As Brad struggled against Adam’s grip, Adam merely squatted beside him with a mildly annoyed look on his face.
“Is this really necessary? You’re behaving like a hormonal teenager.” He commented in a bored tone.
“If you kept your hands to yourself I wouldn’t need to…” “Wouldn’t need to what, boy? Make a fool of yourself and give people reason to doubt your capabilities as an Alpha?” Adam snorted.
“I’ll make you regret that!”
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“I’d love to see you try again when you’ve put a little more thought into this…whatever this was.”
Brad growled as he finally lay still under Adam’s grip.
He was furious. How had he let himself be made such a fool of? His reputation would suffer greatly for this. Alpha Nocturne had already gained himself a reputation as a powerful Alpha and Brad had been looking forward to crushing his arrogance when he ascended to the throne.
Now, not only had he shown himself as incapable of that in a moment of fury, but he had also managed to alienate the one person who was truly capable of helping him rise to the throne.
Ada was nothing compared to Ann, she didn’t even have a wolf for goddess sake. The packs would never accept her. She would never rule and now he was stuck with a pregnant wolfless partner from an encounter that he hardly remembered.
“Mark my words, Alpha Nocturne. I’ll make you pay for this.” He snarled quietly. Adam leaned in with a grin.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll try at least. However, right now, I have someplace to be and I intend on taking your ex¬mate with you. She’ll be staying with me for the foreseeable future and there’s absolutely nothing that you can do about that.” He murmured just quietly enough so that only the two of them could hear it.
Adam stood quickly and brushed his clothes down, smoothing the wrinkles on his suit. With a last glance of annoyance at the spot where Brad lay on the floor, he turned and walked towards Ann.
He flashed her a charming smile and extended his arm to her, watching her expectantly.
“Are you ready to go?”
Ann’s stomach flipped at the sight of that boyish smile and she hooked her arm in his. They made their way to the door of the cafe, countless pairs of eyes watching them silently as they made their way out.
“Wait! Ann! Your bag!” Lexi’s voice shouted excitedly from the doorway as Adam held the passenger side door open for her.
Ann paused and turned, seeing the glowing face of her best friend rushing towards her. Lexi flung her arms around Ann’s neck and hugged her tightly.
“He’s perfect.” She whispered into Ann’s ear before she stepped back with a coy smile.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” She grinned wickedly and winked as she waved to them both and turned to leave.
“That doesn’t rule out a lot!” Ann yelled after her retreating form.
Lexi lifted her arm and threw a middle finger up as she walked away, without even bothering to turn back.
When she got into the car she turned and found Adam staring at her with a blank expression on her face. It made her feel a little uncomfortable so she turned and grabbed her seat belt, pulling it over her slowly and fastening it as quietly as she could.
When she was done, she held her hands together in front of her, resting on her lap, and stared straight ahead out of the windscreen. She could still feel his eyes on her though.
“I’m going to have my hands full with you, aren’t I?” He commented with a sigh before turning the ignition on and pulling away.
‘That all depends on if he’s planning to remove our clothes or not…’ Maeve sniggered.
Ann’s cheeks flushed as she shifted awkwardly in her seat. She dreaded to think what Alpha Nocturne’s wolf was going to make of Maeve.
She was fearless, bolshy, opinionated, and as far from demure as you could get. If he was expecting a doting, the loving mate who never argued, he was in for a rude awakening.
They had driven a little way in what Ann felt was an uncomfortable silence, but Ann didn’t know what to say. She could see that Adam kept glancing over at her out of the corner of her eye.?
“So, the young Alpha back there…” Adam said finally, “Did you reject him before, or after you agreed on the contracted marriage?”
Ann squirmed uncomfortably and stole a furtive glance to try and read his expression.
His face was calm as he stared ahead at the road, his full attention on driving. He held the steering wheel with one hand, the other arm leaned casually on the open window as the breeze playfully ran through his hair.
He certainly cut a powerful figure, even when he was in such a relaxed position.?
Ann sighed to herself as she turned her attention to the scenery passing by her window again.
“It’s a little complicated.” She answered finally. “I actually caught him and my sister in the act on the night that I met you before I met you obviously. I’d been trying my wedding dress on and was going to show my father… we had been due to get married today actually.” Ann said quietly.
Adam’s face remained calm, the only thing that hinted at his displeasure was the slight downward turn of his eyebrows.
“You confronted them then?” He asked simply.
Ann shook her head and laughed bitterly.
“No. I left the house and wandered before I came to my senses in front of the bar. My wolf was furious and managed to talk me into going inside… I don’t usually drink actually.” She said as she turned to face Adam.
“I was obviously quite tipsy by the time I …er… inadvertently overheard your conversation with your Beta.” Adam nodded slowly.
“Do you regret the decisions you made at the time?” Adam asked sincerely, turning to glance quickly at An and holding her gaze for a few moments before turning back to face the road.
“No. Maeve and I are in agreement on this. There’s nothing for me at home. For whatever reason, the relationship between my father and I have broken down and I do not get along well with my stepfamily. My stepmother and her daughter are very much alike.” “What about your mother?”
Ann gripped her hands tightly on her seat belt and scowled. She tried her best to hide the hostility from her voice, but some irritation still seeped out.
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“She’s dead. I’m not ready to talk about it with you yet if you don’t mind Alpha.”
Adam glanced sideways at her and nodded again, slowly. “And your friend at the cafe?” He questioned casually. “Oh, that’s Lexi. I’ve known her since school. She’s not affiliated with any packs.”
“A rogue? Lone wolf?” Adam questioned curiously. “No,” Ann answered simply.
She didn’t want to go into too much detail because she knew the reputation that Daemon hybrids had. The Pack’s hated them because of their ancient ties with sorcery and witchcraft. Although the contracts that used to be forged were long since broken, the bad feeling towards the race was still prevalent.
Ann would prefer for Lexi to be understood for the person she was, not influenced by an outdated grudge. Adam sighed lightly and shifted in his seat.
“I’m only asking so I know what to expect Ann. For this to work, we’re going to have to put on a united front. I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s going on.” He said calmly.
“Right. Sorry. I didn’t know he was going to turn up at the cafe though, and I certainly didn’t expect that you would be the person collecting me.” Ann answered a little sulkily.
Adam chuckled.
“It’s okay. I doubt very much that he’s going to bother you again for at least a little while. You did reject him though, right?”
“My side of the bond is broken. He’s refused to accept the rejection though, so he still shares a link with me.” Ann grimaced.
Adam was silent for a long time before they turned into a side road.
“I didn’t think that having you collected by my pack members would help either of us if word got out, so I came instead thinking that I would be able to explain it away as a friendship. However…” He paused, pulling into the side of the road and bringing the car to a stop.
“I don’t think for a minute that the original plan will work for long. There are too many people that know what I’m doing and when I’m going to do it, long before I’ve even made my mind up.” He sighed as I tilted his head back in his car seat.
Ann greedily drank in the sight of his chiseled jawline and his thickly muscled neck. This man was truly a work of art and she was unable to stop Maeve’s thoughts that fuelled her uncharacteristic desire towards this man.
“Look, I know we were going to keep this marriage under wraps for the time being but I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want anyone to have anything on us that they can potentially use to gain an advantage. I won’t move forward with this unless you’re absolutely comfortable though.” He said, holding Ann’s gaze seriously.
“What exactly are you wanting to do?” Ann asked almost breathlessly, her mind running away with possibilities as Maeve added her own, sordid ideas into the mix.
“I want to announce the marriage, but keep the contracted part hidden. I had originally intended for you to have separate rooms from my own but I want to ensure that this marriage at least appears believable to any outsiders.”
“O… okay.” Ann stammered hesitantly.
“That means sharing a bed with me too…” He said slowly, keeping hold of her gaze.
“Fine. But we get separate duvets… and I want a queen size duvet to myself.” Ann demanded quickly.
Adam leaned back a little and looked her over appraisingly.
“You really have no objections?” He asked dubiously.
“Look, I’m contracted to marry you, right? I’ll be by your side as your Luna for at least the next 5 years and quite honestly, the more people believe it, the less likely they are to cause problems for me. I will warn you though Alpha, you agreed for me to be Luna of this pack, which means I have an equal say in how things are done.”
Adam frowned slightly.
“Traditionally, Alpha’s and their Luna’s have separate responsibilities… “
“They do. If that’s the way you want to run things then so be it. I will warn you though, if I don’t have a say in how you do things, then you can leave any arrangements that I make alone too.”
Adam looked momentarily taken aback at her boldness but he could see her reasoning. Ann was most definitely not like any woman he had encountered before. His persona didn’t seem to phase her, nor did his reputation. He quickly recovered his composure and allowed a faint smile to play at the corners of his mouth.
“Very well, princess. I will accept this as a condition.” He said with a smirk as he leaned forward to turn the key in the ignition again.
Ann huffed and scowled at him fiercely.
“I might be a princess by birth, but don’t expect me to sit by quietly and do as I’m told, Alpha.”
Adam chuckled.
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