Tabitha groaned as she woke up to the sound of Marco’s voice in her head, telling her they had to talk.
She turned on her back as she lay there, trying to wake up. She couldn’t understand what would be so important that he would need to wake her up early on a Monday, the one day that she worked it out perfectly with her schedule that would allow her to sleep in and not have to dread the evil day that followed after Sunday. But she guessed that didn’t matter. Marco wanted to talk, and he wanted to talk right then.
It wasn’t long before she heard a stern knock at her door. She pulled back the covers, got out of bed, and made her way to the door. Her heart started to palpitate. She took a deep breath before she opened the door. When she opened the door, her wolf started to pant as she looked at her mate. Even with the remaining bruises that he had on his face, he looked absolutely gorgeous in front of her. Her eyes turned lustful as she scanned her mate from head to toe.
When Marco saw the look in her eyes, he couldn’t hold back any longer. He stepped into her room, closed the door behind him, scooped her up in his arms, and wrapped her legs around his waist. She put her arms around his neck. He grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her head toward him to capture her lips with his. The kiss was deep and passionate as Marco held nothing back to let Tabitha know that he wanted this. He wanted her. Marco ran his tongue across Tabitha’s bottom lip, and she opened her mouth to deepen their kiss. When they finally came up for air, both of their breathing was labored as they both tried to catch their breath.
Marco laid his forehead against Tabitha’s and said, “As much as I would love to continue this, we need to talk about something else that’s pretty important.”
He kissed her forehead and put her down on the bed. He grabbed the chair that was next to the desk and sat in it, putting some distance between them.
“Now I need you to tell me the truth,” Marco said sternly.
Tabitha gave him a confused look before he continued. He held a hand up before she got defensive and asked what this was about.
“How much do you know about what is going on between Amanda and Hudson?”
Oh, that.
Tabitha let out a sigh as she dropped her shoulders a bit.
“I only know bits and pieces of what happened in high school between them. I probably know more than anyone else about what is going on now. Why, what do you know?”
“Not much. Hudson hasn’t filled me in completely. From what I’ve heard and seen with the way he’s been acting towards her, I assume that Amanda is Hudson’s mate.”
“Yep.”
“And she hasn’t completely forgiven him yet for his past behavior, has she?”
“More or less, yes, she’s trying to. She did ask them if they could try to be friends and see where things go. Of course, this was before he kissed her on Saturday night when he came in and checked on us. Which reminds me…”
Tabitha got up and smacked Marco on the arm. He jumped a little from the hit, but it didn’t hurt. He was more surprised that he was getting hot for something he didn’t know he did.
“Hey, what was that for?”
“Why didn’t you come to me, to help you heal?”
Oh yeah, that. He deserved to get hit.
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to assume that you would help me. We hadn’t had a chance to talk about us being mates.”
“That doesn’t matter. I would’ve still helped you heal.”
Marco moved to the bed, scooped Tabitha up, and put her in his lap.
“I’m sorry,” he told her as he buried his head into her neck.
She nodded.
“Back to Tabitha and Hudson. What’s going on?” she asked him as she pushed him against his chest so that she could see him.
“You know that guy she was with at the movies?”
“Yeah, Calvin. He’s in our History class.”
“Does she like him?”
Tabitha took a deep breath; this was where it was going to get difficult for her. She knew that deep down Amanda needed to accept Hudson and learn about their pack and their secret, but she didn’t want to deceive her friend and tell her mate about what they talked about.
“She’s not sure.” Tabitha shrugged.
She moved off of Marco’s lap and to the chair.
Marco rubbed the back of his neck. He looked nervous. Tabitha sat and watched him carefully. He knew something.
“Marco, what is it that you’re not telling me?”
Marco rubbed his face and then told her. “I guess that guy is in one of my classes, and I heard him this morning talking about some bet and that Amanda looked to be an easy lay.”
Tabitha let out a growl as she got up from her seat.
“What?” she asked with venom in her tone.
Marco put both hands up and tried to calm his mate down before he continued.
“Did you tell Hudson?”
Marco shook his head.
“You are the first person I’ve talked to about this.”
Tabitha was surprised and also pleased to hear this. She sat back down in her seat.
“I’m kind of at a loss for words about this. I went with her to get a sense of this guy and make sure that he was human and not a shifter. Too bad that I can’t sense if a guy is a douchebag or not.”
Marco chuckled.
“Well, you’re a good friend for protecting her. So, how do you think we should handle this? If we go straight to Hudson and tell him, you know the guy is as good as dead.”
Tabitha nodded.
“I think we should let Amanda know what you heard and let her decide. It’s her life. She had been talking about having first experiences, and this will definitely be the first experience for her.” Tabitha smirked and shook her head.
“If that’s what you think is best.” Marco nodded, but there was a bit of hesitation in his voice.
“Are you sure? Cause, you don’t sound like you agree,” she said as she got up from her seat and sat on his lap, straddling his legs.
He wrapped his arms around her waist. “No, it’s not that I don’t agree with you; it’s just that it would have been fun to watch Hudson threaten that boy with his life for messing with his mate.”
Tabitha laughed.
“He may still get to if Amanda tells him what happened.”
“Alright, we’ll do it your way. But if she doesn’t believe you and continues to go out on dates with this guy, then we tell Hudson. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Marco pulled Tabitha in for a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. Her wolf howled with excitement in her head. It was a short time after that they both froze when they heard the door open and felt another presence in the room. They both pulled back from the kiss and turned their heads toward the door. There, standing in the doorway, was Amanda, looking at them both shocked and confused.