Chapter 8

Surely, that can’t be. He murmured quietly, but he didn’t need to take a step closer to confirm or deny anything. The fact was in plain sight in front of him and he would be a fool to try and deny it.

With a heavy heart, he forced himself to turn around and leave the room before he did something that they would both come to regret, him much more than her.

If he hadn’t left when he did, Marcellus feared he would have marked her on the spot. Asleep or not.
***
The house itself appeared small yet homely, a place he wouldn’t mind living in. Unlike his bedroom which followed a strict colour scheme of white, black and a hint of blue to spice things up, his mate’s house was far livelier and more lived in.

He spied her laptop on the small dining table in the kitchen as well as a notebook and pen, which made him imagine her spending hours upon hours there, working and eating. He had no idea what she worked as or did for a living, but he liked to think of her as a creative soul, the exact opposite of what he would describe himself as. What a beautiful contrast that would be.

Unlike the pack fridge which was large, her fridge was small and covered in papers and drawings, clearly created by small children or someone who was just really bad at drawing.

He chuckled at the thought of the latter and continued his silent assessment of his mate’s house until a few more moments passed and he felt like a creep.

Unlike his wolf who was now quietly snoring, Marcellus couldn’t sleep. He shifted around to get into a better position but nothing helped. It was only when he gave into his desires and rounded the side of the house so he was now stood behind it where her bedroom room was located that he felt like he could finally give in and drift off.

Her curtains were drawn but he could make out the faint light from a lamp that she had clearly forgotten to turn off. He couldn’t see her but know that she was there, safe and asleep, was all he needed to join his wolf in dreamland.

Marcellus awoke in the morning to a pesky fly sat on the tip of his nose. He grunted and wasted no time in swatting it away before pushing himself up onto his legs – still in wolf form – and stretched out his sore muscles and body parts from an uncomfortable night of sleep on the cold, hard ground.

Annoying fly. His wolf grumbled as he dropped his jaw to let out an elongated yawn.

It was only then that he realised that her curtains were now pulled back. When he took a few steps back to get a better look, he saw that her bed had been made and her room looked empty.

A momentary wave of panic settled over him as he struggled to locate his mate, but when he heard what sounded like the clatter of a spoon drop in the sink, he rounded the house so he was back to where he was last night; outside the kitchen window.

Neither Marcellus or his wolf were prepared for the marvellous sight that they were about to be blessed with that morning.

Their beautiful mate dressed in a robe and nothing else, with her beautiful auburn locks in disarray down her back as she worked on cooking some eggs for herself.

He could hear the old classical music that she was listening to from her phone, the silk material of the thin robe slipping off her shoulder as she reached into one of the overhead cabinets to grab a plate for her while simultaneously trying to make sure that her eggs didn’t burn.

Marcellus and his wolf couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. While she could cook, she was an absolute mess in the kitchen with absolutely no sense of order of doing things.

It was evident that with most things in life, she just went with the flow. The complete opposite to him.

Marcellus wasn’t sure how long he had been staring at her but before he knew it, she had finished with her cooking – having toasted some toast and poured herself some orange juice to go with the eggs – and took a seat at the dining table directly in his line of vision.

She didn’t manage one bit of her breakfast before her body stilled and her eyes locked with his, her hand floating in mid-air as her lips parted in a quiet gasp.

Much to his surprise, her face contorted into an expression of curiosity and surprise rather than fear. The longer she stared back at him and they maintained eye contact, the faster his heart beat but it was only when she stood up from the dining table and moved closer to the window to get a better look at him that he finally snapped out of his daze.

Throwing his head back, the wolf howled loudly, the sound of it sending a shiver down her spine before he turned on his heels and began back to the pack house. It took everything in him to not turn around to go back to her; to his mate.

With her beautiful deep ocean-blue eyes flashing through his mind, even when he closed his eyes, Marcellus and his wolf returned back to the pack with a wolfish grin on his face even though they had no idea where they stood on this matter.

Either way, there was no denying that she was his mate. Just as there was no denying that his mate was pregnant with another man’s baby.