"No, I want this one, this one's my favourite." The cursor on my Wii remote was hovering over Starships by Nicki Minaj.
Demetri rolled his eyes from where he was slumped—well as slumped as a vampire can be—into the corner of the sofa. "You had to choose the cringiest one, didn't you? There are so many other, better, options."
Felix fake gasped. "That's Ninki-Minjaj you're talking about there."
"See?" I motioned to Felix. "This one gets it. Get up, Tweedledee, it's the most fun you'll ever have. Nicki Minaj will change your life."
"Do we have to?" Afton whined.
"Afton, you sound like a child. As queen, I command you to dance to Nicki Minaj with me. So get your ass up here, and be a grown-up."
One of my highlights of my week was definitely forcing Afton, Demetri, and Felix to play on the Wii with me for hours on end. Fortunately, the three most fun guys around had very little to do on that particular day, so they had no excuse but to join me.
Afton reluctantly stood up and snatched the remote off me with the gloomiest expression possible.
"Sir Afton, I'm not asking you to murder your family, I'm asking you to play Just Dance with me," I quipped.
"And I am," he countered with his arms crossed and his nose turned up stubbornly.
I pulled the hood from my hoodie off my head and pressed play while jumping up and down on the spot excitedly. Throughout the duration of the song, Afton looked like he would rather be doing literally anything else, Demetri continuously rolled his eyes and sighed, yet Felix was having the time of his life while narrowly avoiding whacking me in the face with the remote.
Too many rounds later, Afton sat down and hurled his remote at the wall, which left a large dent in the wall as well as a completely shattered remote on the carpet. All our heads turned to him simultaneously.
"Oh no, well I guess I can't play anymore since there are only three remotes left," Afton shrugged with a subtle grin.
I raised an eyebrow. "Huh, it's a good thing I put in an order just last week for ten more Wii remotes, since I know how you lot love to destroy property during your little temper tantrums."
I knelt down on the plush carpeted floor and pulled a box of brand new packaged Wii remotes out from the cabinet under the TV. Few times had I seen Afton quite that defeated before. He abruptly snatched one out of the box and slumped back down into the corner of the sofa.
"Eli, no."
I sighed. "I didn't even do anything yet, what are you-"
He'd unwrapped the remote and it was neon pink, a colour which he continuously reminded me was the most hideous colour in existence. Felix barked out a laugh and leant on my shoulder to prevent toppling into the TV.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked, trying to stifle a giggle myself.
He looked at me as if I'd actually lost my head. "It's pink."
"Yes. Yes it is."
"Why would you do this to me?"
"What, give you a pink remote? What's your problem with pink?"
"First, you made me dance to Starships. Three times because Felix kept beating you. Then you give me a pink remote?"
"You're the one who hurled yours into that wall," I pointed to the crumbled hole, "during your paddy meltdown."
Demetri pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Afton, just use the remote and we can get this over and done with."
"You want to change the game?"
Demetri and Afton both nodded their heads.
"Fine, let's put it to a vote. Who wants to change the game?" Demetri and Afton's hands shot up. "Who is sensible enough to continue dancing in front of the TV?" Felix and I both raised our hands.
I sighed. "Great."
"Chelsea?" Afton called out towards the door.
A second later, Chelsea came bustling into the room, her long dark brown hair flowing behind her back. "Yes?"
"Just Dance or Mario Kart?" he asked her.
"Hm, close call but Mario Kart. Just Dance gets tedious after a while. Have fun boys…and girlie." She swept out of the room giggling before I had the chance to invite her to join us.
Demetri looked at me with a smug grin and nodded towards the games cabinet. "Fine, fine, you get your Mario Kart," I grumbled.
I grouchily took out the Just Dance disk and kissed it before placing it back in its case and entering the Mario Kart disk. Looking back at Demetri and Afton expressionlessly, I stomped back over to the sofa and sat closer to Felix and further away from Demetri.
"He's not a traitor," I gestured to Felix in response to Demetri's questioning glance.
As soon as the theme tune began, Tweedledee and sir Afton cheered from their seats and high-fived. I hurled a pillow at them which Afton caught with one hand and tossed back at Felix's head. Just as the first race was about to begin, the door behind us creaked open and Corin poked her head in from around the corner.
"Ooh, Mario Kart!" she squealed. "Sorry, got sidetracked, Felix is needed in the throne room."
Felix frowned and hurled the remote at the sofa where it bounced off one of the cushions into Demetri's hand. "I didn't even get to play Mario Kart," he muttered under his breath.
Once Felix and Corin left the room, I reclined back into the corner where Felix had been sitting with a throw blanket wrapped around me like a burrito. I unplugged the batteries from my remote and dropped them haphazardly onto the floor.
"Uh, Eli?" Afton's eyes were still glued to the screen as the game started without me.
"You two play, I didn't really want to in the first place."
While they were racing each other and constant high-pitched sound effects came from the speakers built into their remotes, I stared off into the distance, daydreaming about goodness knows what. During that time, Afton and Demetri had already packed the Wii away again and left the room, not that I'd realised. I was so engrossed in my own thoughts that I didn't even notice Marcus standing behind the sofa, his face above mine.
"Hello, tesoro-"
"AH, SHIT!" I jolted slightly while the blanket restricted my startled movement in anyway.
Marcus lifted me up and placed me down on his lap on the sofa, still wrapped up like a burrito in his arms. "Language," he warned in a chuckle.
"I thought you're attending that trial," I said.
"I am missing nothing vital. My final verdict has already been made, so I came to find you." He nuzzled into my hair and pressed a light kiss to my temple.
We sat in blissful silence for a few moments, the only sound in the room being both of our purring, his slightly deeper in pitch than mine.
I wriggled my arms out from the blanket. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can, bellissima."
"This was kinda something I wanted to ask about before but then forgot. Um, back when there was that whole Romanian thing," Marcus noticeably tensed up a little, "there was…I don't know how to put this without sounding crazy, but I sorta had a vision. Of sorts. Of you, actually. All three of you."
He had a proud little knowing smile on his face. "Yes, I know."
"Why, did Aro tell you about it?"
He shook his head. "Not Aro, no. I am possibly the most knowledgeable immortal in existence when it comes to bonds. Many millennia of research, and you would be surprised to find out what is capable through a true mate bond."
"Like what?" I asked.
"But that would ruin the surprise element," he teased.
I pouted. "Please?"
He sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "That little face you pull will be the death of me, tesoro," he chuckled endearingly. "It is difficult but possible to project current visions to a true mate. I'd never actually attempted to do so before, but it did surprise me when I found out that it had worked on that occasion. You already know that emotions can be read off a true mate, the stronger the better. And we are able to channel emotions through a bond."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that, for instance, at times where a mate is experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety, calming emotions can be sent through the bond, similar to pathokinesis which I do believe is Jasper Cullen's gift. Both Aro and Caius are aware of this, but we haven't had a need to use it thus far, fortunately."
"And you didn't tell me this because…?"
He paused for a moment. "Well, you are aware now. Learning to control a bond as strong as ours is a very difficult skill to master. The true mate bond is the strongest bond in existence."
"It is?"
"Mhm. I sometimes do wish I could show you the brilliant gold colour of our bonds. When they first formed, that is when they glowed brightest for a short period of time, a blinding white, yet they were much…less developed than they are now, almost a yellow colour rather than a metallic hue. Like a living organism, the bond grows and develops further in certain situations, such as the first kiss or when the bonds were consummated. You may recall the exact moment when it feels like time itself freezes momentarily."
My first time with each of them wasn't exactly a conversation topic I would've chosen typically. Hiding my unnecessary awkwardness, I glanced down at my hands in my lap and nodded my head for him to continue.
"That moment is the bond fully forming and completing the development process. If consummating the bond was to be put off for longer than necessary, the bond would begin to strain rather painfully until it is done. Fortunately, that was not the case for us, but there have been many similar cases on record in the past."
"While we're here," I began, "I was going to ask, do mating bites have anything to do with bonds or is that just a creepy possessive thing that we've all started doing for no reason at all?"
He laughed quietly at my wording as I sat up comfortably and let the blanket pool to my waist and around us. "The 'mating bites' are not a necessity in an immortal relationship, which I am sure has been explained to you. It is a personal preference thing, and every individual is different in opinion on it. I happen to be aware that these bites can strengthen a bond subtly, as they have done with us. Some simply do not like the thought of being 'owned' however which is why, as of recent years, the practise has become relatively uncommon."
"I still haven't bitten you," I pointed out.
He caught the blanket before it fell to the floor, wrapping it around me tightly. "That you have not."
There was an awkward pause. "Want me to bite you now?"
"Maybe not in here. I would rather not be able to say that I was given my mating bite in my guards' game room," he chuckled lightly.
"Oh." I nodded in apologetic understanding although I wasn't really sorry.
Without any warning, I felt air quickly moving around us and realised that Marcus had carried me to his quarters. I was now lying on my back on the sofa, blanket still covering my body, with Marcus hovering above me.
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear with a soft smile and my lips gently met with his. One arm wrapped securely around my waist while I began to trail kisses down his jaw and onto his neck. Suddenly, I sunk my teeth into his perfect marble flesh and he moaned softly, his grip on my hips tightening. I withdrew my teeth again and kissed the bite gently, licking out any excess venom.
"You're welcome, babe." I pulled my face away from his neck and smiled.
His lips were back on mine, one hand entangling itself in my hair. "Ti amo, Eliana."
"Ti amo tanto."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: This chapter took a little longer to get out, I'm sorry, it's just my motivation completely left me yesterday. I'm back now though hehe, and with some quality cinnamon roll content because he's baby and I love him and he deserves so much more.
I sort of went into a little more detail about bonds since smeyer didn't go into any detail about Marcus' gift or bonds or any of that kinda thing, so I just went with what seemed to make logical sense. Still, whenever I hear the term 'mate', all I think of is, like, how in the UK some people say 'mate' when talking about a friend haha.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love reading your comments, stay safe, and ily lots!