His Human Mate

That night, after Erick had met up with Hamish's mother, Mary, he laid down on his bed, pondering on what he should do to woo Amber. He knows that it would not be easy, as she was a human and they don't really understand much of how shifter works. And that as the saying goes… the female mind can be very difficult to understand.

He let out a long breath as he stared up at the ceiling, with his arms underneath his head. Luka was beside him, snoozing as usual.

Erick suddenly sat up straight, dislodging Luka from his side. Luka began to bark out its dissatisfaction from being startled to wake up.

Erick laughed and patted Luka on the head. Nowadays, Luka has been growing up quite well. It used to be so small but now Erick could not even carry it in his arms because it was too big. It now resembled more like a wolf, instead of a dog. Its grey mane was thick and glossy, which signified its healthy physique.

Ever since he went for training, he hadn't been going out with Luka, except for that one time where he had to throw the trash. Recently, he heard that Roel was the one who brought it out for a walk. Probably during the next training, he had hoped to bring Luka along. At least, it would be able to go out and run around. And of course, he had to ask the Alpha for permission, which Erick was confident he would get. Not because he has the privilege as the Alpha's son but rather, because there was no harm bringing a wolf to a werewolf training.

Patting Luka on the head again, Erick quickly went to his closet to grab his light jacket and sneakers. He put them on and began to stretch his arms up.

Opening his window, he waved goodbye at Luka, who was whining as if it was sad that it would not be joining Erick on this 'trip'.

"I'll bring you next time when she's ready, okay?" Erick promised softly before closing the window and jumping down.

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Climbing inside Amber's room, he was relieved to find the window unlocked yet was surprised to see no one was inside. He could have sworn that he had smelled her presence in her room. But looking around her room, it seems like there was no one inside.

It was then he could hear the sounds of water running in the bathroom. His face reddened at the thought that he might be able to see her unclothed. He shook his head, diminishing any wicked thoughts. He scratched the back of his head, thinking of what to do. He couldn't possibly go out the window again, could he? Yet, he did not want to be seen as a 'flower thief' [1] or something like that.

He then thought that maybe he should just wait inside and hope that she would not scream in surprise. He then walked towards her study table where there were several crayons and colour pencils laying around on the table. A drawing pad was left open in the middle of the table and he could see glimpses of unfinished drawings. Looking closer, he could tell it was a drawing of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

He chuckled softly. She really was a big fan of Harry Potter.

Flipping over the pages, he could tell that Amber was really good at drawing as well. He was at awe at how lifelike her drawings were. She could capture the emotions and feelings of her characters and put them into her drawings. There was one drawing where she had drawn Harry and Ron in the library. He was amazed at how she even drew the little details of the wall designs and so forth.

He was so fascinated with her drawings that he did not notice Amber coming out from her bathroom, with her towel on her head. She was drying her hair with her towel when she noticed someone out of the corner of her eyes.

She nearly screamed when she saw that it was Erick, standing beside her study table.

Hearing a sound, Erick turned around to see Amber standing not far away, glaring at him with blazing eyes, her hands on her h.i.p.s and a towel dangling from her shoulder.

He then let out a long breath of relief to see her dressed in an old t-shirt and short pants. He wouldn't know what he would do if she came out in just her towel. She will probably scream or tell him to get out, never to come again.

Just then, his nose began to twitch. He sniffed the air and his eyes widened. In seconds, Amber nearly screamed again when she felt someone, or rather Erick standing behind her. His arms wrapped around her, his face nestled between her neck and shoulder as he nuzzled in.

"What the--"

"You really smell good," Erick said, his voice muffled as he snuggled deeper.

Amber sighed. "It's my soap."

He shook his head, still nestling between her neck and shoulder. "No, it's you." Even Dane was purring inside him.

She rolled her eyes and tried to pull away from his grasp but he was too strong. In the end, she smacked him on the back of his head and told him to let her go or she will really scream.

Erick reluctantly released her with a sad frown on his face, looking like a sad puppy who had just lost its toy or bone.

Amber walked over to her study table, her hand holding on to the towel, rubbing her hair dry. She frowned when she noticed that her things on the table were being touched. She turned around with a glare towards Erick and asked angrily, "Did you just touch my stuff?"

Erick shrugged. "Yeah, I did."

"You can't just touch things that don't belong to you!" she said angrily, turning back around as she closed her drawing pad and rearranged her crayons and pencils.

Immediately, she could feel the atmosphere around them became tense and stiff. She turned around to face Erick and was surprised to see him looking a bit… angry? She could have sworn that she could see his eyes changing. Before she could comment on it, she felt him hugging her again.

"You belong to me. Everything that belongs to you also belongs to me. Just like I belong to you," he said. "Don't ever say otherwise."

Amber blinked her eyes in surprise as the towel that was dangling from her shoulder fell down to the floor. She could feel the tension in his body as he hugged her close. His voice sounded so sad that it seems like the thought of not belonging to him really vexed and hurt him.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, rubbing his back. She did not know what she did wrong but she had this feeling that she should apologized.

The two stayed like that for a few minutes until Amber pulled away, picked up her towel and went to bed. Erick followed behind.

She sat down on her bed, her back towards Erick, who also sat on the other side of her bed.

Just as she was about to place her towel on her bedside table, she felt herself being pulled into Erick's arms.

She went stiff as Erick wrapped her in his arms, cuddling from behind.

"Um, Erick?" she prodded with her elbow.

"Give me a second," he said.

But the seconds became minutes and soon after, she could feel a steady beating of his heart. She turned her head and was surprised to see him asleep.

Amber sighed and let him sleep. Though, she does wonder what made him so tired that he had fallen asleep just a few minutes after coming in.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she, too, fell asleep.

The next morning.

Erick stretched his arms up with a yawn as he went into his bathroom to take a shower and brushed his teeth.

Shortly before dawn, he had woken up and smiled when he saw Amber sleeping beside him. Sensing that there was a bit of movement in a room not far; probably Amber's father, he quickly gave her a peck on the lips.

He smiled again when it seemed that the little kiss did not even wake her up.

He quickly went to the window and jumped down before closing it.

Minutes later, he arrived at his room just as the sun was about to rise. He climbed back up to his room, gave a pat on the sleeping wolf in its bed and went straight to his bed to catch up on more sleep.

Once he had showered and eaten his breakfast, he went to his car to pick up Hamish on the way to school. He would love to pick Amber up too but she had told him that she hadn't told her family about their relationship as she wants to take it slow.

Although he respected her wishes, it did not deter his determination and wishes to proclaim to everyone, even her family that she belonged to him. And only him.

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[1] Chinese idiom which means 'to enter homes at night to r*pe women' or a 'r*pist.