I'd been lying with Marcus in his bed with my body comfortably pressed against his for the last hour or two. The main evidence of anything occurring between us was the sight of the torn bed sheets and broken headboard above us. All things considered, it could've been much messier to be fair. At least the bed itself was still intact.
I pulled the duvet further up to my chin and snuggled into him further, not so much to stay warm but just because his embrace brought this unexplainable comfort and warmth through my body. He nuzzled into my hair with his hands splayed across my back.
"Have you noticed any changes in the bond yet?" he asked.
"I guess some, yeah. For whatever reason, I can feel your emotions through the bond much clearer than I could when I was human," I replied.
"You may notice that – since we have consummated our bond – you will feel stronger emotions through ours than yours with Caius or Aro. Of course, that will change in due course," he explained, "You may also find being separated from us for prolonged periods of time may become more difficult than before, partially due to your…"
"Vampire-y-ness?" I guessed.
He chuckled. "Yes, 'vampire-y-ness', but at least you now have a better understanding of how we felt when you were away from us all those months ago."
"Ugh, now you're making me feel guilty," I frowned.
"Please do not feel any guilt. Your happiness means more to us than anything else, even if it were to entail losing you temporarily…or permanently…"
"Marcus, you know I'd never leave you, right? Like, this crazy place," I swept my arm around us, "is my home and will be for a long, long time, and I could never be happier about that."
The door to his quarters suddenly burst open without warning and I could feel Marcus tense irritatedly underneath me. Fortunately, it was just Aro and Caius, but it didn't make their uninvited presence any less annoying.
"As I said, never happier," I muttered so quietly that only Marcus could hear which caused him to quietly chuckle and loosen up a little.
Aro had a knowing grin on his face as he held his hands together in usual Aro fashion. "Ah, brother, I see you decided to prioritise dear Eliana's satisfaction over our scheduled meeting. I would do the same if I am honest, since her goddess-like features are simply irresistible. It is almost impossible to keep my hands off her myself."
I rolled my eyes annoyedly. "I am right here you know," I bit out.
"As if I could go without noticing your angelic presence, il mio amore," he sat on the edge of the bed beside my legs and ran his hand along the inside of my thigh from on top of the covers.
"May I help you, Aro?" Marcus' jaw twitched agitatedly.
"Marcus, she is our mate too," Caius pointed out, kicking his shoes off and laying himself down on top of the covers next to me on the opposite side to Marcus.
"I actually do have a name you can use, shockingly enough," I reminded him snarkily but still couldn't help but stroke his soft blonde hair despite my annoyance.
He purred and was about to nuzzle into the side of my neck before he paused and inhaled the scent of my skin there. "Brother, you have marked our mate?"
"So you would prefer the scum to have their teeth sink into her flawless skin?" Marcus snapped.
"But why should you be the one to have claim over her-"
"That's enough!" I placed my hands up between the two of them and my duvet slipped down to my waist, not that I cared if they were staring at my breasts rather than listening, "There happens to be many places on my skin each of you can mark. So what if Marcus got this specific part of my neck? Just mark somewhere else if it's such a big deal to you. If it helps, there's currently another Romanian bite mark just here," I pointed to the spot in my chest were a crescent shape bite mark sat, "so one of you can just bite over that."
I finished talking but I was only met with silence for a few seconds as all three of them gawked at my body as if they'd never seen it before. Boys will be boys.
"Um, hello? Earth to lunatics? Did you listen to a word I just said?" I clicked my fingers which made them snap out of whatever trance-like state they were in in the first place.
"Yes, every word of it, bellissima," Aro confirmed, though I could tell he was lying.
Reaching past Caius, Aro stroked the side of my face with the back of his hand, and I could see from his expression that he was reading my thoughts. A sudden wave of jealousy pulsed through our bond, which was more laughable than anything. He pulled away and continued acting as if he was sane.
"I see you have consummated your relationship with Marcus, cara mia," he forced a smile.
I raised an eyebrow and pulled the duvet back over my exposed skin so that they'd stop staring for a while. "You jealous or something?"
He debated his answer for a second while absent-mindedly tracing his finger lightly across the skin just below my navel. "No, not at all."
"See, you may have been able to lie about your emotions to me before, babe, but because I'm immortal, I can now read your every emotion as they come, and just a second ago, I felt a strong wave of jealousy emitting off you, and then another from Caius after you mentioned it," I told him.
He sighed. "Okay, admittedly I am jealous, and so is Caius," it was then that I noticed the two of them were making skin-to-skin contact, "but do you blame us? With a being as perfect as you, we all have an equally overwhelming desire to take care of you and claim you as ours."
I shook my head with a giggle while blushing at the endless supply of compliments being thrown my way. "Just wait your turn."
"Ah, but that is quite the difficult request," his hand that had been tracing the inside of my thigh began to edge higher but I slapped it away playfully.
"You'll manage. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get dressed here seeing as you didn't hesitate to move me out of my room."
With that, I rolled over Marcus and climbed out from under the covers on the other side of the bed. Marcus had already mentioned where my clothes were in his wardrobe so I didn't really need to look hard, but I was only half way across the room when I felt three pairs of eyes burning into the back of my head. Well, maybe not my head…
I turned around to face them and continued walking towards the wardrobe backwards. "Relax, it's nothing you haven't seen before," I gestured to my body, ignoring where exactly they were staring.
After rummaging quickly through the clothes, I chose out a pair of grey sweatpants with a dark crimson halterneck tank top. One of many perks of being immortal is the speed at which you can get dressed, as I was ready and out of the wardrobe in a few seconds flat.
Once I stepped back out of the wardrobe, Caius and Aro were exactly as I left them but Marcus had somehow already dressed. "You look wonderful, cara mia. Now, we three must leave for a meeting with a newly established coven who have titled themselves the Braunschweig coven," Aro informed me.
I raised an eyebrow. "The—what now?"
"They are based in Germany, and apparently are in a dispute with the Berlin coven. Should you need us, we will be in the throne room for most of the day."
"Have fun!" I called as they disappeared in a split second.
And then there was one.
Unsure of what to do with myself, I sat myself down comfortably on Marcus' sofa. It was only then that I really noticed how much straighter my posture was now that I wasn't human. I found myself naturally positioned with my spine perfectly straight, my feet together neatly, and my hands folded over each other in my lap.
There was a sudden knock on the door. "Uh, yes?" I called.
"Eli, it's us," Chelsea's muffled voice answered.
I was about to ask who else, but then I remembered how much stronger my senses were and could tell for myself that she was with Afton. "Hey, come in."
Chelsea opened the door eerily slowly. "Are you sure? I just don't know how Master Marcus would feel if we were in his quarters, especially without his permission…"
"Eh," I waved my hand nonchalantly, "his quarters are my quarters, and I give you my full authorisation to come join me."
She hesitantly strolled in and settled herself down beside me on the sofa. Afton was trailing just behind but stopped suddenly and it looked like he was sniffing the air for something.
I cocked my head at him. "What?"
He shrugged. "Nothing really, it just smells like sex in here, and you smell strongly of Marcus."
With a roll of my eyes, I sighed and let my head fall to the back of the sofa. "It's a miracle you haven't been fired yet, Afton, you know that?"
"I am a miracle. Everything about me and my presence here is simply just a miracle," was his excuse as he flopped unceremoniously into the armchair beside the sofa.
I picked up the TV remote from the cushion between me and Chelsea, and flicked on the TV. "Wanna watch something?" I offered, not bothering to make eye contact.
Afton turned his nose up at the TV. "Is there anything to watch?"
"I'd give you the remote for you to choose, but I really don't trust you, no offence or anything. Chels?" I held the remote out for her.
We ended up spending maybe three hours or so binge watching 'The Office' in Marcus' quarters. By the end of our binging session, I was lying across the sofa with my head on Chelsea's lap while Afton was reclined back into the armchair, seeming the most relaxed I'd ever seen him.
"Is this what my life is going to be now?"
"Hm?" Chelsea asked, absent-mindedly playing with my hair.
"Like, will I end up spending the next eternity sat here just binge watching TV?"
She reached over for the remote and switched off the TV. "What do you want to do then?"
"Hey, I was watching that!" Afton protested.
"What, the credits?" Chelsea giggled at his disappointed expression.
They both immaturely pulled faces at each other and stuck their tongues out like small children would. Sometimes I did question their mental age to be honest.
"But seriously though, what is there to do?" I asked them.
"Not much…" Chelsea trailed off.
Afton had a sudden look on his face as if he'd come up with something really clever, which I highly doubted he had. "We could play a prank? That's always fun," he suggested.
"Yes, I love that idea honey!" she bounced in her seat slightly, forgetting that I had my head on her lap, "Who would we prank though?"
"…my mates?" I suggested with a grin at the thought of them falling for a petty prank.
Afton inhaled sharply through his teeth. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, El."
"Oh come on, it'll be fun. Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I'll take all the blame," I shrugged my shoulders.
"Oh yeah, as if I would want to get any blame for something like that. Honestly, I'd be," he mimed his head being chopped off.
I sat upright and clapped my hands excitedly with a squeal. "Yay, let's do this then…where do we start?"
"If you want to do a good prank, the twins are usually the way to go," Chelsea recommended.
"Do you know if they're busy?" I asked them, but they simply shook their heads, "Jane! Alec!" I called into the distance, knowing they'd be able to hear me from the other end of the castle.
The pair of them instantly appeared in the doorway and bowed their heads politely. "Yes Mistress? How may we be of assistance?"
"Just call me Eli," I insisted, "come in."
Alec glanced at Jane hesitantly before turning his gaze back to me. "But-but this is Master Marcus'-"
"It's fine, seriously. If Chelsea and Afton are in here, you can be too," I gestured them over, and they cautiously sat down on the rug in front of the TV with their legs crossed since there was no more space on the sofa or armchair.
"So what did you need us for, Eli?" Alec asked.
"So here's the deal," I began, "We decided that we're going to play a prank on my mates i.e. the Masters. Before you bail out on me, I'm taking sole responsibility so I won't let any of you get into trouble from this. Basically, I've been told that you two," I inclined my head pointedly at the twins, "are decent at pranking. Are you in?"
The pair exchanged a similar look of agreement before Jane turned her head back and responded. "As long as you can promise we will not be negatively affected by this, we're in."
"I swear on Fernando's life," I assured which seemed to convince them fully, "so, what do we do?"
Jane had a mischievous smirk on her face, which I really didn't know if that was a good sign or not. "For starters, we'll need rope, balloons, buckets, flour…"
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Author's note: Yay, it's prank time. I'm quite looking forward to getting back into writing all of my chapters humorously as it's been a while since I wrote a remotely funny chapter aha.
Anyway, not much to say this time around, thank you so much for reading this chapter, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to hear your opinions, stay safe, and ily lots!