You guys may hate me a little when reading this chapter. Maybe you'll like me back again towards the end. But don't worry, the next 2-3 chapters will make it up to you ;)
Adalia
The closer we were to landing, the quicker my heartbeat got and the sweatier my palms became.
Zayn was here. Finally, seeing him after what felt like forever should make me happy, but my stomach twisted, and my gut threatened to leap out when the jet's wheels glided against the runway.
I was so worked up throughout the entire flight that I didn't realize an hour and a half had gone by. It felt like we were only up there for minutes.
The intercom rang again, and the captain's voice streamed through. "We have now arrived in Toronto, Canada. It was my pleasure to be your pilot. Please have a wonderful stay," she added before clicking the intercom shut.
"Is McKenzie here with the car?" Lowell asked as he got up to stretch.
Elio picked up his phone amidst the pile of cards on the table and stared at the screen before answering, "Yup, right on schedule"
"Good," Nikol added as he too also got up. He gave a glance at the sleeping Addy sprawled out on the couch before looking at me. "Aren't you going to wake your friend up?"
"Don't look at me. You guys were the ones that drank her to sleep."
"Not our fault she sucks at poker," Elio shrugged. He was now gathering up the cards in a neat pile.
"Yeah, like who loses that many times in a row?" Nikol sounded perplexed.
The guys are unbelievable. How did they play poker for an hour and a half straight without getting bored? Thank goodness the plane had wifi so I was able to watch something other than their wine and cards.
Sighing, I stood up and walked up to Addy. One of her legs was draped over the arm of the chair, while the other was tucked under her butt. I was about to shake her awake when a thought occurred to me. I licked my lips, pulled out my phone, and clicked the camera app open.
"Payback is a bitch, Addy," I grinned as I took a picture of her. Then I switched to the side and took another picture, making sure to capture her open mouth. It was when I took my fifth picture of Addy that I noticed a pair of brown eyes staring back at me. Oh shit, she's awake.
She stared at me for a bit, her eyes zeroing in on the camera before widening in realization. "Bitch you did not..." she swiped her hands in an attempt to snatch my phone, but I dodged it.
Giggling, I ignored her and shuffled out of the jet. The moment I was outside, I was forced to stop in my tracks, as I uttered another "What the fuck?"
Addy, coming out from right behind me, also stopped in her tracks as both our jaws fell open.
"Are those mother fucking Rolls Royce Phantoms?!" She whispered-yelled into my ears while gripping my arm in one of her death clutches. She does this when she gets excited.
"Uh-huh," I nodded in awe.
The back seat doors were open, revealing the clean, black, and burgundy interior; black leather seat, burgundy armrest, and door panels. A tall grey-haired man, dressed in a full suit, was standing next to the car, one hand on his chest, and the other behind his back. He presented the image of a butler.
"Hey, McKenzie!" Lowell exclaimed with a wave of his hands as he exited the plane.
"Hey McKenzie," Nikol drawled seemingly still sullen from his continuous loss at the card game. What a sore loser.
"Why are you guys just moping around?" Elio said as he brushed past us, before giving a small nod to McKenzie.
Mckenzie bowed to the guys, then turned to me and Addy and did the same. "It is an honor to finally meet you," he said, straightening up to his full height.
"Pleasure to meet you too," Addy and I replied. Then it occurred to me, "What do you mean by finally meeting me," I questioned.
Mckenzie didn't say anything, he just maintained a kind smile on his face.
Okay...
"Oh," Mckenzie turned to the guys who were about to enter one of the cars, "I should say that the..." he paused and gave me a look, before bringing his fisted palm to his mouth and clearing his throat, "...the young master isn't here."
"What? Zayn isn't home? Where did he go off to this time?" Elio scowled.
My heart plummeted at his statement. He isn't here.
"He seems to be all over the place lately doesn't he?" Lowell added.
"The young master went to Vancouver for official business," McKenzie replied ambiguously.
"The Asher house?" Nikol asked quietly to which McKenzie gave a simple nod in reply. "He may be there for a while then."
"Then there's no point in me being here," I muttered crestfallen, more to myself than anyone.
"What do you mean?" Nikol inquired. "He's going to be there for a while doesn't equate to he isn't coming back."
"You don't know that. All it seems is that I've been chasing him from point A to point B, and never catching up to him. He's always somehow gone whenever I get to his supposed location. It's quite clear that he's avoiding me." A tremble broke through my voice as I spoke, and my eyes gradually became moist.
Everyone was quiet as they all stared at me blankly. Embarrassment began to creep up my cheeks at my outburst, and the air grew awkward. Well, that was until Nikol's snicker broke through the stale air.
He shoved both hands into his front pocket and cocked his head to the side, "Given the circumstances and logic, I can see why you'd think that way Adalia. But there's no way Zayn is doing all this to avoid you because he doesn't even know you're here."
It took me a moment to process his words before my eyes widened, "what?! You didn't tell him I was coming? So I'm showing up to his doorstep uninvited?!"
"Who said you're uninvited?" Elio asked.
"Yeah, you're practically one of us now, so you're invited anytime." Lowell shrugged.
Soft warmth tinged my heart at their words, and I couldn't help but break out into a smile despite myself.
"Anyways, there's a way to get Zayn back here faster," Nikol sauntered up to me and threw an arm around my shoulder. "Let's take a selfie Adalia," He stared at me, with a bright smile, one that crinkled the beauty mark on his lips, but a mischievous glint was in his eyes. I should've known that his expression spelled trouble, but I chose to ignore it.
"Wah?" I barely registered anything before he positioned our faces between the camera frame, clicked the button, and took the selfie. All with one fluid movement. "What was that for?" I questioned, looking up at him.
Nikol didn't reply as he typed on his phone for a few seconds, a wide, silly grin on his face. I squinted my eyes at him, as I swore I saw devil horns protruding out of his head for a second there.
His phone pinged as he swiped open a message which I couldn't see well because of our height difference. He stared at his phone for a couple of seconds before breaking out into full-blown laughter. "I've finally found a way to tease him, this is too funny," he muttered as he patted my shoulders and walked away.
I stood there stupefied by the whole ordeal.
"What was that all about?" Addy asked looking back and forth between me and Nikol.
"Beats me," I shrugged my shoulders, "they are all oddballs."
"Are the young ladies coming?" McKenzie asked me and Addy with a smile.
"Ah yes! Sorry," we both scampered to get into the car.
***
Zayn
I tapped my pen on the table to the rhythmic ticking of the clock. It was as if it would somehow make the sluggish moving time, and this seemingly endless meeting more tolerable.
I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere, nor do I have any urgent tasks at hand, I simply do not want to be here.
Here I am in Vancouver, at the royal house, listening to a bunch of werewolves and lycans whine about issues that could easily be resolved.
The only reason I'm here in the first place is because my mother's relatives asked for her help, and since I was around the corner she sent for me to go settle the matter on her behalf.
My mother was originally a non-royal lycan from the Asher household in Vancouver. She met my father when he was on a trip here. They mated and she became the queen, which made her family's house a "royal house."
The shitty bastards didn't deserve that title if you ask me. They are nasty people, full of greed and selfishness, an aspect of them that only grew worse when they gained a royal title.
Their dim-wittiness is what brought about this issue in the first place. They suddenly renounced protection over some werewolf packs on the outskirts of Vancouver, while posing lame excuses like, "It's just too much of a strain to keep protecting so much area."
As if to prove my point, one of the Asher family's heads slammed his palm on the table and yelled, "Do you know how much manpower and utilities we spend every year trying to care for you guys? Yet you guys provide nothing to our family or community?!"
"What do you mean?!" An older werewolf lady countered. "As a lycan household and a royal family, weren't you placed under a duty to guard your entire region? So why would you renounce your responsibilities now with such a senseless excuse?!"
"Senseless?!" Another lycan jumped in, his groggy voice causing a strain to my ears. "Why is it senseless that we decided to cut off our weak link? You guys do nothing but sit back all day while we expend ourselves protecting you from rogues and opposing lycans' attacks. How about you get stronger for a change."
An older werewolf man sprang to his feet to stare the Lycan man eye to eye. Unfortunately, the height he was blessed with from his werewolf genes was nothing compared to that of a lycan. So the man could only still tilt his head up to stare at the Lycan. "We are more old people than young ones in the outskirts. How can we defend ourselves? Do you expect us to tell our children to abandon their lives and instead become fighters? Bullshit! You don't even have to fight to protect us, because just the mere name of the Asher family is enough to stop attacks. So why then do you consider it a strain?!"
I stared at the contestants who were participating in this heated argument. My eyes were on them, however my attention was nowhere in this vicinity. It wasn't even in Canada.
A sigh escaped my mouth as the same thought that had plagued my mind for two weeks, came up again. I want to see Adalia.
I want to see my Erasthai, but I can't and I know that. It's dangerous for me to be around her, and I'd readily remove any threat in her path, even if that threat happens to be...me.
The last time that I was with her, I lost all control and came so close to marking her. Worst yet, Ada didn't know what was going on, so she instinctively pushed her body to me, wanting me to complete the marking. But how could I do so without her proper consent?
She must be in pain right now from being away from me, and her heart is no doubt breaking at the fact that I disappeared from her. I'm not proud of my actions the thought of it is enough to make my heart hurt, it's tearing me apart to know that I'm causing her pain.
But it's better this way...it's better than me marking her without her consent and dragging her into my world with her cluelessness. I'd rather she goes through our separation, than for her to end up hating me because I turned her into a monster like me.
I looked at my shaky palm and tightened it into a fist. How...? How do I show her all that I am without breaking her?
Just as the all-too-familiar pain was starting to tinge my heart, my phone buzzed. I reluctantly grabbed the phone from the table, knowing who it was from. It was most likely Nikol. He did say they were coming back to Toronto, so they probably just arrived. True to my expectations, my phone screen was lit up by a notification from Nikol.
I swiped it open, and it read just as I expected: "We have arrived."
Then another message came through: "Look what we picked up on our way here by the way..."
I raised my brow in interest as I stared at the screen, waiting for his next message to come through. The phone buzzed, as an image appeared. It was a selfie of Nikol and Adalia. His arm wrapped around her shoulder in a cheesy smile, while Adalia's eyes are focused on the camera, looking a bit confused.
A shiver ran through my heart as I took in her lovely brown eyes. Even in just photos, she's able to shake my core. Why is she with the guys in the first place? She looks so tired and worn out, a result of my doing. I can't believe I've hurt her this much.
Another message rang through, it read "Better get here fast before I find a new worthy and deserving boyfriend for Adalia," with a heart emoji at the end.
A growl escaped my mouth before I could even register it. The whole room went quiet as everyone's eyes were no doubt on me now. But I don't give a damn. I'll murder Nikol. I know he doesn't mean what he just sent, but how dare he even suggest that? To give my Ada to another measly man?
"Nikol. You're. In. Deep. Shit." I texted him back, before grabbing my jacket and storming out, while yelling to my assistant Louis, to follow me.
I barely registered the trembling voice of one of the Asher Lycans calling my name in confusion, before the door slammed shut.
I was trying to keep her at a safe distance from me, that's why I came to Canada in the first place. But how can I sit calm knowing she's so close to me again? To hell with it all.