"Sounds like you want a second go," Eric noted.
"I'm not interested in settling down now. No offense Abby."
"It's Gale," Collin frowned, slipping his arm around his spiffy new fiancé. Gale looked at him the day started and ended with him, like she never knew joy until now.
"Eric! I insist! You are such a stubborn child just like your mother," Arista said, pushing him towards the table. "Give it a try, James doesn't have to spoil who it is, but he can put you in the right direction, can't you James?" She asked.
"I can do that," James admitted.
"It'll be my treat."
Eric frowned. He wouldn't say no to a Queen, but he did try his best to weasel out of it. "I think the matchmaker is already at his limit."
James glared, taking his seat again. "Don't worry about me Mr. Silva. I can understand if you're afraid of a little magic, but I won't hurt you."
Straightening up, Eric accepted the challenge and sat across from James. "I wouldn't worry about me either," he said extending his hands first.
James smirked and settled in the chair. He'd need an extra second. Eric was right. He really needed a rest. A third vision, one after another already stretched him to his farthest point, so thin he'll break in half. He wouldn't let Eric Silva know that. With his weak arms, James sat his hands on top of Eric's long dark fingers.
He closed his eyes, opening his mind again. When lightning struck through his veins. He clenched Eric's hands, bearing through the pain, stopping himself from flying out of his chair. Eric's rough hands held him to this earth like an anchor. He couldn't breathe or move or relax his tense, electrocuted body. He shut his eyes tighter, getting hit one after another of visions of just Eric.
Eric sighing into his hands, looking ragged on the side walk.
Eric slamming his fists into a tree and knocking it down.
A wolf. An angry wolf frothing at the mouth.
Eric with his hands up, begging.
Eric crushing his phone in his hand.
The visions changed suddenly, a buzzing sensation numbing James' limbs. He felt itchy and untamable like tiny fireworks danced through his veins and kissed inside his heart. Eric squeezed his hand back, leaning closer. James saw a little boy running and jumping into a wolf's form. He howled and another, an older wolf looked on and watched Eric on his first hunt. He could feel the power emanating from Eric and James found himself craving it too. It was a tempting treat.
Eric watched a fight take place, hating it. It was before he learned to count to ten, before he could muster control. Thinking how they didn't have to act like this. They were beasts. They were creatures of the wood, but they were not monsters. He might not have started the fight, but he sure did finish it. His mother didn't look at him the same after that, no one did. He was no longer little Eric Silva. He was the next Alpha.
His first kiss. Awkward. He was so embarrassed for accidentally clunking their teeth together, he didn't try it again for another two months.
His miserable first break up with a vampire named Aaron. Aaron cheated. He cheated like Eric didn't matter like he didn't live and breathe his name. Eric did. It just goes to show, he should never date anyone but a werewolf. No one can be trusted but his own kind.
James saw school. He saw Eric through college. He saw glimpses of smiles of heartbreak and feeling all the pain that came with it. His eyes teared up again, but he couldn't stop it. Then, he saw himself, through Eric's eyes and he was loud, obnoxious and James was forced to find himself as annoying as Eric did. He never wanted to crawl out of his skin more than in that horrific moment.
He saw Eric in the bathroom cleaning up the flour with Izzy at the doorway. She shrugged, "He was cute."
"If you think messy children are cute than sure."
James took another deep blow to the chest and he struggled with the visions. However, he was tossed through another vicious whirlwind. Eric slipped his hands across James' cheeks before giving him the deepest kiss James had ever received. He saw several kisses. Kisses that even James gave him. He saw himself sleeping inside of Eric's arms. He saw Eric throw him against the wall before whisking him off to a dark room. As if it were happening, he could feel Eric's hands drag down his chest as he counted James' teeth with his tongue. He couldn't remember losing his shirt. James shuddered under Eric's hot breath that dragged down his neck. It burned his flesh and yet, James liked the pain.
Eric's hand slip underneath his waist band.
Someone whispered, "I love you."
James' eyes snapped open and he threw Eric's burning hands away. "Oh, um, well I-" He buzzed, unable to settle his panicking heart beat or his erratic breathing. He just couldn’t catch his breath. It couldn't be true. It just can't be. No way. No how. It was impossible. Eric sat across from him still, his eyebrow hitched up his forehead and James' chest clenched. No fucking way. Panic drained the blood from his face.
James spent most of life building a great impenetrable wall around him and in one moment, Eric, fucking Eric Silva smashed it to pieces. James crumbled, a naked exposed mess of his former self. He was an open wound, bleeding all over the floor and he couldn't keep it together. He couldn't stop the stain from forming. He'd never be cleaned from it.
Run, his brain screamed, RUN.
His voice trembled. His whole body shook as he forced himself onto his jelly legs. "I uh, uh g-guess you were right. I'm really not um, feeling well." He made the mistake of looking at Eric. Eric Silva. No fucking way.
"It was um..." He looked at Arista and her concerned husband. "Th-thank you for h-having me, but I need to go. I'm so sorry. Um," he turned to the butler in the corner, if you grab Delphine. She'd be um happy to finish up here."
The butler nodded and scurried away.
"I do hope you feel better James," Arista said.
"You are looking pale," Gordon commented.
James bowed to the lords and used the new happy couple to help him towards the door. "R-remember what I said. You'll have to work very hard."
"Thanks James," Gale said and Collin shook his hand.
"A-alrighty then," James nodded. He touched the wall as he stumbled. He managed to hold himself upright by the doorknob. He turned once more, looking at Eric standing there. Eric’s eyes had never moved so much, looking at James and trying to solve the equation. James couldn't say anything.
As a matchmaker, he wasn't permitted to keep it a secret.
So, he asked for Delphine. If there was a merciful God, Eric won't believe her.
As a person, he can't possibly do this. He couldn't break his golden rule.
Not when it was Eric—no fucking way—Silva.
James would never admit that he was Eric's mate.
No fucking way.
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