Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.-Chapter 318: Mark me.
Kael.
When Zevran prayed to the moon goddess for strength under his breath, I thought to myself that he was being overly dramatic. That he was simply blowing something so minor out of proportion and then I brushed it off as a joke.
But when Leilani returned after walking off for quite a while with a white ceramic tray balanced in her hands— a tray that contained three steaming cups of coffee, I immediately knew that my brother wasn’t exaggerating.
At all.
I knew then and there that we would indeed need divine intervention to be able to survive this night without giving in to our primal instincts, especially since she was like that— all half naked and cute, and saying just the right words... right enough to send blood rushing to our groins.
A low growl slipped past my lips when her exposed arm brushed against mine. And something about her skin— so soft and warm— sent me staggering backwards for a moment.
"I made you coffee. I figured you would need it," she drawled, waiting patiently with wide doe eyes as we each took a cup and brought it to our lips.
The coffee was an absolute hot mess. It was too thick, too bitter and had too much unmelted sugar swimming across the bottom of the cup; But I wasn’t mad. This was what you got when you allowed a drunk woman to make you coffee.
Her expectant eyes darted from my face to my brothers, and at first, I didn’t understand why she was looking at us that way... like there was something in our cups... until she lowered her lashes like a child who had tried to farm compliments but had gotten none.
My brows shot into my hairline as realization dawned on me and I mused under my breath; "This is soo good!"
At my voice, her eyes lit up. She bounced from foot to foot, regarding me with the smile of an angel and nodded meekly. "Thank you."
Zevran and Caelum, who had at first thought me to be mad, instantly realized what I had just done. They moaned in pleasure as they brought their cups one more time to their lips and muttered;
"It is indeed delicious."
"Yes brother, I love it so much!"
The glee that shone on her face as soon as she heard those words was contagious. It lit up the room like fireworks, and only dimmed when she nodded once before muttering; "Since you all seem to like it, should I make you another cup? Or perhaps prepare you something to eat?"
I blanched. "No!"
The speed at which I said that was so fast that Caelum couldn’t help but begin to chuckle. And while this situation was totally laughable, I couldn’t bring myself to laugh.
The smile on Lani’s face fell instantly and she frowned, folding her arms across her chest as she asked; "Why?"
"Not... nothing!" I stuttered, panicking.
"You do not like it?" She hissed, "...you think it is bad?"
My face flushed. "No... not at all! I think it is good! Very good! I just think you need to rest."
"But I do not want to!"
"You should!" I argued, "you are tired and drunk and have been under the rain for only God knows how long!"
"But if I do not do something!" She shouted, "...if I do not put myself to work, I will not stop thinking. I wouldn’t stop wondering about the one thousand and one ways I could’ve helped Chalice and prevented her death! You have to help me!" As she said the last part of her sentence, her voice broke, thickened with emotions.
I spat; "Okay then, help me take off my clothes!"
The words rushed out of my mouth before I could make sense of what I had just said; And as soon as Zevran heard me, he choked, causing the coffee in his mouth to spill onto his shirt and hands.
Her eyes darted from my face to his and then she shook her head, muttering under her breath; "Zevran would need to take off his clothes too."
And heavens, as soon as I heard that, I momentarily forgot about my own embarrassment and began to laugh... at him.
Like petulant kids, she watched over us quietly as we slowly began to take off our clothes, one piece after the other until we were left in our inner shirts and boxer briefs— Caelum wasn’t spared. And by the time we were done, she picked up our wet clothes and disappeared somewhere in the house only to return moments later with towels!
Bloody Hades, towels!
"Now, you can walk around the house!" She exhaled and with that, walked away, leaving us gaping behind her in stunned silence.
The atmosphere was charged to its highest point. Several pin-like sensations ran from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet as I stepped further into this cozy home that now looked like our doom.
We arrived at the living room moments later to find Lani now sprawled on one of the sofas and wrapped in a thick white bathrobe. Her wet hair dropped down her body, sticking to her face and neck in such a way that I found extremely hot. Her eyes drifted open when she saw us approaching and she smiled, causing my wolf to somersault somewhere within the confines of my twisted mind.
"We could watch a movie..." she murmured sleepily, "...or you could watch me sleep."
"We’ll watch a movie," Zevran answered quickly—a little too quickly, "now sleep."
From the look on his face, it was quite glaring that he was going through just as much torture as I was. His hands were balled into tight fists and his face was stony as he glanced at everything but her face.
And I understood him— perfectly.
It was one thing to be before a sexy woman and another for the sexy woman to be your mate— our mate.
I gulped at that thought and without a word, went to sit in one of the sofas furthest from hers. Caelum did the same too while Zevran, who now looked enraged, was forced to sit closest to her.
The room descended into silence, save for the sound of the TV playing in the background. But just when I had begun to think that this ordeal was finally over, that Leilani had gone to sleep because several minutes had passed and she hadn’t uttered another word, she stirred, lifted her head dreamily and looked at Zevran. Her voice small as she said;
"You still haven’t marked me."
The entire room went ice cold.
Zevran looked like he’d been stoned in the head.
