Chapter 40

Marcellus made a mental note to thank him in the morning, but quickly ruled out the thought as he realised that he wouldn’t be able to extend such thanks without giving himself away.

Much to his surprise, Anastasia paused once again and turned to glance at him from over her shoulder.

“I know this is a strange request, but could you sit with me until I fall asleep.” She murmured quietly, refusing to meet her eyes as she felt her face flush, and not in a blush. “It’s late and I’m tired, so I should be asleep soon.”

When he didn’t answer straight away, the uneasy smile slipped off her face and instead, was replaced by a grimace.

“You can say no if you want to.” She offered him an out, his silence embarrassing her.

“No.” He shook his head, but was quick to amend his response as his response didn’t quite come out the way he wished it to. “I don’t mind at all.”

“Thank you.” She sighed before turning around and pushing open the door, leaving it open for him as she headed into the bathroom, already dressed in a pair of jogging bottoms and an oversized shirt she had borrowed form Justas. While the bottoms would have been unusually big on her any other time, with her protruding, heavily pregnant belly and the strings to tighten it around her stomach, they remained on her hips and didn’t roll down.

Even though it was technically his room – or rather, an extension of his room as there were two doors in this one, one that led to an ensuite bathroom completely separate from him, and another that led into a small walk-in closet, Marcellus couldn’t help but feel awkward.

While she was his mate and he shouldn’t feel uncomfortable or awkward with being alone with in a confined space, especially during a time as intimate as the middle of the night, there was a cloud of lies that that kept them apart.

All thanks to him, of course.

Not wanting for her to take back her request, Marcellus sat himself on the desk chair on one side of the room and leaned against the back of it as he waited for her to return.

“I’m so tired.” Anastasia murmured through the yawn as she stretched her arms above her head and walked back into the bedroom, completely unaware of the way his hungry eyes feasted on her beautiful full form that was apparent even under the baggy clothes.

He gulped and kept his head bowed, but couldn’t rid his mind of the shape of her perky breasts and the pebbled nipples that poked through her shirt.

“Thank you for agreeing to sit with me.” She smiled softly at him as she reached for the bed sheet and pulled it back before taking a seat on the edge of the bed and slipping under the sheets, fluffing the pillow under her head so she could get more comfortable.

“You don’t need to thank me, Anastasia.” He whispered back at her, a soft look on his face as he continued to watch her, longing to be able to slip under the sheets and just hold her; just hold his mate.

However, for now, that was nothing short of impossible.

“It’s my pleasure.” He murmured quietly.

She hummed and said, “Tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you’re willing to share.” She mumbled quietly to him, her eyes fluttering closed as the promise of sleep teased her, having had a long day even though she hadn’t done much after work.

Marcellus was usually quite a private person but since she, his mate, had asked, he did.

“And that’s the story of my fifteenth birthday.” Marcellus chuckled as he finished relaying to her the wild shenanigans of his most memorable birthday.

Anastasia had laughed through the first half of it and proceeded to prod him with questions every now and again, but he could tell that she was nearly asleep when she quietened in the second half, only humming every now and again.

When a few moments passed and she made no move to answer his question, he knew she was asleep. Well, that and the slight up and down movement of her chest as she breathed lightly.

Unable to resist himself, Marcellus rose to his feet and wondered over to the side of her bed, staring down at his little mate; his little spitfire.

I’ve never seen a sight more beautiful. His wolf whispered quietly, almost as if afraid that one little sound would wake her up.

Me neither. Marcellus couldn’t help but agree.

The longer he stared down at her, the more he regretted all the mistakes that he had made with her already. The first being that he had judged her upon first sight, choosing to make a decision for the both of them.

We can fix this.

I really hope so. He murmured and sighed before leaning over the side of the bed and pressed his lips against the smooth skin of her forehead, reaching a hand out to smooth away her unruly auburn locks that dared to hide her face from him.

“I’ll see you in the morning, my little spitfire.” He whispered the promise against her skin and brushed his lips against the crown of her head before forcing himself to stand up straight and walk out of the room before he finally gave in to his desires and crawled under the sheets with her.

While he wouldn’t regret anything about it, he could only imagine the response he would receive from her in the morning.

Both Marcellus and his wolf chuckled at the thought as he slipped off his clothes and crawled into bed, though it seemed far too big and far too empty now. While his mate slept peacefully in the room next to her, Marcellus couldn’t help but toss and turn until his legs were tangled in the sheets and he had to fight them off in order to escape.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but it appeared that sleep had simply evaded him and instead, all his thoughts centred around the sleeping beauty in the next room, blissfully unaware of the effect she had on him.

Marcellus groaned, squeezed his eyes and pressed his head further back into his pillow, unable to hold himself back any longer.

Even though he knew it was wrong, Marcellus couldn’t help himself. His hand crawled under the sheets and quickly grabbed his engorged cock that had been throbbing painfully for the better half of an hour now, desperate for the release which he hadn’t been able to achieve in days now.

With how sexually frustrated it was, it didn’t help that his beauty of a mate slept soundlessly in the room next door. If she was awake, he had no doubt that she would be able to hear the grunts of satisfaction that escaped him as he continued jerking off to the sensual thought of her.

Picturing the beautiful, womanly curves which had teased him through the thin material of the shirt she wore to bed, he remembered how smooth and supple her skin had been under his fingertips, clear and completely unmarred. A beautiful, bare canvas for him to paint upon.

He imagined the sound of her moans as he leaned down to capture the pebbled nipples in his mouth – the very ones that had teased him earlier – his tongue desperate for a taste of her, but all it took was the thought of her reaching between them to grab his cock, pressing her thumb against the slit that leaked copious amounts of precum, for him to finally shoot his release into her hands.

Groans of satisfaction escaped him as his cock jerked in his hands, the milky semen dripping down his length and onto his thighs, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

It was only when he was completely and utterly spent that Marcellus was finally able to fall asleep with the picture of his mate in mind and a small smile gracing his lips.