The Alpha's Lifeline

~Chapter twenty-six~

"Are you coming shopping with us?" She asked.

"No, we're going to go to the pub and watch the football for a few hours... Then we'll come and meet you for dinner and we can go and get changed before we go out for drinks." He told her and she nodded.

"They'll be lots of guards following you around today, so we'll introduce you to all of them when we're in the hotel before we go... If you don't recognize any of the people following you, ring me and I'll confirm if they're one of the guards or not...." He told her and she nodded.

"Don't drink too much before we go out together later." She told him and he chuckled. She held his hand on her leg.

"I won't, baby... But I won't get drunk too easily, hybrid perks. the alcohol just kind of wears off after a few hours." He told her and she smiled, nodding.

"Do you need any money?" He asked and she frowned quickly shaking her head.

"No, I have money, Ry."

"Can I not even buy your dress?" He asked innocently, he kept his eyes on the road.

"What dress?" She asked.

"You need a dress for the ceremony. White. And you need bare feet, remember? Have you never been to an alpha ceremony?" he asked.

"No..."

"Well, add that to your list. I want to buy you nice things, maybe we could come with you for a little while first and I'll buy you something nice..." She didn't respond. "Please, Baby. I want to buy you things, the money we will get from the pack is ours, not just mine." He pointed out and she shrugged.

"If it makes you happy... Fine." She gave in and he smiled, squeezing her hand.

They realized Ava was quite shy on the way to the shopping centre, she didn't talk much but she was polite.

"Adeline, Ava's from the AlderTree​ pack too, that's where you're from right?" Brody told her and she smiled. "I thought maybe you might already know each other."

"No, Brody. Alder is quite small, but it's not that small." She replied. "Whereabouts did you live, Ava?"

"I- I haven't moved yet... But... I live on the Eastside." She said quietly, her hand was gently in Brody's.

"Oh okay, I'm from the south, so closer to Rye wood." She explained.

"I like it... it's nice and calm and quiet."

"Hmm, much more than here." She said squeezing Rylan's hand, which was still on her thigh. "There's so much drama over here," Adeline said quietly and Rylan nodded.

"It will sort itself out, I promise." He told her and he raised her hand to his lips to kiss it softly.

They drove for another few hours until they got to the hotel, they parked and got out of the cars, taking their bags into the lobby and checking in.

It was quite modern, white and black walls, grey marbled counters and an exceptionally large chandelier. The doors were open, and it smelt like fresh air, very inviting.

"Can I take the booking name, please?" The woman at the desk asked Rylan, she was trying to push her chest out.

"Rylan cooper."

"And how many rooms did you book?" She asked, looking for the booking.

"11. 5 exclusive suites and 6 normal suites." He said confidently, he wrapped his arms around Adeline and put his hand in her back pocket, just as she had done earlier. Her eyes were wide with shock of how many rooms they had.

"Okay, that's all set. You paid online. Thank you, sir. I'll get those keys sorted for you." She said walking away and winking at him.

He looked down at Adeline with disgust. "Ew." He mouthed and she smiled, snuggling into his chest.

"Here you are, Sir." She looked slightly horrified that I was so close to him, she passed him 11 sets of keys that were all on keys chains and Rylan took everyone into the practically empty lounge.

"Shut up." He told everyone, the guards got quieter. "Let's sort out these rooms. We're in the exclusive rooms, I and Adeline are in room 128, Brody and Ava are in room 129, my mum is in 130 and Adeline are parents are in 131, and Taylor and Ryan are in 132. There are three rooms on either side of those four, at least two in each room, please. You can squabble between yourselves." He put the 6 normal keys on the table and passed the others their keys.

"I want everyone in our room in 15 minutes, we need to do a quick brief. Room 128... Don't forget... Go." He told everyone and he turned to Adeline.

"Look behind you." He told her and she turned around wearily, her parents and her little sister had just walked in and were walking towards them.