispers, softly stroking Cobie's arms. He feels and hears Cobie take a deep breath. He feels pride bloom in his chest as Cobie takes a step forward. 

After he takes the first step, Cobie broke into a run. He runs as fast as he could towards Colson who was now smiling really wide. Cobie tackled Colson to the ground, his legs around the other man's body. Colson holds Cobie tight, his tears finally rolling down his face, Cobie takes a deep breath, breathing in Colson's familiar apple scent. Everything felt so much, it felt too good to true.  He squeezed Colson tight, making sure he was dreaming and was actually holding onto his brother. He pushed his nose into Colson's hair as he too cried. 

He doesn't know how long they stay there like that, all he knows it they kept saying I missed you, I missed so much, I can't believe you are here. When they finally pull apart, their faces were red, tear tracks on their face and Cobie's eyes were bright gold with small speck of pink in them. 

"Your eyes..." Colson whispers as he stared at Cobie with big eyes. 

"Yeah. I don't have to hide them here, little brother." Cobie replies, his voice soft and a little croaky. 

Colson doesn't say anything, he just nods and pulls Cobie in for another hug, this one shorter than the last. 

"Where's Pa?" Cobie asked when they pull back again. 

"Oh shit." Colson curses, he stands up, pulling Cobie with him and together they run towards the forest. At that very moment, everything felt exciting, at the moment, Cobie was deliriously happy. Colson cut through the woods like someone who had been there before and soon they were on the road. There was a brown Toyota Camry parked a little up front and leaning against it with a bucket hat on his head was none other than Pa himself. 

Cobie doesn't stand, he runs straight at the older man, screaming at the top of his lungs. Pa turns when he hears his name, his eyes widened and he smiles brightly when he sees Cobie and Colson. He spreads his arms out, ready for Cobie to jump into them. Cobie wraps his arms around Pa's waist and pressed his face into Pa's chest, tears rolling down his cheeks again. 

"My boy! Look how big you are." Pa cries. "Wait, let me see your face. Let me take a good look at you." Pa pulls back and cupped Cobie's cheeks. Pa has definitely aged and it showed. His hair was grey and styled with a side paten, his grey eyes were still bright and crow's feet by the side of his face. 

Erik stays where he is slightly hidden by a tree. He watched as Cobie hugged the much older man. He had run after Cobie when his mate disappeared into the forest with Colson. He doesn't even know who the man was, all he knows is that Cobie knew him, called him Colson and little brother. He thought Cobie's brother died in a fire, so how was he here?  Fuck, there were still a couple of things Erik doesn't know about his mate. Erik watched as Colson joined the hug, his hand resting on Cobie's back. 

"Alpha, we put her in the guardhouse and injected her with wolfsbane and poison ivy." Michel's says, his voice pushes through the pack link. 

"Alright, I'm on my way. I need Beta Zack on the watch on Greer Street as well as Alpha Amanda."

Erik waits until he sees Zack and Amanda. He takes one last look at Cobie. He orders the Alpha and Beta to watch them carefully and contact him if a problem comes up. 

Cobie couldn't stop smile and his cheeks were beginning to burn a little. He's got Colson and Pa here. They were no longer separated by miles and miles, they were no longer separated by oceans. 

"I can't believe you are in front of me." Pa says as he looks at Cobie. "You grew up so well and you even smell different." 

"I can't believe you two are here." Cobie says. "You are not leaving again." 

"Never. I'm tired of running."

"So am I." Cobie replies, staring at his brother. "I've got my place but I stay in the pack house with Erik." 

"Who's Erik?" Colson asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Cobie's cheeks heat up and he shyly looks at the ground as he played with his fingers. "He's my mate." 

"Are you serious?!" Colson screams as he pokes Cobie in his sides. He chuckles when Cobie wiggles and tried to move away from his finger. "I thought there were no more such things as mates." 

"Apparently there's a prophecy and it talks about Erik and I." Cobie replies, looking at Pa as he speaks. 

"The same one the crazy Alpha was talking about?"

"That one!" Cobie says with a nod. He quickly slaps Colson's hand away when he tries to poke him again. "He was right about one thing but wrong about the other. Erik is the one of will and speaking off, let get off the street. I'm sure Erik's waiting at home." 

"I want to meet this lucky Alpha." Pa says as they begin to walk down the street. 

"I think I saw him already. Was he the one strangling Meg?" Colson says, reaching to his side so he could hold his brother's hand. 

"Yeah, he was."

"I like him already." Pa says with a sly grin.  

Cobie smiles and shakes his head fondly at the older man. "I'm actually kind of excited for you two to meet everyone."

"Are you sure Astir is safe?" Colson asked as he looked around. "Like on the scale of one to a thousand, and a thousand being heaven." 

"A thousand and more." 

"Christ, kid." Pa whistles as he pushed his hands into his pocket. 

"But Meg said Erik's park was small. She practically screamed it." Colson said, he was looking at Cobie with burning curiosity in his eyes and on his face. Cobie looked at his brother but he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell him. t technically his secret to tell. Instead of flat out saying no, he says. 

"Later, Colly."

"Don't call me that." 

"What? I shouldn't call you what, Colly?" Cobie smirked. 

"You little shit."   

Cobie laughed, his head thrown back and shoulders shaking as he did. He was deliriously happy. He felt like nothing could ruin this day despite how it begun. He couldn't stop looking at Colson and Pa, he kept turning to face the two of them as they walked hand in hand. 

Fuck, they were really here. 

Rather than use the road, they go through the woods, going back the same way they came. The walk was quiet but so filling in a way that couldn't be described with words. They come to a stop when they get to the field behind the pack house. 

"That is one big house." Pa sings as he stared at it with wide eyes. 

"You stay here?" Colson asks, turning to the side so he could look at his brother. 

Cobie smiles shyly, his cheeks still burning bright red. "I live here at the moment and you are welcome to stay." 

"They knew we were coming?" Colson asked, his voice sharp but Cobie could detect the slight tremor of fear in his voice.  

"It's safe here, Colly. No one is going to hurt you or Pa." Cobie says, addressing the two of them.  "They'd have to go through me." 

"No, they'd have to go through me." A voice cuts Cobie off. The Vet turns around to face Erik who was standing behind him, his hands in his pockets. The Alpha looked bigger than life standing a little far off with a straight face. 

"Pa, Colly, this is Erik Tomlinson, the mayor and Alpha of Astir." Cobie says, stretching his hand out. Erik closes the distance between them, his hand going around Cobie'[s waist.  "Erik this is my brother Colson Deckard and our father figure, Beta Pacen." 

Colson doesn't move, he just stared at Erik with narrowed eyes. Pacen on the other hand, moves forward and stretched his hand out for a hand shake. Erik shakes the older man's hand. 

"Thank you for taking care of our Cobie." 

Erik chuckles and shakes his head. "If anything, he's the one taking care of me." 

Colson who had been watching in silence speaks up, "I'm going to ask you a question and if you're answer is wrong I will shoot you in the toe." 

Erik jerks a little as he stared at Colson with wide eyes. He looked at Cobie who was rolling his eyes at his brother. Goddess, they were so alike. Heck, he'd think they were the same person if it wasn't for the fact that Colson's hair was blonde and he was standing in front of him.  

"Go ahead."

"Do you promise to take care of my brother, let him be your number one priority?"

"Colson, you don't know what you're asking. His pack isn't j-"

"I promise.  I will protect him, take care of him and treat him as the prince he is." Erik replies honestly, looking away from Colson so he could look into the gold eyes of his mate, the urge to kiss Cobie so strong. 

"Oh, so that's why your eyes are gold." Colson sings, wiggling his brows as he does.   

Cobie smacks Colson hard on his chest, smiling in satisfaction when his brother grimaces. Colson and Pa were the only people besides himself who knew what the different colours of his eyes represented. 

"Let's go in. I'm sure you two travelled really far. We've got rooms for you." Erik says, gesturing towards his house with his thumb.  

"Thank you but I think I'm going to be staying in my brother's room for a while." 

"Anything you want. Think of this as your home." Erik smiles, squeezing Cobie's waist a little. 

"Come on guys." Cobie beckons and together they make their way to the house. Erik walks in first, Cobie following. They made their way to the sitting room where everyone was gathered, even Little Blue was there, sitting on Randall's lap.  Everyone turns to face them when they entered, their eyes wide with shock and jaws slack. 

"So it's true." Gabriel says, his voice a tiny bit higher than a whisper. "You have a brother. A twin brother." Gabriel says as he makes his way towards them. 

"Everyone this is my brother Colson and our dad, Pacen." Cobie introduced them, they didn't need to know the other details. The people in the house had doubled, some pack members were in the sitting room too. 

"Hi." Colson says with a smile and a wave. 

"Goddess, you both look so much alike." Se Ju says from his spot beside Randall on the couch.

Little Blue wiggles out of Randall's hold and makes his way towards Cobie, his blue eyes wide with curiosity. He lightly taps Cobie's jeans and the vet squats. 

"He looks like you." Kai whispers, his hands cupped around his lips as he spoke. 

Cobie snorts. "That's cause he's my brother." 

"WOah." Kai gaps. He looks away from Cobie to his dad. "Daddy, Papa, I want a brother!" Kai yelled and stamps his feet afterwards. Se Ju chokes on air when his son spoke. Thankfully, Kai's demand let's everyone relax enough to laugh freely. 

Colson squats so that he's the same height with Kai. "Little man, you should ask Cobie to give you a little friend to play with." 

This captures Kai's attention. "How?" he asks.

"Well, Cobie could get pregnant." Colson snickers. Cobie uses his elbow to jab Colson in the side. He then slaps his brother upside the head before shaking his head. Erik went still immediately Colson's words settles in his head. He then remembers the dream he had when he had been stuck in a coma due to the rejection he suffered a few weeks back. He remembers the little boy with dark hair and big blue eyes and he remembers dream-Cobie calling the little boy Corbyn. 

He looks at Cobie who was now carrying Kai. Yeah, he could see that. His eyes fall to Cobie's flat stomach and he wonders how his mate would look when he was carrying. He could feel himself getting hard and the last thing he wanted was for the room full of werewolves to smell his arousal. 

"I'll be in my room, if anyone needs me." Erik says with a small smile. 

Everyone nods and he walks away. 

"Not to be rude but my dad, Colson and I need to catch up." Cobie says and tilts his head a little. He gently places Kai on the ground. Everyone choruses their reply and with a nod, Cobie led his family up the stairs leading to his floor. They walk through the hallway and stopped when they were in front of Cobie's room. The vet pushed the door open and welcomes his family in.  

"This is neat." Colson says as he spun around. 

Pa on the other hand, made his way to the bed and crawled in. "I'm going to sleep. This bed is like a dream come through, it's so soft."

"Yeah, it's like sleeping on a cloud." Cobie replies. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" 

"No, little one. I just need to sleep for a bit. Someone woke me up at arse o'clock." Pa glares at Colson who just shrugs nonchalantly. 

"What? I was excited." Colson replies, walking around the room. He stops by Cobie's dresser and picked up the book resting on the table. "Why are you reading Werewolves for dummies?" He asks, waving the yellow and black book about. 

"Because I'm going to be a Luna and I need to know how to take care of wolves." Cobie replied, sinking into the nearest couch. 

"It's a small pack, you don't need to worry too much." Pa says as he tugged his pillow closer. 

"It's really really not."

Colson's eyes sparkles with curiosity, he makes his way towards Cobie and sits on the floor, his head resting on Cobie's lap. Cobie stares at his little brother and then shifts his gaze to Pa who had fallen asleep. His heart was calm, his mind was calm, he felt lighter, breathing was easier now and he's very thankful. They were here, they were safe and he couldn't be anymore happier. He reached out and threads his fingers through Colson's hair. 

Everything was going to be fine. 

He knows it. 

He feels it in his bones.