Chapter 8 - Wolfish
The next day it was saturday, or at least I think it was, because it felt the same as it had felt yesterday, except for the fact that there was a lot of noise downstairs that woke me up. Jeremy and dad was probably causing the noise since they would be home today too.
I slowly got up from the bed and put on some sweatpants. I usualy slept in a t-shirt and my underwear, I don't get how people can sleep with pants on?
Even though the noise sounded a lot from my room the kitchen was almost empty, except for dad. He was sitting at the counter eating some scrambled eggs and drinking coffe.
"Mornin'. How you holding up?" He asked me when he saw me in the doorframe.
I thought for a while and tried to feel how my body felt, if I was as miserable as yesterday.
Surprisingly it felt better than the day before, at least I felt less sad.
There was still this wierd feeling that something was missing though, I didn't understand what that was.
"It's a bit better, dad."
He smiled and motioned for me to grab some of the eggs that were still left in the pan. My phone buzzed in my pocked before I could grab a plate, so I checked it.
Hey
Dad and mom is forcing me on this family trip thingy so I don't think that I can be with you today, sorry. Eat some chocolate och call me if it becomes too much! It will be fine3 Is that okay?
The fact that she was so kind and cared for me so much made my heart warm and I quickly answered her that it was fine. I grabbed the food and sat down opposite of dad. It was a nice morning, the sun shown into the kitchenwindow and there were bird singing outside.
"So, you have boy trouble?" Dad asked me and a small blush crept up my face. I usually didn't talk to dad about this stuff.
"Um, yeah. No one's mean or anything, it just... a big mess."
"I get it. I mean not to say that I was the bigges player in highschool, but I had some girls, including your mom" He raised his eyebros at that and I made a face.
Eww, I don't want to hear about him and mom!
You never want to hear about your parents in love.
" and those girls that I had, they liked to cause some trouble sometimes. "
"I promise you Liam, it will get easier.
But there's one thing that you have to do, you've got to talk to that miserable lump outside, if he continues to sit there he will create a permanent mark on the lawn.
Plus, he is desperate enough to sit here for almost two days so he must have something important to say. "
"Mmm..." Was the only thing I managed to get out while staring down at the table.
"Hey, it will be fine. I tried to talk to him and... he mentioned that you two are mates."
I looked up to meet dads eyes and he looked sympathetic and a bit pityful. I didn't say anthing, I didn't want to talk to Erik yet but I knew it had to come and besides, I was not going to make him sit out there another night.
"I will talk to him, dad." I said quietly and he gave up trying to get something else out of me. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to dad, I just had a hard time expressing my feelings sometimes.
When we were done with the food dad stood up to wash the dishes and I was just walking out of the kitchen when dad called after me again.
"Hey, you are not going up there again to sulk in your loneliness again. Go for a run or something, at least."
"Wha- But daaad, I don't feel like it!"
"You will not go up to your room, I will personally drag you out of it if you do."
I growled quietly, but gave up the small fight.
Dad could be kind of hard sometimes, but only when it was for someone else's wellbeing.
I suppose I was glad the he care so much for me but in that moment I just felt annoyed.
I left without saying something and went out the backdoor, mainly to avoid the front of the house.
Our small garden was surrounded with a high wooden fence with a gate in the far right end.
I went out the gate which lead to a small path between our neighboor's house's fences.
The path then lead out right to the forest, where I stepped out of my sweaters and took of my shirt.
The shift was a pretty easy by now, but I still thought it was uncomfortable.
The usual age for werewolf's first shift was around 9-10 years old, but I had my shift at 11, which was probaly because I was so small when I was younger.
I hurt pretty much the first time, but got better when you practised often.
I didn't shift that much in the beginning since it hurt so much but now, when i I had gotten a bit older I was used to the change.
I felt my senses grow more intense and my hearing, eyesight and my sense of smell was suddenly a 100 times better.
I felt the change of the wind far away and the smell of autumn leaves and pinecones.
My legs started moving and I sat of in a sprint to get out of the possible eyesight where I was.
The glade that I had changed in was pretty concealed from other people, but you could never be too safe.
The wind brushed my blonde fur when I ran and the dirt flew backwards when I pushed my paws in it to go faster. My wolfshape was pretty small, more like a big dog than an actual werewolf and I got a bit teased about it when I was younger, but I didn't really care nowadays.
I ran until I forgot about time, forgot about Mike, Erik and every other problem that was causing my worries. It was so nice, I almost understood why some werewolfes decided to go out in the wild and live there. But I don't think that I could ever leave my pack, they were my family.
Soon my stomach growled and I decided to turn back home after a while.
The wind had gotten a bit colder and some grey clouds now covered the sky.
The leaves crunshed under my paws when I shifted and I suddelnly felt the cold air embrace my bare skin.
I pulled my clothes on och went back into the house.
"Hey, Liam. You went out for a run?" Mom stood in the garden filling some flowerpots with dirt.
"Yeah."
"Good to see that you have something to do. There's some lunch in the fridge if you're hungry."
"Sure, mom." My answers were pretty short and I just wanted to get to the kitchen and eat something, so I sneaked away from her and went into the house.
I appeared that every single person on the planet wanted to talk to me today.
Now my brother, who has been avoiding me for two days, was standing in front of me telling me that he wanted to talk.
I sighed, I was just so hungry. But to be fair to my brother I decided to let him talk first, since he obviously had something important so say.
"Can we go up to your room?" He asked.
"Uh... Sure." That was wierd and my confusion only grew.
We went up the stairs and into my room. Jeremy looked so awkward and out of place, like he had never see my room before, which was wierd since we had spent a lot of time here when we were younger, playing lego or having sleepovers.
I sat down on the bed and waited for him to start, still utterly confused, Jeremy had never wanted to "talk" before.
"Uh... so, I don't really know where to start."
"Why did you want to talk to me?" I began to help him out a bit.
"Uh, it's about, uh, like. I'm sorry!" He suddenly burst out and I flinched a bit.
"Wha- Why are you sorry?" What the hell was he talking about?
Jeremy grabbed at his hair and started walking around a bit in front of my bedroom door.
"Yes, Liam, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for treating you like trash.
.. for not having your back when you needed me.
We always had each other when we were younger, but then something happened and stuff changed and I don't want that.
Well, at the time I did, but now I know that everything that I did with Erik, I should have let you take part of it and not try to shut you out. "
I was so startled that I couldn't say anything for a while. I just sat there and looked at my brother as if he had grown another head. He had never expressed these feelings before and I didn't even know that he thought of the time when we were like best friends, when we were younger.
"Jeremy, it's oka-"
"No, it's not okay! I should have been there for you, especially when that douche Mike hurt you like that.
He doesn't deserve you , remember that. And I heard that you and Erik are mates now, but you resfuse to talk to him.
I get that it's a big change and I want to help you if I can. ... and if you will let me."
I got up from the bed and stood up in front of Jeremy.
"Jem. You are my brother and have always been, sure there have been some moments when I wished that I could join you guys, but you have been here, at home at the end of the day anyway. Don't beat yourself up too much. I... forgive you for whatever you think that you have done."
He looked at me and a small smile grew on his lips. Then he reached up to mess wich my locks, which I returned with a small growl. He the said;
"Just because you're such a great brother I'm going to return the favour of forgiving me with making you talk to your mate."
Before I had registered the word that came from his mouth he grabbed me in a huge hug, liftedme up and started running down the stairs. When I understood what he was going to do I started to move around to get out of Jeremys's hold.
"Jeremy! Stop, I'm not ready to talk to him yet! I swear to god I will shift and bite you!"
I was just getting away from him when we were near the front door, but then he opened the door and practically threw me outside. I directly went to push on the door, but it was shut and locked in my face.
"Liam."
My head turned to my right and there he was.
Erik.
He scrambled up from where he had been sitting under the kitchen window, with wide eyes, looking at me. He really looked like crap from sitting out here for two days, he had dark rings under his eyes and his clothes were dirty from the lawn.
"Liam, finally, will you talk to me? Please, I'm sorry for surprising you with the whole mate thing when you were so sensitive thursday, but I just had to say it, I couldn't stand it anymore."
I could see that he was willing to ramble on, but I really wasn't ready for this yet.
"No, can't this just... wait?"
I turned around to get away from this, from everything, as fast as possible. Just when I was ready to shift to run away I felt a hand grab my wrist.
Suddenly the whole world stopped turning.
Or, more correctly, the world didn't turn around the sun anymore, I didn't turn for all of those other people in the world, my world turned around him. Erik.
I gasped loud and turned to face him when a strange feeling appeared in my body.
It was like a fire, that told me that whatever I did, I could not let go of Erik, I could not stop touching him, or I would perish right where I stood.
The only thing that was important now was to touch him as much as possible, so without my brain's consent, my body launched itself at Erik and we fell together down on the cold ground so that I was straddling him.
He firsthandedly looked confused, but then he had understanding written all over his face.
"Oh! So now you feel it!"
I did not get what he meant but I didn't care at the moment because I was too busy with putting my nose at the spot at Erik's neck where the most magical and unbelieveble scent was coming from.
It smelled like everything that I had ever liked and would ever like in my life, including some strawberry gums that I loved when I was eight, and I could not move my nose away from the spot.
It was right where Erik's shoulder met his neck and it was like the best fucking drug that you could ever try.
Erik wasn't saying anything right now, too busy doing the same thing that I was doing.
It was like the only thing that we needed to survive was each other and we could not let go of the other.
I could feel that he was feeling the same as me just by looking how greedily and possessively he was breathing in my scent.
The situation must have been pretty wierd at the moment from any bystanders' point of wiew.
Two teenage boys sitting outside on the grass and sniffing each others' necks, as if their lives depended on it.
But I would never have any idea of what was happening around us at that moment, I was too engulfed by my mate.
I did not have the slightest idea of how much time passed before I leaned a bit away from Erik to look him in the eyes.
We were both panting as if we had just ran a marathon as I met his gaze.
His eyes were like melted caramel and when he gazed into mine I felt wierdly whole. Not a thing was missing.
Suddely I realized what kind of position that we were in and tried to move away despite of the horrible feeling that it caused me, but Erik stopped me immediatelyby putting two arms around my waist, holding me closer than before.
"No, please, don't move away! Liam, I have been waiting for six days, feeling that burning feeling and the need to touch you, so do not move away."
I was surprised by his little outburst but it quickly went over to feeling bad for him. He really had to experience this crushing pain from not touching me for days? No wonder that he had been acting wierd towards me.
"Okay, sorry", I mumbled and stayed still in the position that I was sitting in. Now that I was able to think despite feeling that burning need, questions started spinning in my head.
"Why.. what is this?" I asked Erik while looking at my hands, focused on the burning fire that clearly was addicted to him. He looked down at my hands too and understood what I was refering to.
"It's the mate bond. The moon godess sometimes do this in the beginning when two mates meet if they for some reason don't want to or can't be together. The mate bond then gets really strong and forces the mates to be together, or else they will both suffer immensely."
It all made sense now that he had said it. It was obvious that he had been suffering from the distance, me though? I hadn't felt that pain at all, until now, of course.
"Why didn't I feel it? I mean, the pain?" I asked, a bit shyly. I felt wierd talking to him like this, I had always seen him like my brother's best friend, never in such an intimate or affectionate way.
"I don't really know why you didn't feel it from the firts time we saw each other, but I suppose that for your part it was triggered when we touched."
I nodded and hid my face in the crook of his neck again. Every small touch of our skin calmed the burning fire and felt like the best feeling in the world. He hummed a small melody and slid two fingertips over my neck, making me shudder.
There was a sound of a door opening behind us and I craned my neck round to see what it was.
There was some hushed wispering and then mom took one step out on the small stairs.
She looked over at us and a blush red as tomatoes grew on my face.
Once again I tried to get off Erik's lap, but he held me even harder and let out a possessive growl.
I turned around to him and gave him a hard stare. He will not growl at me. He directly got an apologetic look on his face.
My attention turned back to my mom where she stood on the stairs.
"Hey, boys, it's getting cold outside, will you please come in?" She looked a bit unsure of what to do, which was wierd, since she had never been unsure once before. I suppose that this was an unfamilliar situation for her too.
"Uh.. yeah, sure mom. We're coming." I answered her and she nodded at that and stepped into the warmth of the house again.
I looked back at Erik who had his attention focused on me.
"How much does your parents know about this? About us?" Erik asked me.
"I suppose that they have understood that we are mates by now, but I don't know if they understand how strong the mate thingy is."
A small smile grew on his lips.
"The mate thingy?" He questioned, which made the blush on my face increase and making me look down on my lap. Then he put two fingers under my chin, making me look up to meet his eyes.
"Hey, let's go in."
I nodded, a part of me just wanting to stay here forever and not having to talk to parents and others and explain stuff. I didn't even know what 'stuff' were yet.
We got up from the ground, a bit awkwardly since both of us refused to let go of each other, and then made out way to the open front door.
Mom and dad were standing in the kitchen talking with hushed voices, but stopped when Erik and I came in.
Jeremy had been waiting in the doorway out to the corridor but as soon as I saw him I gave him a look that very much said 'I will kill you', which made him scramble away, out in the hallway.
I would very much kill him for pushing me into this, litteraly and figuratively.
"So, Erik and Liam, uh... why don't you try to explain this to us?" Dad said while motioning to our bodies, which were pressed together, my back to his chest.
"Mom, dad, Erik and I... are mates, as you probably know.
.. by now. The... the uh-h-h m-mate thi-thing.
.. Arg!" I voiced my frustration at my stuttering, an annoying habit that I had left since when I was younger.
It only appeared in stressed or pressed situations nowadays and apperantly this was such a situation.
"Mr. and Mrs. Eler, I appeares that Liam's part ot the mate bond did not... urge him towards me before we had touched, which we did firstly today, and now... the mate bond is really strong, strong enough to make it impossible for us to be apart."
"Oh." My parents were obviously surprised, but then they got an understanding look on their faces.
"I hope you understand that me and Carol are going to have to inform your parents, Erik, about all of this. They must be worried about you."
Erik nodded at that and looked down at the floor.
"Well then, it's late and you boys are probably tired, so you can go up to Liam's room... and you can both sleep in there on one condition, the door stays wide open at all times." Dad said with a finger in the air, filling out his father duties.
"Fine, dad" I said while rolling my eyes.
My parents seemed to be done at that, so I took Erik's hand and went up to my room with him. It was dark inside and I opened the bedroom door wide so that dad wouldn't freak.
Both Erik and I was increadibly tired so when we fell down on the bed I couldn't help but to fall asleep in Erik's arms. All problems would wait 'til the morning.
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