<h4>Chapter 120: Mind In Gutter</h4>


    <strong>Eira’s POV</strong>


    "Maybe, by the dawn," I replied. This festival was the celebration of overnight, that I knew, though I had never attended one in my life.


    So, this was the first time I was kind of celebrating it with someone. Though not some fancy party filled with many werewolf couples, having him alone by my side was the huge celebratory thing for me.


    Maybe next year, with him, I’ll be able to attend an official festival. It would be my first time attending a real festival, and if we waited till then, maybe the first mating as well.


    "I am staying with you until they return," he told me as he looked at the clock, which showed the day had just changed. "You should not stay alone at home on this night. Have they always left you alone on the Moon Festival?"


    "They asked me if I wanted to go, but I said no," I replied, not willing to tell him it was the first time ever they asked me if I wanted to go, while before, I was always alone.


    "Were you waiting for me?" he asked. "The reason you didn’t go?"


    "You promised you would return for the Moon Festival, but I thought you couldn’t make it. So, I didn’t want to go anywhere either," I replied.


    "You did well," he said, removing his shoes and getting on the bed. "Or I would have kidnapped you from whatever party they had taken you to."


    I smiled lightly and found him settling next to me in the bed, our backs resting against the cushioned headboard.


    <i>Is he going to stay here for real? That means the entire night with me?</i> I swallowed hard, wondering if we were going to do something again.


    He turned to look at me. "What are you thinking again?"


    I turned my face the other way and shook my head. "Nothing." I didn’t want him to see me in case my face was blushing.


    "Look at me," he said.


    I looked back at him, deciding not to show my thoughts on my face, and...


    "Ahh... that hurts..." My voice was pained as I rubbed my forehead.


    He had finger-flicked my forehead, that too without an ounce of gentleness.


    "That’s for your mind to get out of whatever gutter it’s swimming in," he said.


    Damn. <i>He caught on to my thoughts. He must be thinking this girl looks simple and innocent, but her mind is always in the gutter.</i>


    "I didn’t think anything," I lied.


    He let out a light chuckle and held my chin to make me look at him. "Let me see."


    I removed my hand, and he blew on my forehead gently to make it feel better. Once done, he said, "Don’t worry, once you are of age, both of us will jump in that same gutter, and trust me, I won’t let you out of it ever."


    I felt surprised that a word like <i>gutter</i> could be used in flirting and romance this way. That’s hrious. But whatever gutter he was mentioning, I would happily jump in it if it was with him.


    As if he remembered something, he asked me, "Do you have any cream to apply on bruises?"


    I looked at him, worried. "Are you hurt somewhere? During training..."


    He shook his head. "It’s for you. Any kind of cream will do. Don’t you girls have moisturiser cream or something?"


    "I have," I said. "But I am fine..."


    "Where is it?" he asked, interrupting me. I pointed towards the bedside table. "The drawer."


    He leaned to the bedside table on his side and opened the drawer. There was a round bottle of aloe vera gel. He hummed, as if it was fine, and then turned to me.


    "Look up."


    I offered him a puzzled look, and he said, "I am sure you don’t want your grandparents to see what you did tonight with me."


    Now I realised. Must be the hickeys. I jumped out of the bed and went to the mirror to see.


    A loud gasp left my mouth, filled with utter shock. "I am dead."


    "You are not," I heard him say in a casual tone. "Come here."


    My lips curved into a sad curve as I went to him. He made me sit at the edge of the bed and used his fingers to ease that sad curve of my lips into a happy one. "By the morning, it will be gone. We are werewolves. We heal faster."


    I had no other way but to trust him.


    He dipped his fingers in the bottle of gel and started to apply it gently on my neck and below.


    "How do you know this? Have you done this for your previous girlfriends?" I asked.


    Honestly, it was just an excuse to satisfy my curiosity to know about his dating life. I wanted to know how many shewolves he had dated before me.


    "I never had a girlfriend," he replied, continuing his work on my neck.


    I felt delighted but asked again, "You are an Alpha... I mean... they..."


    He stopped and looked at me, his expression calm and serious. "If you want to know if I had slept with someone, then yes. There were plenty I had been with. Just as you said, I am an Alpha, and our needs we can’t deny. But those were just to take care of needs. I didn’t even know their names."


    Somehow it hurt, but he was being honest, and he did say it wasn’t love.


    "And since the day I am with you, I never even looked at anyone, let alone wanting to touch them. You are the only one, and it will always be the same," he added.


    This was trulyforting now. I could ask for nothing more.


    "Shall I continue now?" he asked.


    I nodded and quickly raised my neck up like an obedient child so he could do his work with ease.


    I didn’t feel shy now that it was his care towards me, and I just watched his serious face, which looked like he was doing the most crucial task. It made me smile a little.