20. Dark and Mysterious

Kiara beat Marley in reaching down the living room and swung open the front door. Marley just stood at the end of stairs awkwardly with a giggling Rachel beside her. Her friends seemed extra hyper today.

"Where's Marley?" She heard Eden's impatient voice from the threshold. Marley's lips tugged up into a small smile at his childish behavior.

"Too impatient." Kiara tsked shaking her head, making her blonde hair swing along with it.

"Why are you here? Don't you have anything better to do other than keeping me away from my girlfriend?" Marley could picture a scowl itching on Eden's face.

Eden and Kiara always had a mutual disliking for each other ever since they met. Even when Kiara had been dating Mark, they never got along. There was some stupid rivalry between them and each tried his/her best to put down the other. But Marley noticed that whenever Eden talked about Kiara, his eyes held concern and the way they taunt each other reminded her of siblings.

"Apparently not." Kiara smirked.

Marley decided to end their senseless quarrel and headed for the door. As she stepped beside Kiara, her eyes instinctively raked Eden up and down. He looked extra heavenly with a buttoned-up grey shirt, that fitted him perfectly allowing one to imagine his sculpted abdomen, and skinny black jeans. Her mind got clouded with how handsome he looked.

When Marley's eyes met Eden's, they immediately darted to his chest, unable to take the fierce intensity of his gaze. Eden, like always, didn't show any restraint in gaping at her. His eyes took in every tiniest feature of hers, evoking goosebumps on Marley's body, wherever they landed.

Kiara pushed Marley forward, making her fall in Eden's arm and mouthed 'You're welcome' to him before shutting the door behind them.

"Eden, you can let go." Marley said in her low voice, not sure if she really wanted him to let her go. It felt so warm being in his arms.

"You are such a tease." Eden muttered, not taking his eyes off his beautiful mate. He tightened his grip on her waist before letting it go. To him, Marley always looked beautiful but today in a blue silk dress, that allowed his eyes to bask in her perfect curves, she looked extra ravishing. His mind couldn't stop thinking about all the sinister things he could do to her. Eden mentally scolded himself for thinking like a sex-crazed beast, even though he completely blamed Marley for it.

Marley dared to glance at his face once again. She was taken aback by all the emotions swirling in his brown orbs: possessiveness, want, lust, adoration but dominant among them was love. *Love.*

"We should go." Marley chose to cut the heavy silence.

"You'll be driving."

Marley stared at the boy in front of her wide-eyed. "Eden, It's Audi. I don't want to bump it. I am not qualified to drive such an expensive car. I'll tell you the address, you can drive." Sure, she had her driving license but she was used to driving her father's cheap SUV. Marley didn't want to scratch such a perfect piece of metal.

"Stop being such a buzz kill. If you want to 'surprise' me then take it all the way." He tossed the keys to her, who almost dropped them. "And baby, you are qualified for a lot of things." He cooed lovingly at the end.

"But-"

"No buts and even if you bump it, it won't matter. I am rich but if you'd be so keen on paying for the damage, I'll be glad to offer you other ways that won't involve money." Eden sported his smug smile, making Marley frown at his innuendo.

Marley had noticed that Eden and his family never flaunted around their wealth, even though they were loaded. Browns believed in leading a simple life and gave away most of their wealth for the pack and other charities. However, they weren't completely aloof from the luxury and one of the prime examples of it was Eden's expensive car.

Marley didn't argue further in the fear of his another obscene remark and quickly got in driver's seat. Eden followed her suit and took the passenger's. When her hands gripped steering wheel, she took a deep breath and sent prayers to whoever that chose to listen to her.

Seeing Marley's brows scrunched up in concentration and her lips in a thin line as she drove made Eden smile. He decided to take full benefit of not being on driver's seat and looked at her without wavering.

"Eden, stop staring. It's kind of getting weird." Her eyes never left the road.

Flash!Flash!Flash!Flash!

The flash sound made Marley snap her attention at her werewolf. She found him holding his phone, with its camera pointed at her. "Eden!"

"What?! You don't want me staring at you, so I might as well look at your photos." He started fumbling into his cell phone with a Cheshire grin. "You look so good. If I can just..." He trailed off, leaving Marley flushed.

"I am driving!"

"And you look absolutely stunning doing so." He countered, still looking at his phone.

The rest of the car ride to their destination went along like that with Eden letting no opportunity pass by to make Marley flustered with his lewd remarks. After one hour journey, they stopped in front of a diner. It looked like a regular restaurant, however, it had no windows, restricting an outsider to have any glimpse of inside. It was located almost at the boundary of Marshville and its neighboring town, Eastbourne.

Eden had never been to this part of town and even if he had, he didn't remember ever seeing this specific diner. So, he was genuinely surprised.

"It's new. It only opened a week ago." Marley spoke, immediately drawing Eden's attention, who gave her a breathtaking smile.

He took her hand and they walked side by side. With each step towards the diner, Marley prayed that Eden wouldn't be disappointed. She hoped to pull this off.

When they entered inside, Eden's mouth flew open as he gaped around in astonishment. "How did you?"

"The other day when you took me to your room, I figured you like 'Game of Thrones' and then I found this place." She replied. Marley looked at the boy beside her to gauge his reaction. "Do you like it?" She asked, hopeful.

The brick-paved walls of the large room were covered with the various house banners and sigils of Eden's favorite show. The tables and chairs looked ancient and made of hardwood. There was a large LED at the front, playing the episode 'Hardhome'. The waiters and servers were all dressed in medieval outfits, that went perfectly with its ambiance. The dim lighting gave the place a more lively look. *It was perfect.*

"Marry me?" Eden mumbled, still stunned but a second later he shook his head and said, "Nevermind, of course, you are going to marry me," before Marley could reply.

Someone cleared their throat and they both turned around to face a middle-aged man. "How may I help you two?" He asked politely.

"We have a reservation for two under the name Miss Seyfried." Marley replied with the same politeness.

"Yes ma'am, please follow me."

Soon, they settled in a small booth, which was comfortable despite being made of wood.

"I know I say this a lot but you are something. I love it!" Eden complimented Marley. She felt a wave of happiness pass her by looking at his ecstatic face.

"The owner of this place is a nice man. Mrs. Sherman introduced me to him and he invited us here. The moment I entered, I knew you would love to come here." Marley looked back at Eden with a slight insecurity. "I know it's not romantic, it's just that I wanted to be the person who brings you here for the first time." Like an instinct, her eyes drifted to her lap, showing her vulnerability.

"Romantic places are overrated and this place is really cool. So, stop being so insecure, I love it and I am just not saying this to please you." He gave her one of his charming smiles.

"You could come here when the new season is released. Mr. Jenkins, the owner of this place, said that watching the show with other fans makes the experience better..." Her eyes glinted as she rambled and Eden saw a not so shy Marley and as always she was beautiful. He immediately became possessive of this side of her.

"We will come here." He added after Marley completed her monologue.

"Valar Morghulis." A man in a lose brown-colored robe interjected, grasping the attention of the both.

"Valar Dohaeris." Marley greeted back, with a small grin.

"Yeah! Valar Dohaeris." Eden said too, raising his brows in amusement.

"So, are you guys ready to order?"

"Do you guys serve horses?" Eden joked, grinning like his seven-year-old brother.

"No, but we have steak." The waiter replied..

"I'll have one, medium."

"A salad for me." Marley chimed in. The man left them after taking their orders.

********

"I almost cried when they stabbed Jon Snow. He's my favorite person on that show." Marley said as she shoved a half sliced tomato into her mouth.

"Me too." Eden nodded, chewing his piece of meat.

The place served exceptionally good food and both Marley and Eden were enjoying it. They felt comfortable and at ease with each other. Eden smiled to himself, seeing his mate finally opening up to him.

"Eden, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why do you pretend to be all dark and mysterious at school? I mean, you are nothing like that." This question had always swarmed inside Marley's brain, ever since they began this 'couple thing'. "I am just curious because when I am with you I see nothing dark and mysterious. You are as easy to read like an open book."

Eden chuckled and pinched her rosy cheeks in an affectionate manner, making her narrow her eyes at him for being treated like a kid. "I am an open book for you because you are my mate. But I guess you are right I do come off as little broody to others. Well, it all started when I first shifted at fourteen. I was different and didn't want anyone to know that so, I got distant from humans." He whispered the last word. "But a year later, I got eased into being a.. you know... but people's perceptions about me remained same. I didn't mind either, I mean chicks dig for bad mysterious boys. It helped me to get laid so- " He stopped abruptly, realizing what he had just spouted. "Marley, I-" He looked at her and saw her sulking. He uttered every profanity under his breath. He felt like a jerk.

"It's okay." Marley mumbled, half-heartedly. It was not okay. She felt dejected when Eden mentioned other girls. She felt jealous. His words might not have affected her this much a week ago but now they hurt, badly.

Eden shook his head. "No, it's not. I feel like such an asshole." He groaned. "If the places were reversed and you mentioned other guys, I would flip out and trash the whole table or whole fucking diner, who knows?"

Marley nodded, agreeing with him. He would surely do that.

"It's all in the past." Marley said, trying to lighten the tension. She tried to convince herself the same but failed. She wasn't oblivious to Eden's player lifestyle and it had raised some doubts in her mind. She feared that maybe one day Eden would lose interest in her and go after a better girl, who would be confident, good looking and won't stutter when nervous, unlike herself.

She wasn't really good at hiding her emotions and Eden saw right through her indifferent mask that she tried to put up. However, he kept his mouth shut.