Dark Moon (ManxMan)

Christmas at the pack house was cozy and warm. Lights were strung up, there was a huge Christmas tree in the sitting room and another in front of pack house, a request by Cobie.

Colson has bundled up once he had left the house with Aetos but had taken off the large coat once he stepped into the pack house. Aetos, the gorgeous man, had on a blue shortsleeved silk shirt and tight jeans. Colson was a little jealous. He wished he could dress like it was summer all the time.

He knew they still had a couple of things to talk about but Colson was so happy. He doesn't remember when last he was this happy. Well, besides the time he got reacquainted with Cobie early in the year.

They were seated in front of the fire place, Colson in Aetos' lap and Cobie curled around Erik. His bump was already showing through the jumper he had on and Erik couldn't stop touching it. Cobie looked cute and his cheeks flushed. "I've always wanted to know..." Erik starts and Cobie hums.

"What?" Colson asks, fingers playing with the buttons on Aetos' shirt.

"The New York incident."

"We don't speak of that." Cobie and Colson chorus. Erik raised a brow at the two of them and the grip Aetos had on his waist tightened.

"Why? What happened?"

"Nope." Colson says just at the same time Cobie says. "Nein."

"Fine."

Se Ju walks into the room, Randall by his side. They seat on one of the sofas, Randall cuddled up to his doctor.

"Well isn't this a nice change." Colson sings. He remembers Se Ju moaning and groaning and asking him for advice on how to get back with Randall and here they are months later.

"You two look adorable." Cobie says and Randall blushed, the pink tint spreading all the way to his neck. He was so adorable. It's good they got their shit together. They still had feelings for each other and had a child. "So do you, Luna." Randall says and Cobie grins.

It was so comfortable and warm. Colson shuffles even closer to Aetos, any closer and they'll probably turn into one. He kept playing with Aetos' buttons, nose at his vampire's neck, occasionally pressing kisses to the soft cold skin.

"So I'm guessing Colson knows now." Cobie says and everyone turns to them. Colson just stares at his brother. It would figure he already knew about vampires and him being Aetos' mate. The little know it all.

"I told him."

"Did he cry? I told Erik he'd cry." Cobie says, staring at Colson and Aetos with bright eyes. Colson rolls his eyes at his brother. He reached for one of the throw pillows and threw it at Cobie. Erik catches the pillow before it even hits and tosses it to the side.

"No throwing of pillows."

"He started it." Colson replies, playfully glaring at his brother. Aetos holds him even tighter and pressed a kiss to his hair. Colson tips his head back a bit and Aetos presses a kiss to his temple.

Cobie looked like he was about to cry, his eyes were shining and he was blinking rapidly like he was trying to hold back his own tears. Colson loves how well Cobie could read him and how well Cobie knew him. It was the same vice versa. Even though they had spent years apart, they were still close enough to notice everything.

He didn't need to say anything. Cobie damn we'll knew he cried. And he doesn't have a room to talk, he had cried too when Erik had confessed his love for him. Two peas in a pod. That's what they were.

"Wait... what do you mean?" Se Ju asks and Colson glances to the side. Oh. They didn't know.

"Colson is my mate."

"Come again?" Randall says. He leans off Se Ju and stared at Colson and Aetos with wide eyes. "Vampire's have mates?"

"We do." Aetos says easily, softly stroking Colson's arm.

"So Pytor?" Se Ju asks.

Colson shakes his head. "Can't say anything. You've got to ask him."

"But he's mean."

"Says the man who can turn to a six foot four wolf." Cobie replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Colson wasn't sure why people thought Pytor was mean. He has even noticed some pack members were scared of him too and it's funny for various reasons and not just because they were giant wolves.

It's funny because Pytor was a soft pink bunny but with a sharp response for everything. Like imagine a bunny with pink boxers on and sharp fangs and that would be Pytor.

"But isn't Colson gonna die before you?" Randall asks and then promptly slaps his hands over his mouth. We Ju shakes his head at his mate, Cobie also shakes his head while Erik let out a low growl, making Randall go pink again.

It feels weird hearing someone voice out your thoughts. Only this time he couldn't push back the thought, it was right there. Especially in the heavy silence.

"Come with me." Aetos says and Colson nods, he wraps his arms around Aetos' neck and in the blink of an eyes they were up in Colson's old room.

Colson takes a seat on the bed while Aetos locks the door. He was fine. Cross his heart and everything.

"I know we said we'll talk about this later Bu-"

Colson holds a finger up. He waves a hand, a tiny bubble appear. He spreads his fingers apart and the bubble grows big enough to contain half the room. Precisely the bed, Colson and Aetos. It's so no nosy wolf would listen in and if they did it would sound muffled like they were underwater.

"I love when you do that."

"What?" Colson asks..

"Your water tricks." Aetos says, walking closer to Colson. He kneels before Colson and takes his hand in his. Colson giggles, leaning forward a bit and pressing kisses to Aetos' face.

"Thank you."

"So..."

"So..." Colson says.

"There are three choices. I could turn you." Aetos says and Colson holds his breath. "I could mark you and heal you with my blood and it slows down your aging or you mark me and I turn human."

The last part caught Colson's attention. Actually all three do but the last one especially. Colson didn't want to live forever. He wanted to grow old with the man he loved and complain about back pains.

He liked the third one but he's willing to do any of the other two. It wasn't just his choice. It was Aetos' too.

"What would you like?" Colson asks Aetos, squeezing his hand a bit.

"I would like to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, always will." Aetos replies honestly and Colson smiles albeit a bit wobbly.

"Aetos..."

"I... have always wondered what it would be like growing old with the man I loved. I've always wondered what it would feel like for me to love someone so much I give up my immortality. Immortality means shit to me if I have to watch you die, being deathless means shit to me if i lose you. I love you."

"I love you too. I love you so much." Colson says, closing the distance between them and pressed their lips together. The kiss soft and light, warmth shooting up Colson, all the way to his toes.

When they pull apart, Colson looks at Aetos'. The vampires grey eyes had it usual bright glint, he looked so sure. It makes his warm and happy to know Aetos loved him this much.

"Aetos. I could turn, we could try the marking thing too. You can't keep saying yes to me all the time."

"I'm only saying yes to you marking me because I want this too. I've been alive for too long, I have been this way for too long. I want to settle down and I want to do it with you. We've still got time. Whatever you decide." "We've still got time. I'll let you know."

Colson knows what his answer is. He knows the answer but he needed to give them both time to really think about their decision.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" Aetos asks, moving close so he could rub his nose against Colson's in an Eskimo kiss.

Colson couldn't help but giggle. He had heard that a thousand and one times today and he wants to hear it for a long long time. "I don't think so."

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"And I love you too, you silly vampire." Colson says, sneaking a kiss before leaning back. Aetos smiles at him and it's even brighter than the sun.

"Want to see what gifts I got you for Christmas?"

Colson even glows brighter than that. The bubble he had created around them pooped and Colson gets to his feet so fast. It had taken him a while to find the perfect gift for Aetos, so he wanted to know what he had gotten. "Let's go! Let's go!" Colson says, bouncing on his feet. Aetos chuckles as he got to his feet. They walk out of the room hand in hand, when they get to the sitting room they find Cobie snacking on Doritos, dipping them in the bowl of clam chowder soup.

Colson looks at Erik and raised a brow. "You can't keep encouraging this."

"What Cobie wants Cobie gets." Erik says, softly stroking Cobie's arm

"Same thing Aetos does. What Colson wants, Colson gets." Cobie says around a mouthful of chips. And it's true. Huh. They are lucky sons of -

"Can we just open the presents? The kids did theirs this morning and only ours is left." Colson says. He falls to a heap in front of the Christmas tree and starts looking for anything with his name on it.

"Can you pass mine?" Cobie asks and Colson does. Randall comes to sit beside Colson on the floor as he searched for his own gifts.

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"I'm sorry for springing up your mate's immortality and your mortality on you." Randall says and Colson gives him a soft smile. He places a hand on Randall shoulder. "It's okie. We talked and it's fine."

"Still..."

"It's fine, Randy."

"It's Randall."

"It's Randy now."

Colson winks at the Omega before turning back to look for more presents. He also got out some of Aetos' gifts and set it at his feet.

Cobie opens his gifts first, cheering when he sees the set of knives Erik had gotten him. It was so shiny, Colson could see the bright glint from where he was on the floor. "They're beautiful." Cobie says, running his hand over the case.

"They've got nothing like you."

"I don't know about that. You're just as gorgeous and just as sharp when you're trying to put down bad sons of bitches." Aetos says and Colson turns to him. His mate described Cobie perfectly and even Erik seemed to agree with the way he was nodding his head. Even Se Ju and Randall stemmed to agree.

And it's not like Aetos was lying. They had all seen Colson with his guns. His brother could be terrifying when he needs to be.

Besides the knives, Cobie also got a nice albeit expensive cashmere sweater from Aetos, a couple of Blu-ray dvd, a couple of clothes, an expensive watch from Jesse. There were still a lot of gifts for Cobie under the tree and around the tree and even upstairs according to Erik.

His and Erik's presents were just the same, so Colson goes next. He unwraps the first present and whistles when he brings it out. It's a bo staff. A collapsible bo staff.

"Oh my god, Aetos."

Aetos had a smug look on as he stared at Colson.

"Really?" Erik says.

"Yes, Alphie? Do you have something to say?" Colson says, voice saccharine and Erik raised his hands up in surrender.

"It's different from the guns."

"That's because I wanted to try something new."

"And the other day we watched Karate Kid a-"

"Not the Jaden Smith one right?" Cobie asks as she takes another bite of his concoction.

"Please not that crap. The 1994 one." Colson says, pulling the bo staff out until it was full length. It was strong and a -

"Is this silver?"

"Yup and the other end is wooden. You can kill any creature with that." Aetos says and Colson gets off the ground and runs right into Aetos' arms, pressing kisses all over his face. "It's so fucking amazing."

"An amazing weapon for an amazing man." Aetos says, holding onto Colson just as tightly. Colson heats Cobie asks Erik.

"Are we as cute as that?"

"We are ten times cuter than that."

They were all interrupted by someone walking into the room. Colson has to hold back the epic eye roll he was about to throw Gabriel's way. Gabriel was staring at the six of them, hands on his hips and lips pursed. He had on a red beret and a black gown and white sneakers.

"I can't believe you're all having a merry Christmas while Michel is locked up there."

"Look, lost mime from Paris, we were having a good time before you appeared." Colson starts but stops when Erik gives him a pointed look.

"He said he didn't do it. It was a shadow that attacked Se Ju." Gabriel says, glaring at Colson.

"Gabriel, now is not the time." Cobie says and Gabriel pauses, he looks like he was about to same something when Aetos snarls, fangs out and eyes red.

Planning your weekend reading? Ensure you're on 05s.org for uninterrupted enjoyment. The next chapter is just a click away, exclusively available on our site. Happy reading! "Gabriel, Michel has agreed to stay in his room, as his way of showing, of proving, he isn't the one doing all-"

"He's in there to prove himself. He knows what he's doing. You should too."

"So before you snap at me, go talk to him."

Colson understands why Gabriel was acting like a pain. If it was Aetos locked in, Colson would have been a hell of a pain. In fact, he'd be an hundreds times more a pain that Gabriel was being. So he's trying to be more understanding. The little bitch was just making it hard. Colson was tempted to smack him with his bo staff.

Gabriel looks at them and turns around with a huff. Erik presses a kiss to Cobie's head before going after his brother.

Randall and Se Ju who had been silent during this quickly took their leave, leaving Colson and Aetos with Cobie.

"I don't like the way he talks to you."

"Well, I find you hot. You should snarl more at my haters." Colson says and Cobie snorts. Aetos' grip tightened around Colson's waist.

"You two are gonna make me barf."

"You should have thrown up eating that abomination." Colson says, gesturing at the almost empty bowl of doritos and chow soup.

Cobie flips him off, giving him a pointed look as he does so. Colson smiles sweetly as he flips Cobie off too. Aetos just shakes his head at the two siblings. They must have been horrors growing up.

"You two a-" "Darlings?" Cobie asks.

"Cupcakes?" Colson adds and Aetos bites back a snort. The last thing he wants is an elbow to the side and he knows Colson would do that and more. Needless to say, he didn't know what Cobie would do.

"You two are sweet." Aetos says, patting himself on the back for a nice save. He counts t as a win when Colson cuddles closer to him. The rest of his presents were unwrapped on the floor and he also had a couple more gifts for Colson tucked away at home too.

He wonders what Colson night do when he sees the one of a kind anklet he had gotten for him. The twins were trying to move away from guns. They still had their collections but it was something they were working on. That's why Erik and Aetos didn't buy them any. However, if he sees something Colson might like or if Colson mentions something, Aetos would go to the moon and back to get it.

"You've still got more to open."

"I'll do that later. I like my new toy." Colson says, pressing a kiss to Aetos' cheek.

"I hoped you would. Do you know how to use this?"

"I've been trained with a lot of things unlike someone." Colson says and Cobie huffs.

"Hey! I don't have the patience to do karate shit. I liked guns, they were fast and effective. Two shots to the heart and the wolf goes down." Cobie says with a shrug and Colson sticks his tongue out at him.

"You do that one more time and I won't name my kid after you."

Colson perks up at that. "You were going to name y-"

"Of course not, Colson Alastair." Cobie snickered. "You should have seen your face."

Aetos shakes his head at the two brothers. He would never understand how they stayed this close. Colson presses another kiss to Aetos neck, lightly trailing up his cheek before sneaking a kiss. His teeth dig into his bottom lip as he smiles at Aetos.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"ERIK! COME DOWN AND TELL ME YOU LOVE ME!" Cobie yells and Colson winced. He turns to his brother, eyes narrowed as he says.

"You guys do that telepathy thing. Tell him you love him that way, you don't need to tell the house down." Colson says. "You two are a-"

"Blessing?" Colson asks, smiling sweetly at Aetos.

"A joy to have in your life?" Cobie adds with a grin and Aetos just shakes his head again. He decides to leave them be. Erik does come back down, pulling Cobie into his lap. It was fun to hang around like this, cuddled up and warm and with the love of their lives.

"You know what we should do?"

"What?"

"We should call Pa."