"Aren't you hungry?"
Xavier sat across the dinner table from Vega and I, watching her stare at her food.
"It's delicious," she said, pushing a pea across the plate with her fork. "I just don't have an appetite."
I, on the other hand, was starving. I had finished the honey-glazed roasted chicken in no time but was still working on the peas and the corn.
"Do you want this?" Vega asked, handing me her bread roll.
I nodded and took it out of her hands.
"Does Adam not feed you?" Xavier asked in amusement.
"I didn't eat breakfast," I explained, eating a spoonful of peas.
Vega laughed. "I've never seen you devour peas like that."
I said nothing as I tore off a piece of bread from the roll.
Vega was trying to get on my good side, despite having neglected to apologize. It frustrated me that I could empathize with her, however. I understood the stress she was probably under after her father was kidnapped and I could see where that would cause her to potentially lash out.
Despite this, her irrational words against my relationship with my father and my relationship with Adam still cut deep.
I could understand that she was hurting, but she didn't have to take it out on me. It wasn't my fault, no matter what she believed.
"A lady would never stuff her face," Victoria said, taking a rabbit's bite of her chicken.
"Who invited you to lunch?" Vega asked her. Vega's attitude wouldn't earn her many fans in this castle.
Victoria looked aghast to be spoken to like that.
"I almost you asked the same thing," Victoria sneered.
Vega rolled her eyes.
"Cat fight," Tyler whispered under his breath.
He sat in the chair next to me, which was the only reason Vega didn't try to strangle him.
"Who is that?" She asked me.
"His name is Tyler. He's here to help us plan the Centennial, even though he hasn't been much help," I explained.
"I'm sitting right here," he reminded me.
"What is a 'Centennial'?" Vega asked.
"It's a party without balloons," Tyler mumbled. I shot him a glare.
"It's a week-long event where all the Alpha Superiors gather together for meetings and galas," I explained.
"When is it?" She asked.
"Next week."
I sighed thinking of all the planning I still had to do. I still had to approve the menus for the week, go over living arrangements, pick out a song list for the galas, and so much more.
"I need to find Liu," I said, thinking out loud.
"Can I help?" Vega asked. "I've got nothing else to do."
I nodded, finishing the food on my plate.
I looked up and caught Xavier's eye.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked me, standing from his seat.
I nodded and stood up, following him to the corner of the dining room.
"What's wrong?"
"I saw Adam in the hall earlier," he said. "He looked angry, but he wouldn't tell me what about. Is something going on?"
I shook my head.
"I'm not sure what he's angry about. I can ask him?"
He sighed in relief.
"I would appreciate that."
- - -
I found Liu and sent Vega and Tyler off with her to help with the planning.
After that, I walked to Adam's office to see why Xavier had thought he was angry.
The guards let me pass through his office doors and I walked down the hallway to where he was at his desk.
"Hi."
Adam looked up and saw me standing there before looking back down at the papers in his hands.
"Hello."
"What are you doing?" I asked him, walking over to his desk.
"Looking over some points from my defense council meeting."
Sounds boring.
"Sounds interesting."
"Is something wrong?" He asked, looking up from the paper.
I shook my head and he sighed.
"Evelyn, I'm very busy. If nothing's the matter, I'd like to get back to work."
Touchy.
"Is everything okay?"
He didn't say anything, just looked back down at the paper in his hands.
I stood there, waiting for an answer.
Adam huffed.
"Everything is fine. How is Vega?"
Oh...
"Is that what's wrong?" I asked. "You're mad at me for not ignoring her earlier?"
"I'm not mad at you," he said, still not looking up.
"But you're mad, nonetheless."
He put the paper down on his desk and stood up.
"Every time I get close to you, you hop at the first opportunity to get away. You couldn't get off the bed quick enough when you heard her knocking."
I laughed nervously.
"What?" He asked me.
I sighed and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
"When I was fourteen, Mrs. Chandler made Vega and I promise that we wouldn't have sex until we each got married."
Adam cringed.
"That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard before in my life."
I shrugged. "You can think that, but it's the reason I was a virgin when I met you."
He came around his desk and leaned back against the front of it.
"Why on earth would she ask that of you?"
"Things are different here than they are back home," I explained. "Here, everyone has a mate. At home, you're picking guys and just hoping they're the right one. I think Mrs. Chandler just wanted to make sure Vega and I were with the right guy for the right reasons. She had no way of knowing I would have a mate."
Adam sighed. "Is there anyway you could convince her to let you out of it?"
I scowled. "Maybe, but are we not going to get married?"
Adam shrugged.
"I mean, I guess we could. Do you want to?"
I nodded. "I've had my wedding dress picked out since I was sixteen."
Adam laughed and shook his head.
"Fine."
My eyes lit up.
"Really?!"
"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this."
I jumped out of the chair and hugged him.
"Do we still have to wait?" He asked me.
"We've waited this long. How hard can it be to wait a little longer?"
Really hard.
It was like my mind knew I had decided to keep my promise to Mrs. Chandler and wait.
As soon as I opened the door to the bedroom that night after helping Liu put the final touches on the Centennial, I saw Adam walk out of the bathroom in a towel.
Sweet mother of Moses, those abs.
I got flustered quickly as he noticed me staring and winked.
"How is the planning coming along?" He asked me as I shut the bedroom door.
I just nodded, my voice caught in my throat.
"Everything alright, love?"
"I'm-I'm fine," I assured him.
I walked past him quickly and into the bathroom, closing the door.
God, it would be so much easier if he wasn't hot!
I undressed and got into the shower. I washed my hair quickly and took some time just to stand under the hot water.
Maybe it wouldn't be wrong if I didn't wait, I thought. It isn't like Adam's not the right guy, he's my mate for crying out loud.
But what if the hundred days doesn't work out? What if something happens? I would still be breaking a promise...
I sighed, turning off the water and grabbed my towel. Drying off, I walked out into the bedroom to grab my pajamas.
I wrapped the towel around myself and opened the wardrobe, all the while trying to ignore Adam sitting on the couch reading a book in his boxer briefs.
As I grabbed a t-shirt and opened my underwear drawer, I felt his presence behind me.
"These are nice," he said, pulling a pair of pink, lace panties out and holding them up with the crook of his index finger.
I blushed and yanked them from his hand, closing the drawer.
"Do I get to see them on you?" He asked with a smirk.
"Unless you have x-ray vison and can see through the t-shirt," I said, holding it up as I made my way back into the bathroom.
I changed and hung the towel to dry before walking back out.
Adam was seemingly waiting for me, leaning against the bedpost and watching me as I exited the bathroom.
"Can I help you?"
"I could think of a few ways you could."
I rolled my eyes. "You have a very dirty mind."
"Sure I do, and right now, you're running through it... naked."
His eyes drifted up and down my body as he bit his bottom lip.
"You're not making this any easier on yourself," I reminded him, walking around the bed.
Adam groaned and threw his head back.
"Remind me again why I agreed to this?"
"Because I made a promise."
He shook his head, following me around the bed. He picked me up and sat me on the mattress.
"Give me ten minutes," he pleaded. "You don't have to do a thing, just let me touch you."
I put my hands on his chest.
"As much as I want to say yes..."
He groaned.
"...that sounds like a husband privilege," I finished.
Adam was clearly angry as he backed away. "I need to go for a run."
"It's freezing and dark outside."
"I've got fur, Mother."
Wait, fur?
"You're shifting?" I asked him.
He nodded, walking around the bed.
"Can I come?"
Adam stopped.
"That's probably not the best idea."
My eyebrows furrowed.
"Why?"
"I'm not completely trusting of my self-control when I shift," he smiled, menace dancing in his eyes. My breath hitched in my throat.
"Besides," he continued. "You've never shifted yourself. You wouldn't be able to keep up."
He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and his pillows.
"I thought you were going for a run?"
"I am," he assured me. "I'm just not coming back for a while. I'll sleep in one of the guest rooms down the hall tonight so I don't wake you."
My eyebrows furrowed as he left the room.
- - -
I tossed and turned that night.
I couldn't fall asleep if it would have saved my life.
If only Adam were here...
I shook my head and turned over.
You don't need him to fall asleep, silly girl. You did it just fine without him for the past twenty years.
I sighed.
I knew he was mad at me for waiting until that day to bring up my promise to Mrs. Chandler.
I should have never let things get as far as they did. It would have been better if I had just mentioned it to him from the beginning.
Nonetheless, I had laid awake and seriously considered what would happen if I forgot about the promise like I almost had the day before.
I knew, at the end of the day, it didn't matter. I had met the man I was going to be with for the rest of my life, there were no questions about that. I didn't have to worry about him hurting me or leaving me.
But there was a knot in my throat at the thought of breaking a promise.
You were fourteen, you didn't know what you were doing when you made that promise!
But it was still a promise, one that I had kept for six years.
I shook the thought from my head and rolled over, facing an empty left side of the bed.
I groaned and got out of the bed.
I walked out of the bedroom to see the guards still standing by Malcom's door.
Immediately I felt my cheeks heat up, remembering I was in a t-shirt and not much else.
I hurried down the hall and tried to pick between the two doors which I thought Adam would be sleeping behind.
It's one of these... they're the only other guest bedrooms on this hall except for Malcom's.
I picked one and opened the door slowly.
I sighed in relief when I saw him. His shoulders rose and fell as he breathed heavily and the prominent muscles in his back weren't covered by the sheets.
I stepped into the room slowly but froze seeing the sheets next to him move.
My heart sunk as I watched her roll over and cuddle up next to him.
Moonlight that poured into the room through the window illuminated her black, curly hair.
Vega?
- - -