System of a Wolf - 10. Chapter 10

Erith groaned loudly as he straightened up beside the wolf bed. Another night spent in the dark, dealing with demons he didn’t even remember he had. Even now the memories were slipping from his mind, leaving him with nothing but an uneasy feeling.

A feeling that turned to frustration as he looked at the room around him.

“Oh come on Gara…”

Mud was streaked all over the floor, dried and stuck. It would take all morning to clean the house. Grumbling as he picked himself up off the floor, the elf stumbled to the bathroom. He needed a nice hot shower before he could begin to deal with this mess.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Erith stepped out of the steaming bathroom, shivering in the chill morning air. Throwing on a pair of underwear, the elf stepped out of the hall. A scowl aimed at the still open back door, a puddle of mud and water still splashing as a morning rain blew into the house. He couldn’t blame Gara for this. It was his own fault he hadn’t checked the weather before starting work on the yard and leaving the door open. But knowing that didn’t stop the frustration.

“I love you Gara, but you’re such a slob…” the elf muttered, pulling out a broom.

Sweeping the loose dirt up, Erith tossed it back outside before grabbing his phone. He set up a bucket of water and a mop as the phone rang, getting to work as he cleaned his house.

“Narin Landscapers, your yard is our pride, how can I help you today?”

Erith smiled slightly at the voice as he pushed the mop across the floor. The neko on the other side of the phone wasn’t exactly a friend, but he was friendly enough for a coworker. They had gotten to know each other somewhat over the last eight years, after he had helped Erith get his job at the landscaping company.

“Hey James, I need some help.”

“Erith! How’s the moon treating you?”

“Not so good. I didn’t realize it was raining last night and… well, my house looks like it got flooded,” the elf sighed.

“Shame. Hope you don’t expect any special treatment, best I got is to tell that mutt of yours to take a bath before he comes inside.”

Erith rolled his eyes as he rung out the mop again.

“Duly noted. Actually, I was calling about that abomination I call a backyard.”

“Ah yes, the infamous Dust Bowl. Did you finally decide to do something about it?”

“Yeah. Cichlid pond.”

The line went silent, Erith shrugging off the moment as he continued mopping up after Gara.

“Okay, pond, I understand, but what the fuck is a cichlid?”

“Fish. Sarelin fish, I think. My… friend… is into them and I thought it could be a fun project for us.”

“Hey, sounds like you finally found a mate,” James said through the phone.

“No, we aren’t mates.”

“And yet you’re building a pond for him specifically. That’s not friend behaviour. You like this mysterious guy.”

“ANYWAY!” Erith said loudly. “I dug something of a perimeter last night, and I was hoping you could check it out sometime, maybe help me dig out the rest.”

“Not today, you know we don’t do shit when it rains. I can try to get a few people out there tomorrow though. Naia and Amber could probably plan a pond better than I could.”

“Sounds good to me. Maybe around ten?”

“How about eleven?” James countered. “You understand this is coming out of your pay, right?”

“Pfft, I’ve been saving up to deal with the backyard for years now. I got this,” Erith brushed off. “I’ll be waiting tomorrow then.”

He tossed the phone onto the couch and focused the rest of his attention on the floor. It seemed to take forever before the floor was back to the clean state he worked hard to keep it in.

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning up after Gara. He knew he would probably have to clean up again tomorrow, but that was tomorrow’s problem. For now, he was satisfied.

Finally dressing, the elf slathered a piece of toast with peanut butter and grabbed a banana. Thus fortified, he headed out of the house, getting into his car. Erith needed to talk to Blake, and there was only one way to do that without the man’s phone number.

Erith was going to brave the pack house. On his own.

What was the worst that could happen? They had a guard house after all; he could probably just ask for Blake and they’d get him, right? There was no need to be afraid of someone who could smell every single terrifying thought he had. Surely they wouldn’t try to finish what his uncle started. That would be insane.

The elf sighed as he drove. Years of therapy and he was still as broken as he’d been at the start. He tried. He really did, but fixing that little voice in his head that told him all werewolves were going to take advantage of him…

“It’s you, isn’t it?” he realized. “Fuck…”

Alters affecting his mind, voices telling him how he should or shouldn’t feel. He was a fucking werewolf himself, even if he didn’t like to think of himself that way. Erith was no more a wolf than Gara was an elf. But he was still technically a werewolf, and he was not about to let this irrational fear define him any longer. It would be hard, but he was going to see Blake more often. And if a mystery alter in his head didn’t like it, then they could just say that to his face.

Well, not exactly to his face, but the sentiment still stood. He was done letting his past dictate his future. Granted, saying that was a lot easier than doing anything about it, but fuck it, he was doing things about it now, wasn’t he? It was a first step, and he was allowed to be proud of it.

He just hoped his courage would last.

The stench filled the apartment despite their best efforts to quell it. Honestly, Blake was a little insulted that the smell had the nerve to linger on him even after he had shifted back the next morning. No amount of showers or tomato juice baths could get it off him, and he was about ready to give up.

“I think I found a solution to the smell,” Dr. Marin said, setting a bowl on the counter in the bathroom.

Blake spat out his toothpaste, a grimace crossing his face at the smell of the bowl.

“What is it?”

“Mainly hydrogen peroxide, with a few other choice additions. I found it on the internet, and people say they use it all the time, but you need to wash with it right away. So I’m not sure if it will work right now, but we can hope.”

Blake sighed quietly, reaching for a wash cloth.

“Hold on; let me get out of here before you get all natural on me,” Marin said quickly, backing out of the room. “I’ll have breakfast waiting for you.”

The door clicked closed, and Blake ripped off his shirt, throwing it aside before giving his pants the same treatment. Dipping the cloth, he began running it all over his body, scrubbing at the smell that clung to him worse than anything had ever clung to him before. If only some of his friends had stuck with him like this…

Pulling his mind out of the depressing thoughts, the mage tossed the cloth into the sink, rinsing it off. He jumped into the shower, hot water rushing over his body in a wave of pleasure.

Blake sank to the ground, curling up in a ball under the water with a long sigh. The warmth seeped into his bone, relieving tension he hadn’t even known was there. Even better, his nose couldn’t pick up the smell of skunk. Though that might have been from the peroxide. If peroxide even had a smell. Maybe his nose was just damaged by this point.

Soaping himself down one last time, the mage let the water rinse him off, debating staying in the shower for a while longer. The smell of food decided the matter for him though, and Blake finished quickly. He grimaced at the smell on his clothes, throwing on a fresh pair of pants before leaving the room.

“Hey Puppy.”

Blake spun around, his eyes widening at Erith standing just outside the short hall. The mage leapt at the elf, wrapping his arms around him.

“Hey! I thought you didn’t want to be out here anymore.” he said, his arms squeezing Erith tightly.

“I decided a little character development was in order,” Erith chuckled, rubbing Blake’s head gently. “Besides, I need to run something by you.”

“I… I haven’t had a chance to finish my list,” Blake said nervously.

“Your list?”

Erith’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“Yeah. You said I need to give you a list of what I wanted,” the mage frowned.

“I said I need to know what you want from me. You don’t need an actual list. Unless you want to make one, but maybe that would be better done together?”

“I guess,” Blake nodded. “Um… do you want to see Val again?”

“Sure,” Erith smiled.

Blake led the elf to his room. He grabbed a shirt and pulled it over his torso. The mage could feel Erith’s eyes on his back, something that always unnerved him when he was younger. Now though, the stares didn’t bother him as much. It was almost a game to see how much he could unnerve people with the label carved in his back.

“Hey, so, I had something I wanted to ask you. You know the cichlid pond?”

Blake’s hand flew out, shaking as he looked back at Erith. Nodding, the mage tried to hold back another shake.

“Well, I called some of my coworkers, and they’re going to help us dig the pond tomorrow, or maybe the day after. But none of them know what a cichlid is, so I was hoping you could be there to make sure we set the pond up right. I’d hate for it to be too shallow,” Erith smiled.

“Does this mean I’m spending the night again? Because I got-”

“-sprayed by a skunk, yeah. I know,” Erith chuckled. “You don’t smell too bad right now. I think you got most of it.”

“Okay,” Blake smiled. “But does this mean that you want me to be with you?”

“Yeah, I think it does.”

The elf stepped up to Blake again, wrapping his arms around the mage. Blake returned the embrace, leaning forward to press his lips into Erith’s. His hands lowered slightly, rubbing against the elf’s lower back.

A hand cupped one of Erith’s cheeks, and the elf stepped back quickly.

“But… um… let’s not… let’s not do any of that yet, okay?” he breathed.

Blake frowned, his head tilting down.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again…”

“Not yet,” Erith said again. “I’m just not ready to be more physical.”

“Does that mean no cuddles?”

“Not at all. I guess I should have… I don’t want to have sex Blake,” Erith corrected with a sigh. “I… don’t think I can have sex.”

“Oh… okay. But we can still cuddle,” Blake smiled. “That’s better than sex.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is,” Erith chuckled.

Blake’s stomach grumbled loudly, and he growled back at it, Erith bursting into laughter.

“I guess it’s time for you to get breakfast,” the elf smirked.

“Are you going to join us?”

“Um, sure. If you and Dr. Marin are okay with it.”

Blake grabbed Erith’s hand, kissing him again quickly before pulling him from the room.

“I like you,” he murmured happily, leaning into a half hug as he and Erith walked out to the kitchen.

“I like you too Puppy.”