When I entered the hall the next morning, I took sight of Shane, Aiden, Lizzy, Louis, and Sebastian sitting there having breakfast. Aiden and Lizzy busy annoying Louis about something while Shane sat there reading newspaper and Sebastian looking around.

"Good morning, darling," Sebastian greeted me while he patted the chair next to me.

"Good mor-" I was interrupted by Aiden.

"Someone had a rough night," Aiden said to only get a smack from his father, Shane.

"Oh wow," Lizzy whistled looking at my neck. I turned beet red at the comment. Before I could comment anything about it I felt a pair of arms going around my waist.

"Stop teasing my love this early in the morning, I'm the only one who's allowed to do it," he said holding me possessively against him. I could see everyone grinning looking at us, "Is it hurting?" he asked me concerned and I shook my head to hear someone coughed.

"I guess you don't want the license after all, hmm," Ruka said to which Aiden's eyes went wide. He hit his chest dramatically,

"Food got stuck," he said, "So what time are we going to Eve's parents home?" resting his head on both of his hand.

"In the evening," Ruka replied taking my hand in his, leading towards the empty chairs. We had breakfast while Lizzy and Aiden filled the room with their talking. I saw a maid whom I had seen when I wasn't well. She brought the muffins and kept it on the table but tripped a little before it, murmuring a sorry and dashing quickly inside. She looked worried and scared. Time passed quickly in the castle. I hadn't realized it was time until Ruka reminded me to get ready.

I picked a simple skirt of knee length with a top to go with it. I had applied a little amount of concealer on my neck to hide the purple mark on my skin. I didn't want dad assuming anything if he saw it. Tying my hair I went down the stairs. When we went home, Eric opened the door. He engulfed me in a bear like a hug and let me go.

"Eric-can't-breath," I managed to speak and he let me go.

"Sorry, come on in. Hello, Ruka," he greeted as he opened the door wide.

"Hello, Eric. How have you been? I heard Benjamin fell sick," he chuckled at the last part and I saw Eric grin.

"He's better now," he replied. Sebastian and Louis had arrived earlier than us while the others were on their way. After talking to dad I headed straight to the kitchen.

"Mom," I hugged her from behind while she was facing the stove.

"Honey, you're home!" she turned to give me a warm hug and a kiss on my forehead.

"Look at you all grown," my aunt Claire said who was sitting on the stool and peeling fruits, "How are you doing, dear?" she asked.

"Good, how are you? I heard you just finished your island trip a month back," I said knowing how much she loved visiting such places.

"It was beautiful, calm and relaxing. You should definitely go there once," she nodded her head and I smiled at it.

"Sweetheart, I packed most of your stuff in a box in your room. Check the things if you need any of it else I'll put it in the attic tomorrow," mom said wiping her hand on the apron. When I was about to turn around the corner and walk, my head hit a person making me stop.

"Careful, Eve," I heard the person speak, looking up I saw my cousin George standing there in front of me. He looked almost the same since the last I saw him, only that he had grown taller. His sandy blonde hair covering his forehead.

"Hey," I waved my hand, "How are you? How's boarding school?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it's good. What about you? I heard you switched to Preston's. Lucky girl, huh," he said and I nodded my head. I guess I was luckily considered the fact that I was studying in a highly regarded school.

"Were you going up?" he asked me.

"Yeah, mom told to pick few things from my room. She's cleaning my room I believe," I told him and he asked if he could come, so I shrugged.

He hadn't behaved anything close to weird and time changes people. I was picking up a few my things from the boxes like my stuffed toys. Mom knew how much I treasured those things and hadn't thrown it away. I smiled picking up a light blue teddy bear and remembering the times when I used to actually make it drink water, and when I used to play doctor by stitching up the torn fur. George was looking at few books on the shelves and reading it. I took the box that had the toys and a few of my childhood items I wanted to show Ruka later going back to the castle. I was almost done going through my stuff when George spoke surprising me,

"Do you really believe about people having mates?" he asked his eyes on me, "I heard you have a mate and his family's come home." Before I could open my mouth to talk, Lizzy came bouncing in the room.

During the dinner, I felt a little awkward. I didn't know what to make out of it and I was happy for Lizzy interrupting us earlier. Ruka asked me if I was fine and I had nodded to it. He was way sharp to not notice anything, he wasn't the king for no reason. He had seen what I had done with the mark but hadn't questioned about it. When asked about what George was going to do next, he said,

"I decided to go to Preston's from this semester. I thought why miss an opportunity," he said eating his food. I looked at Eric to see a slight frown on his face.

"What about you Ruka?" dad asked who was sitting next to Sebastian, "I heard you were busy with one of the eastern rogue on run. Do you plan on discontinuing on school work?"

"I was planning but I realized school is very important so I don't think I'll be leaving school. In fact, I'll be taking Eve's class on one subject," he said taking a sip of wine from his glass while my mouth hung open. I felt it had something to do with what George said. Rest of the dinner went on as Ruka spoke with dad while Sebastian took tips from mom about gardening. The whole time I sat quietly enjoying my food and looking around to catch my cousin George staring at me. I averted my eyes without showing any emotion. I felt Ruka's hand squeeze mine even though he was looking at dad and talking to him intently. I found Ruka in the hall alone looking at the boxes I had brought from the top.

"Here, ice cream," I said giving the bowl containing the ice cream in it. He took it but to only place it on the side table after a few seconds, "You won't eat it?" I asked him and felt him pull closer to him, holding me in his embrace.

He tilted my chin to place his lips on mine, capturing my lips with his, he dived his tongue into the cavern of my mouth. It was a slow and a sensual kiss, leaving me breathless. I was worried about anyone walking in on us at the back of my mind. He placed soft kisses on the plane of my neck and getting to the spot he had bruised last night.

Sucking and biting it, I held his shirt to keep me from falling. He gave one last kiss on the skin before pulling back to give me the wickedest smile. When I turned back my eyes went wide to see George standing there looking at us with his mouth slightly open. When I looked back at Ruka he was looking at my cousin, the look on his face said-back off.