Finding Closure (open m/m)

“I am a gentleman Mia, I would never listen to your thoughts unless I had to” Eric chuckled with a shake of his head. When she confirmed that they had been talking about Clara he nodded his head a little, “Doesn’t surprise me she’s in the rain. She was when I met her, said it helped her feel relaxed even though she was shivering like a leaf and could barely speak” he sighed. Running a hand through his hair he looked at Mia with a raised brow, “Convince her to stay with the pack I know she doesn’t like staying in one place but it would be good for her” he said gently.

When he said he could listen in on those conversations, she laughed lightly. "Then I better learn how to keep you out of my personal thoughts too." Her tone showed that she was teasing him about it. She rolled her eyes slightly at took a long drink from her glass. "Only if you are bad, then." The smirk that had come to her face with her words went away when he asked is they were talking about Clare, and she let out a light sigh. "She went out for a run and ran into him while she was out there. From what I can feel, nothing really bad happened."

Eric raised a brow when Mia spoke out loud about someone talking to someone else, quickly guessing they were talking about Clara he couldn’t help but smirk a little. That woman was a handful. Chuckling softly he shook his head, “You’ll get used to it” he said with a gentle smile before he smirked at her, “Also fair warning, I can listen in as well if I do desire” he warned cheekily “So don’t go saying anything bad about me” he teased. “He was taking about Clara wasn’t he?” Eric questioned after being quiet for a moment, he knew logically they were, she was the kind of wolf others talked about often.

Mia raised an eyebrow at him. She looked him up and down slowly, and she heard James' laugh echo in her mind. Mia... Be careful. Also, Clara is outside.


The woman forgot for a moment that they were having a mental conversation. "She... talked to you?" Yes... I tried to get her to go inside when it started to rain, but... she said she liked the rain. Something in his tone told her he was feeling a different kind of sadness. The fact that I don't remember that... it's upsetting.


Shaking her head, she let out a light sigh, taking a good drink from her glass. "And I will never get used to the fact that warlocks can feel when the conversations are happening." She said to Eric, head tilted to the right. "Always fascinating."

“Your car will be well looked after” Eric said with a smirk before he chuckled when Mia said he was a smooth talker, “Years of practice my dear” he said with a small shake of his head. It had been a while since he had felt as if he needed to protect someone and it felt nice that it was Mia he had chosen to look after. Feeling her reach through her nose pack connection to talk to someone he sighed a little, “You wolves and your connections to each other is so fascinating” Eric said with another chuckle. He knew he would never get used to being around them when they did that as the urge to tap in and listen was strong but he respected wolves enough to never do such things.

For just a couple of seconds, her face turned red with a blush when he did that. She ducked her head for a moment, taking a few calming breaths while staring at the lounge with wide eyes. "U-Uh-huh...." Sitting back up straight, she busies herself with enjoying the slightly frosted mead. "I'll have one of the pack members come down tomorrow and get my car, then." She looked up over the top of her glass, smirking faintly behind her glass. "Such a smooth talker you are."

Hey, James?


Yeah?


I am having someone bring me home, okay?


Ooookay?


I know you are real tense and on edge because of Louis, so I just wanted to let you know ahead of time. This one's power is quite strong, so I don't want you to freak out.


.... That one, huh? The tone to his mental voice was slightly teasing.

Okay, now don't you start too!

Eric watched as she made the mead colder and he raised a brow slightly at her actions, it had been a while since he had seen someone do that. When she said that her mother had exposed her to different foods he gave a nod of his head. “That’s good, makes it easier for me” Eric chuckled as he looked at her, smirking a little he moved slightly before he placed a kiss on her forehead. “You defiantly are an interesting woman Mia” he said with a smile before he raised his scotch and finished it off and put the empty glass dome but made a small motion of his hand to let Trixie know he didn’t need it refilled. “Now, once you have finished that glass of mead off I’ll take you home, don’t want anything bad happing to such a beautiful woman.”

Mia barely blinked when the empty glass was exchanged for another one. Getting an idea, she leaned forward. Reaching out with one hand, she grabbed the glass while her hand glowed with that emerald light. She let out a light laugh when the glass slowly frosted over, bringing the mead's temperate down even farther. "Hah. That worked." Leaning back into her seat with the frosted glass in hand, she shifted so that way her upper torso was turned towards him. "My mother made it a point to expose me to many different kinds of foods when I was a child, so I don't really have anything I don't dislike."

Watching as she finished off the mead Eric chuckled a little at the sight, “I thought so” he said in agreement when Mia said that taking her on a date was a fair price. “So, Mia, is there any food that you don’t enjoy?” Eric asked raising a brow at her, “Just so I don’t take you somewhere you won’t like” he added as Trixie appeared out of nowhere and placed a fresh mead on the table for Mia and took away the empty glass without being prompted. “Of course this doesn’t count as a date, not to me, so I’ll organise it for a better night when it’s not raining outside” Eric chuckled.

Mia closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. After a moment, he held up one finger, and took down her drink all at once. leaning forward to place down the glass, she finally managed to let out a laugh after catching her breath. "Ah, how did I know that was what you were going to ask." She chuckled under her breath, before looking at him, a faint smirk on her face, her shoulders moving in a faint shrug. "That seems like a fair price."

Clara watched as James took a step back and put his hands behind his back, she wanted to question him about it but she stopped herself as she decided that it wasn’t her place to ask him. Giving a nod of her head when he explained what she needed to do to stay in his territory and what to do if Louis showed up, “Alright” she said softly as she watched him walk away. Sighing softly she shook her head before she turned on her heel and walked a little further away, finding a large tree by some of the runes she sat down and got comfortable planning on spending a few hours there at least.

Eric raised a brow slightly as Mia adjusted herself on the lounge so his hand was touching her shoulder, the movement brought a small smile to his face. When he asked if he needed payment for going to see Fenrir he chuckled a little, “It’s on the house” Eric said with a grin “I only had Clara pay me so I can know when she gets into trouble” he chuckled. “But for hunting charms, your payment will be a date” Eric said with a smirk.

James' shoulders fell slightly, the tension leaving his body and he was just quiet as she approached him. Listening to her teasing, he let out a light sigh, taking a step back, putting his hands behind himself. He curled them into fists, ignoring the faint call in the back of his mind to try and take her hand. "If you don't know how far you are going... Just look for the runes." He muttered, annoyed by the itching feeling in his palms. If he shows up... destroy one of the runes. It will react violently, and will make sure he runs off." He turned and headed towards the house's direction, rubbing his palms against his pants.

Mia let out a heavy sigh and relaxed her shoulders back into her seat. When she did that, she had shifted slightly, and her shoulder made faint contact with his nearby hand. "That is a bit bigger than asking for hunting charms. Are you sure you don't need any payment for something like that?"

Eric listened to her intently taking in everything she said, watching as the light appeared in her hand before she closed her fist. When she finished talking he smiled softly, "He has always been an odd one Fenrir" he said with a small shake of his head. "I could visit him for you, unlike your brother, I am restrained by the things he is...I come and go from places as I wish and all of the Gods and Goddess know this" he said with a shrug of his shoulders wondering if she would say yes to him going to Fenrir. He was sure if she did he would go and Fenrir would probably put him through some hell just for the joy of it.

Clara made a motion as if she was going to grab James when he jumped back and went back to his human form. "Do what you need too, you have to keep your pack safe" she said with a shrug. When he suggested that she head inside before she got soaked she couldn't help but laugh, "Thank you for the concern James...but I love the rain" Clara said with a smile before a cheeky smirk crossed her face "You'd know that if you paid attention to me when we were kids" she teased as she walked over to him almost completely closing the distance between them. "You should head inside, you know, don't want you passing out in the rain" Clara half joked.

Mia shook her head, taking a few quiet moments to enjoy her drink. "I have only seen him three times in my life. A certain god got a wild hair up his ass, and no one outside the Aesir are allowed to visit him, in the physical realm or even in the astral one as well. I'm pretty sure it ended up because of me. The last time I visited...." She raised her free hand, and after a moment of quiet, she watched as an emerald light concentrated in the palm of that hand. "My godly heritage started to show itself." She turned her hand into a fist quickly, dissipating the light. "He was fine the last time I saw him... My half-brother tried to get some news for me, but his patron god told him it would be a good idea to not ask anymore. He was cagey when he asked why."

James felt a ripple run through his body and he jumped back, a couple of moments being forced back into his human form. One hand grasped tightly to the front of his shirt, his head lowered as he breathed fast, until he was able to calm that down. "It takes all I have to stay in wolf form. I did want to... but I knew if I burned myself out over it... Everyone would be left vulnerable. This pack I've built... they would have been torn apart. Everyone has something about them that makes them not normal, misfits and outcasts." Shaking his head heavily, he staggered to his feet and took a moment, before looking over at her. "You should head inside... before you get soaked."

Eric stayed quiet as she spoke, when she brought up Fenrir he couldn't help but chuckle and he shook his head a little. "Of course I would meet with someone of Fenrir" he chuckled but shook his head a little with a smile not moving away from her at all. "So, how is the old bastard?" Eric asked casually as he relaxed more onto the lounge getting comfortable as he relaxed with Mia curious as to how it came to be for him to end up talking to someone who could be related to Fenrir, it was as if the Gods he had known before were now making fun of him for some reason.

Clara frowned a little as she listened to him as he spoke, "We can't change the past, no matter how much we want to" she said with a small smile. "If you didn't reject me you wouldn't be an alpha, you wouldn't be running a pack" Clara pointed out trying to encourage him not to be so hard on himself, "A part of me kind of wished you would have come to find me...but I'm not mad at you for not or anything like that" she said with smile. Standing up she shook out her pelt before she transformed back into her human form not caring that she was only in her shorts and a bra in front of James just as it started to rain lightly, "I feel like I need to apologize to you for avoiding trying to find you as well" Clara said with a laugh.

When he brought up the mark, she let out a heavy sigh. She knew that it most likely would be brought up when it activated, but it had never really done it around other warlocks before, so she vainly hoped it would not have with with this one. "My brother is my half brother, through my mother. My father... the mark is from him." Sitting in silence for a few moments, she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "What do you know of Fenrir?"

James flinched when she dumped against his forehead, his shoulders pitching forward, but he made no move to get away from her. Listening to her words, he let out a low whine and shuddered at the implications of those words at the end. "It was all me... If I hadn't been such a fucking moron... Stuck in my own head... You wouldn't be hurt... or forced to be in that kind of position..."

"Well, I wouldn't to take the risk of you getting drunk of course" Eric chuckled, "We do serve more potent alcohol here for those who ask for it" he said with a smile. It was one of the things he was proud of that he catered for so many different kinds of creatures, feeling something change a little about her aura he raised a brow at her. "Now, what is that mark I am sensing on your ribcage there?" he asked tilting his head to the side a little, he was curious as to what was on her and what it was there for.

Clara frowned as he listened to him, when he finished talking she closed the space between them. Standing in front of him she shook her head slightly before she bumped her forehead against his as much as she could. "We've never wanted to hurt you for it...we just wanted to know the actual reason" she said softly, "We hated you for a while but, we never wanted to hurt you" Clara added as she kept her head against his for a moment before she sat back on her haunches as well and watched him. "We also blamed ourselves a lot for why you didn't want us, kind of made it easier to live with it and it made what we had to do to survive easier...since we didn't have a mate anymore, there was no one to be ashamed of us and what we did to make money" Carla said with a sad laugh.

Mia let out a light laugh, looking forward, her head tilted forward slightly to let her curls partially hide her expression. When he shifted, she felt the mark of Fenrir on her ribcage warm slightly, reacting to the presence of someone with high magic power so close to her. "A gift from my father... I only get buzzed, get all the good sides to alcohol. I haven't yet reached my limit, and for a year while I was studying medicine abroad in Ireland, I outdrank many a man."

When she asked her question, his eyes shifted color back to his normal human color, even as he stayed in wolf form. He sat back on his haunches, the look in his eyes clear. "I was a full of himself eighteen year old. I thought I was the height of many, being from such a old and well respected pack." His eyes closed halfway, as he remembered the day he had been kicked out of the old pack. "It wasn't until I was limping out of the old pack lands, after having my ass handed to me and kicked out, that I realized I had fucked up royally." He closed his eyes, head tilted down. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked up at her without lifting his head. "You can hurt me if you want..."

"Free of charge of course" Eric chuckled sipping some more of his drink he watched Mia carefully out of the corner of his eye for a moment before he moved his free arm and casually rested it over the back of the lounge so the fingertips of his right hand were lightly brushing against her arm. "Now, I do hope you do not plan to get yourself very drunk tonight Mia. I would rather get you home somewhat sober" he said with a smirk, even though he was what some people called a playboy Eric was very much a gentleman when it came to women around him.

After running for a while Clara skidded to a stop inches from the territory line as she turned and looked at James as she panted softly, "So...tell me...why did you do it?" she asked breathlessly as she stared at James her voice the slightly deeper tone of her wolf showing him who was fully in charge in that moment. "I mean, we kind of deserve to know after all of these years why you chose to hurt us the way you did" she continued as she walked slowly towards him her eyes narrowed as she studied him, Clara and her wolf both wanted to know what answer he would give them.

Mia couldn't help the smirk that came to her face when he sounded a little disbelieving about her statement of vampire hunting. "Well, yeah. Louis is a vampire after all." She looked down at her glass, swirling it slightly before she took a long, slow sip. "He deserves much, much worse for all he has done over the years... He also set back years of therapy I put Travis through, setting him back into that mindset he had when he came to us after the rejection." Hearing his offer of help, she laughing lightly, looking back over at him with a faint smirk. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Clara looked over her shoulder at the sound of thudding coming towards her and she couldn't help but smirk as she took off running her eyes flashing with excitement, it had been so long since she had the pure thrill of running. She knew he could easily overtake her but she didn't care, just running felt wonderful. When he caught up to her she glanced at James again and gave him a growl but it was a playful growl, one that held no malice towards him. "Took you long enough" Clara said with a shake of her head as she continued to move pushing herself wanting to see how long she could keep pace with him as they ran.

Eric sighed a little with a small shake of his head, "I am well acquainted with her temple, you don't become a warlock without visiting temples of different Gods and Goddess'" he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "And vampire hunting? Really?" Eric chuckled wondering if they were really going to try and hunt down a vampire, "I would not be a gentleman if I didn't offer my services for that, any spell or charm you need when you both are ready to hunt the vampire, let me know" Eric said with a smirk. He knew when the time came and if Mia asked he wouldn't charge her anything for it, he had a soft spot for very beautiful women like her.

James let out a annoyed sound, standing to his feet and dusting his hands off on his pants. "Now come on, you stupid wolf...." He muttered to himself as he stared to pace. "Hiding like a coward... We can't do that anymore, knowing that she somehow survived after we ripped our souls like we did...." He shook his head with a slight scowl. "Louis could be nearby... Being a fucking alpha proper, and get out of your hole..." After a minute, he slipped directly into his wolf form, and the large wolf took off at a fast run, growling faintly under his breath. "Fine, Clara."

Mia's heightened hearing could hear the ebb and flow of his pulse, how his hand tightened on the glass for a moment, before he had forced his hand to relax. When he asked her how she was dealing with the problem, she gave a faint shrug, taking a sip from her glass. "Waiting for Travis is get back from Athens so we can go vampire hunting...." She looked down into her glass. "He did go to Athens... and the Goddess' temple is there...."

Clara watched James as he got up and moved, when he said that she needed to tell his wolf it was okay for him to run with her she thought for a moment before she smirked a little. "Fine, guess we will have to go and run by ourselves and risk getting abducted by a vampire because the alpha doesn't won't to do his job" Clara stated putting her nose in the air with a hmph as she began to walk away from him. She knew one way to get other wolves out was to provoke them with something she knew they didn't want to happen, "Imagine, being scared of facing your mistakes and hiding away" she called back as she continued to walk.

Eric looked over at Mia and he couldn't help but roll his eyes with a groan, "That idiot girl is going to send herself spiraling" he said with a shake of his head. His grip on his glass tightened a little but he made sure to loosen it so he didn't break the glass. "And you, how are you holding up with this vampire problem?" Eric questioned quirking a brow as he looked over at Mia taking in her whole appearance once again.

James made a non-committal noise, finishing up the rune he had been working on. When she told him to come run with her, he let out a heavy sigh. Setting the stick down, he reached up with one hand to rub the back of his neck, wincing slightly at the tension he felt there. "You will have to tell him he has permission to run. He's... shame-hiding right now, and I can't pull him out."

Feeling the aura, she glanced out of the corner of her eyes at him as she shifting in her seat, putting her right leg over her left knee, her hair falling a bit across her face as she tilted her head a little towards him. "Clara is fine, Eric. She kept surprisingly calm about the whole situation. She showed up at the house a couple of hours ago. I'm letting her stay in my room." She took a sip of her drink, letting out a faint sigh. "What I was feeling from her wolf though... She probably went out running for the night. She's probably found James by now..."

Clara saw him flinched at her words but she didn't mention it to him, as he explained that Mia's father had taught him she raised a brow a little. "Sounds like it was a right fun time" she joked, watching him closely for a moment she got back to her feet and huffed a little. "Come run. I don't want to accidentally leave your territory, so come run with me" Clara said with a small movement of her head gesturing to the right a little. Even though she didn't want to feel as if she was a burden to him Clara also didn't want to go for a run alone not with the knowledge that there was a vampire around who did not like anyone who left James' territory.

"Well, have as many as you like, they are on the house" Eric said casually before he listened to Mia as she spoke, as soon as she said that Clara had been dragged into something his body tensed and his aura screamed danger. "Is she okay?" he asked with gritted teeth, even though he knew so little about her, regardless of having given her a job, he was very protective about her as he had seen her during a depressive episode before and it had concerned him greatly. Seeing the emerald light appear in her hand he raised a brow but didn't mention it before he sipped some more of his scotch, "Black Magic is the right place to come to forget things" he said calmly.