Cohen spent the next two weeks travelling back home in his wolf form, hunting rabbits and other small game and generally avoiding hikers. Not that humans posed much of a threat, but they were pesky to deal with, especially since he appeared much larger than a standard wolf. The last thing he wanted were newspapers reporting bigfoot sightings or some shit.

He was hoping that this little outing, being away from everyone and his human self would help clear his mind and emotions. After what Eva and her mate, Iris, had told him, he was reasonably upset. They were all on board for helping him until Iris had asked what sort of witch Silas was, and when he had told her he was a Necromancer, the witch looked like she was going to faint.

“And you’re positive that he’s a Necromancer…?” She had asked carefully, her expression changing from comforting to that of pity. Cohen’s stomach twisted uncomfortably.

“Yes, that’s what he told my pack Alpha.” He replied, not liking the look the two mate’s shared. “Why?”

Eva’s mate was quiet for many moments, looking over Cohen. “Necromancer’s are incredibly dangerous, Cohen. I’m afraid we can’t help you.”

“Honey-“ Evangeline began, but her mate simply shook her head.

“We can’t get involved with a Necromancer, Eva. Especially not their mate.” She had whispered and that was the end of it. Looking apologetic, Evangeline had apologized. A wolf couldn’t deny their mate anything.

Cohen’s head was buzzing as they all stood up, but Iris had one more piece of advice to give him before he left. Just as he was about to exit the office, Iris grabbed his elbow. “This might not be what you want to hear, but maybe you should try talking with him.”

Cohen wrenched his arm away with a snarl, “You’re too afraid of what he is to even help me, but you want me to talk to him? Fucking coward.”

He left before Eva could kick his ass for insulting her mate.

Cohen shook his head, he was still crouching behind a bush, remembering that he had just been tracking a particularly fat looking rabbit. It was long gone by now, he couldn’t even smell it anymore, much to his annoyance. Just how long had he been sitting there, lost in thought?

It didn’t matter though, he was close enough to home now that he’d be there by dinner time. Not that he really wanted to go home, but he was pretty sure two weeks had passed. If he didn’t make an appearance soon, his parents would send search parties out for him.

“We should visit him.” Axe’s voice rang clearly in his mind, startling him. The wolf had been particularly quiet since the full moon, not making comments throughout the day like he normally would. Still, it hurt that when he did finally say something, it had to do with Silas. As if the stupid witch wasn’t on his mind most of the time anyway, he didn’t need his inner monologue to be about him too. “We don’t have to engage, but it’s been two weeks, Cohen.”

“We’re going home.” He answered shortly, heading toward pack territory. He was only about a half an hour away, an hour at most. Then he could shower and be a human again. Still, he hated the way his body wanted to move towards the human town, where he knew Silas was staying with his human mother. The bond that had formed between them the night that they had met was taut, pulled thin from lack of interaction and physical confirmation.

Even now, he didn’t know how long he could continue to ignore it.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The rest of the summer went by slowly. His parents had grounded him for disappearing for two weeks, which meant that they were spent training and doing chores around the pack. This was the first summer that he could join patrol, which he did almost every day. Other than the occasional rogue and an incident with a family of migrating gnomes, it was really boring.

The older wolves still viewed him as a pup, so they didn’t include him in their adult banter, and often scoffed at his opinions when it came to politics. He quickly learned it was better to just ignore them, and only really talked to Lennon when they got a shift together.

Needless to say, his summer was shitty.

He was actually kind of glad when school finally rolled around, only because it meant that he didn’t have to be around his pack. He loved his family of course… but he couldn’t help but find his packmates really closed minded and often mean spirited. He couldn’t wait to become Alpha, so that he could start making changes.

All he had to do was get through his senior year of high school.

Lennon was bouncing in the passenger seat beside him, babbling about some human she’d been seeing recently. He didn’t see any reason in messing around with humans personally, but Lennon had always had an interest in them. Apparently, they were sweeter than wolves and much more docile. He figured she got a kick out of dominating them.

Once they were in the parking lot, parking near the other wolves their age, they hung around in the parking lot for a bit, waiting to go inside and find their assigned lockers and their classes and stuff. Cohen knew he was going to have to retake Junior English, having failed it the year before. That was the only credit he needed to make up though, fortunately. He was really only looking forward to cross country try outs, which immediately followed last period, not that he really needed to try out, but he was cocaptian, so he’d be helping Nathan and the coach pick this years team.

His first two periods went by easily, he had at least a few friends in both classes, but it was his third where he ran into trouble. It was the junior credit he had to make up, which shouldn’t have been a big deal. One class full of juniors wasn’t terrible, and as he headed into the classroom the teacher mentioned that there was assigned seating. The desks in the room had been pushed together in pairs. Cohen found his name quickly and sat down, not bothering to see who his partner would be. Not that it really mattered, he pretty much got along with everyone. He pulled out a notebook and sent Lennon a Snap about how bored he was as he waited for the bell to ring.

Cohen smelled him before he saw him. He had been getting whiffs of sage and fresh soil all morning but had just chalked it up to being in the same building. The school was big enough that he probably wouldn’t run into Silas at all, figuring that they’d have different schedules. His head snapped up, immediately finding the blond witch looking over the sticky notes on each desk, searching for his name. He glanced at the empty chair beside him. Lo and behold, ‘Silas Erebus’ was scrawled onto the sticky note beside him, sending his heart into a frenzy.

He had been doing so good, hardly even thinking about Silas. The Moon Goddess must really hate him.

“Oh hey.” A deep voice, one he hadn’t heard in well over a month, except for in his dreams, greeted. Cohen was forced to look up, mouth feeling dry. Silas hadn’t changed at all in the past month, all pale skin and dark clothes. He stuck out like a sore thumb in this southern town, and even now he was garnering looks from the other students. Cohen didn’t have the mental function to decide if it was because he looked like he was chiseled marble or that he dressed like he worshipped the Anti-Christ. “We’ve met before. Camden, right?”

He tried not to feel disappointed that his mate didn’t even know his name. “Cohen. It says it on the sticky note.”

“Right, sorry.” Silas’s mouth twitched, like he wanted to smile. He sat down, his scent becoming stronger now that they were closer. Who knew sage could smell so good? Cohen found himself staring at his neck, the smooth skin free of any blemishes. He wanted to bury his face there, where Silas would smell the strongest.

The bell rang then, startling him out of his trance. If Silas noticed, he didn’t show it.

This was going to be a long year.