Chapter 58

ALPHA MARCELLUS STORM

Tell me again why we’re not at that party. His wolf huffed, not at all happy with having to spend the evening holed up in the office doing some more boring paperwork instead of being down at the baby shower where his mate was. I bet she’s wearing something cute too but instead of looking at her, we’re just looking at some stupid papers.

Marcellus groaned as he leaned back in his chair, rubbing his hands up and down his face in frustration.

Stop putting those thoughts in my mind.

You don’t need my help with that. You think about our mate just as much as me. His wolf snorted. The only difference is that I’m not afraid to admit it.

I’m not afraid to admit anything.

Yeah, keep denying it because that’s definitely healthy.

Marcellus sighed as he squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated with all the grief his wolf had been giving him as of late however, he knew he deserved it.

Despite no part of him wanting to be here right now and every part of him wanting to be down in the den where his mate was currently at, he blocked out his wolf and forced himself to start on tomorrow’s set of work as he had already finished todays earlier. Usually, he would use whatever time he had left to go for a run in the forest or to deal with other pack issues but frankly, Marcellus didn’t trust himself with his mate roaming about.

While her scent lingered on every surface of the pack house – or that was what it felt like to him as Anastasia Mulberry was all he could think about nowadays – he had proven that he couldn’t be trusted. Just thinking of the many times that he had waited outside her room, immensely tempted to knock or lure her out under the pretence of a conversation caused his face to scrunch up into an embarrassed grimace.

A fucking horn dog, that’s what you are.

Oh, whatever. You’re worse than me and we both know it. Marcellus growled, not at all a fan of the sentiment.

Yes. The only difference is that I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Once again, Marcellus rolled his eyes and ignored the jab that his wolf took at him, forcing himself to rise above the occasion as if he were to respond, they would just end up in another argument.

The longer he stared at his laptop screen, the more he thought about his mate, so when he sensed her on the move, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had manifested the movement.

The moment she walked out of the den and began up the stairs into the living room, he was on high alert. As she walked through the living and began down the hallway, getting closer and closer to him, Marcellus couldn’t help but hold his breath in a mix of anticipation and hope. While he willed for her to walk past his office and head into her room as he simply didn’t trust that he would be able to keep his hands to himself, the other part of him, the dominant part of him, wanting her to drop by his office.

So, when she stilled in front of his office door and remained there for a few moments longer than necessary or was deemed normal, he couldn’t help but call out for her, every pore of his body craving her.

“How long do you plan to stay out there, Anastasia?” Marcellus called out to her a loud, booming voice, reaching out to close his laptop to give her his undivided attention, as if she didn’t have it already.

When he sensed her fidgeting on her feet, still out in the hallway, Marcellus couldn’t help but chuckle. When he called out to her again and she still didn’t move, he rose to his feet and took large strides toward the door, pulling it open to reveal the most important and prominent thought on his mind.

Leaning against the doorframe, Marcellus crossed his arms over his chest and watched her through darkened eyes, every part of him very aware of the fact that she was dressed in a beautiful pale blue dress that hugged her voluptuous breasts like second skin and flowing to just above her knees, beautifully framing her heavily pregnant belly.

“Why are you staring at me?” Anastasia frowned lightly

“I could ask you the same thing.” He hummed quietly, cocking a questioning brow in her direction.

She sighed and shook her head, her lips pinched at the corners.

“Did you want to talk to me about something?”

“No.” Anastasia denied with another shake of her head. “In all honesty, I don’t know why I’m here.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.” She murmured quietly in a dazed voice but as his lips stretched into a wide grin, she was quick to snap out of her daze. “Actually, I’m here to ask you why didn’t you come to the baby shower?”

“I didn’t realise my presence was required there.”

“Not required,” she rolled her eyes. “But it would have been nice to see you there.”

Marcellus watched her quietly as his lips twitched at the corners, not even bothering to hide the smile on his face as he stared back at his mate.

“So, you dropped by here to tell me that you missed me?”

“No!” Anastasia huffed, a deep frown now on her face as she glared daggers at him, not at all appreciative of his choice of words. “That’s not what I meant at all! Stop trying to twist my words.”

“Why are you getting so defensive?”

“Why are you so annoying?”

“Okay, okay!” Marcellus threw his head back and laughed as he held his hands up in surrender, wary of the fact that she would strike him for getting on her nerves. “I was caught up with some work so I couldn’t make it. I’m sorry.”

Anastasia continued to purse her lips as she stared back at him, her eyes narrowed but when he cocked a playful brow, her lips twitched up at the corners and she sighed, finally caving in.

“You don’t need to apologise.” She shook her head softly. “I just thought that you had gone back to avoiding me.”

“Not this time.” Marcellus was quick to deny, already feeling like an idiot over the first time when he was stupid enough to believe that ignoring his mate would mean that he would be able to resist her. Unfortunately, that also meant that he had slipped up over his choice of words.

“So, you were ignoring me last time!”

“Okay, fine. You got me there.” He chuckled, his hands stilled raised in the air as she watched him through narrowed eyes, her baby blues sparkling up at him from the overhead lights. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“I can’t think of anything now but I’ll let you know when I do.” Anastasia informed him, struggling to keep the grin that threatened to take over her face.

“Are you blackmailing me?”

“No, just stating that you owe me.”

We’ve got a negotiator on our hands! His wolf chuckled along with him, highly amused by her antics.

“How about I start by walking you back to your room?”

Anastasia chuckled and rolled her eyes playfully, gesturing down the hallway where her room was only two doors down.

“You know my room is only down here, right?”

“Yes, but we can never be too careful, especially with all these big bad wolves around.”

Anastasia snorted before following it up with a giggle as she turned on her heel and beginning down the hallway, not needing to glance over her shoulder to know that he was following behind.

Not even a moment had passed before she came to a stop in front of the third door with Marcellus right behind her.

“Well, here I am.” She murmured quietly as she reached out for the door handle, turning her head to glance at him from over her shoulder.

“Yes, you are.” Marcellus murmured quietly, unable to look away from the beauty in front of him, currently staring up at him as if she wanted to ask him to stay. “Is there something else you wanted to ask me?”

“No.” Anastasia answered quickly. So quickly that it was evident to him of her hesitation and indecisiveness, only choosing to answer that way as she had believed it to be the right answer.