23. Only Werewolf

Marley groaned and buried her face more into the pillow. But the tickling sensation on her neck didn't stop. She shifted away from whatever that was trying to wake her up from her sweet slumber.

A moment later the tickles were replaced by something wet which caused Marley to let out a small whimper in her unconscious state. She felt a tingly wet thing caressing her neck, making her moan both in frustration and pleasure.

A sudden prick on the neck was enough to snap her out of her dreams. Her eyes instantly opened up only to see the grinning face of her mate. Eden was lying on the bed, just beside her. His head leaning on his right elbow and his other arm resting on Marley's waist.

"Eden! What are you doing here?!" Marley at once jerked up, falling back a little. She was still in a slight haze.

"I came from the window." He smirked, making Marley gasp in horror. "Chill. I just asked Mrs. Sherman for the keys." He laughed. "God You should look at your face."

Marley grimaced. "Get off!" She gave him a rough shove, making him roll down on the wooden floor with a thud. She winced at her own roughness but quickly got over it as she knew Eden had allowed her to make him fall because her soft push was nothing against his supernatural strength.

"Someone's grumpy in the morning." His muffled voice came followed by chuckles. He sat up and looked up at frowning Marley. "Only last week you were snuggling into me. I bet you enjoyed that. Come on, Don't you want the repeat of that?" He raised his eyebrows and smirked in a seductive manner.

Marley blushed as the memories of their date night came rushing back to her mind. Eden's warm body had lulled her into the most comforting sleep that she ever had in her lifetime. And of course she wanted the repeat of that, however, her shyness and Eden's already big ego stopped her from admitting that.

"What are you doing here and what were you doing-" Marley stopped and touched her moist neck, which only a few minutes ago was being assaulted by Eden. "Did you bite me on the neck?!"

"Don't worry you woke up before I could leave a mark." Eden grumbled, giving away the fact that he really wanted to leave the said mark. "Although it would have been nice to see you walking around with my hickeys."

Marley just looked at him in bewilderment for a whole minute. He was shameless.

"T-that's so indecent, Eden." Finally she stuttered, not having any other words to chide him.

"By now you should know my lovely mate that I am everything but decent."

Marley knew better than to venture more into this argument because she knew she wouldn't be winning it. So, she just asked him his reason for showing up at her bed at such ungodly hour of Saturday morning.

"As you already know that I am not really a genius when it comes to calculus and Mark told me that you actually are. So, I want you to tutor me today and tomorrow for Monday's test," he replied innocently, making her glare.

She was mercilessly woken up at seven in the Saturday morning to listen to this. She felt the urge to stomp on him with a lamp beside her bed. "Really Eden?" She huffed.

"Okay, I missed you and I didn't want to let go of any opportunity to be with you, kiss you, cuddle with-"

"Eden a little heads up would have been nice before you decided it all for yourself." She cut him off angrily. Marley's patience always ran thin in the morning and Eden was surely pushing it. She was definitely not a morning person.

"Okay, I am sorry. Next time I'll tell you.." Eden looked at his mate whose glare intensified. "...I'll ask you." And quickly changed his words to calm her.

"Good." Marley pulled herself up from the bed and her eyes landed on Eden's bag lying on the desk. It looked too stocked up just for carrying few books.

"I brought some clothes with me. I'll be staying the night." He answered her unasked question. Marley frowned at his casual tone, making him quickly add "If only that's okay with you?"

Eden was always used to getting things done the way he wanted without giving much thought to others opinions or feelings. He remembered Callum's word which he said a week ago. *Whipped*. Now, he found himself so getting whipped by his mate. He never thought he would ever be this inclined to please her. But honestly, he didn't mind it at all. In fact, Werewolf was liking it because bossy Marley was adorable.

Marley nodded but immediately added "You'll be sleeping on the floor."

Eden instantly grinned because both he and Marley knew that it wouldn't be happening. Still, he nodded just for the sake of it.

***********

"I give up. It's no use, I'm going to fail." Eden groaned, throwing the pencil on the notebook lying in front of him.

Eden buried his face into the lap of the couch, growling in frustration. His back was aching because of being in the same position for god knows how long. However, sitting on the floor and resting his back on the couch which was filled with Marley's scent took away some of the irritation.

"It's not even been an hour and you are already giving up." Marley looked at him stretching his back and yawning. She shook her head at his lack of sincerity.

"I have no clue what I am doing."

"How about we take a break? You clearly need it."

Eden nodded, desperately wanting to get away from the mind boggling books. He immediately moved all the stationary which was separating him from his mate and laid down on the floor, resting his head on Marley's lap, who was little taken aback by his sudden action.

"When I said break, I didn't mean you sleeping... like this," Marley sighed, looking down at Eden who had his eyes closed with a small smile tugging at his lips.

"I am not sleeping. I am meditating."

"Uh-huh."

As Marley focused her eyes more on him, she saw small dark circles under his eyes. Now, when he wasn't laughing or teasing, she could see how exhausted he looked.

"Eden, are you sleeping well at night?" She asked and started running her hands gently through his soft hair.

"What's with the sudden concern?" He smirked but it faded when he opened his eyes and saw the serious face of his mate.

"Is it about those rogue hunters?" She asked knowingly. "You can talk to me about it you know," she added when she saw him hesitate.

"I just don't want to burden you with all the things that are not your concern." He immediately regretted his words as he saw Marley's face fall down.

"Seriously, Eden didn't you say that now I am part of your pack since we are mates. So, I guess it is my concern and seeing you this tired makes it more of my concern. I know that I cannot be much help considering I am just a human but knowing what's making you lose sleep at night won't be a burden to me."

Eden met her determined eyes and saw a flash of hurt in them. He knew she was right. A werewolf could always confide in their mate. Mates were the gift to their species to keep them grounded and they act as an anchorage for their heightened emotions. It was no wonder that Eden always felt at peace with Marley whenever he was distraught.

"I am sorry and you are right. I shouldn't keep things from you." He smiled seeing Marley's eyes soften. "We are working day and night to find those hunters but still we haven't gotten a single clue of who they are. My father always knows how to deal with these kinds of situation but this time he is just as clueless."

Eden was worried about his pack's safety and this unknown threat was keeping him on edge.

Marley remembered the last time they had a talk about the same matter. A specific memory about their conversation flashed into her mind.

"What about that kid who gave you his drawing. He said they are some kind of monsters. Did you look into that?" She asked, recalling Callum's words.

Instead of replying, Eden fished out his phone from his back pocket and after tapping few fingers on it, he handed it to Marley.

The screen at her hand showed the picture of a roughly drawn strange creature on the disheveled piece of paper. The creature had big bulging body coloured with blackish-blue colour. Its face looked like that of a wolf, however it was standing only on two legs. Marley couldn't miss the big red dots scribbled where his eyes should be. Even though the drawing looked childish but the kid had done a great job at conveying his imagination. Or memory.

"You really believe that this thing exists," Eden said.

"Werewolves exist, so the existence of another supernatural doesn't seem far-fetched." Marley handed his cellphone back.

"Kid was about eight or nine. We cannot take his words seriously. I've spent plenty of time with Ethan to know children have wild imagination." He scoffed.

"Eden you said yourself humans are unlikely to do this. Maybe, the kid's right."

"No, if there were other creatures like us we would know. For God's sake, we are werewolves!"

"What if they are hiding from you just like you are hiding from us humans," she countered with raised brows.

Eden chuckled. "Now don't say that you want to meet a vampire too. Oliver told me how Sanjay almost cried when he found out that there are no vampires. You are not going to cry. Are you?"

Marley shook her head and smiled. "I don't know maybe they do exist, you might just not know." She looked into his eyes. "I bet they would be a lot more handsome than you with all that sparkling skin, dreamy eyes and blood red lips." She stopped, seeing Eden's eyebrows knitted to glare at her.

Now it was her turn to laugh. "Eden are you being jealous of someone who doesn't even exist," she mocked. The wolf boy was worse than a toddler when it came to his temper.

Eden didn't reply but grabbed her head and pulled it down, connecting their lips for a long kiss. He bit hers eliciting a small whimper from her. It was his way of punishing her. After devouring and biting them, he finally let go when they both were out of breath.

"Marley, I am your only werewolf. No other vampire or supernatural will ever be as tempting as me." He smirked, seeing her beautiful red face which was perfectly matching her red swollen lips.

"Break's over," Marley said abruptly, breaking from his intense stare, and winced at her tiny voice. She pushed him off her lap and started collecting all the books which were discarded.

Eden, lying on the floor, just watched her in amusement with a wide grin. *He could never get over her adorable shyness.*