Hey readers,

Short authors note just to thank you for the support you have given me. With that here is the next chapter and I am pleased to note that I managed to get it up surprisingly quickly so yay to me. Sorry about any errors, I was in a rush putting it up but enjoy.

Lots of love

xxx

Chapter 28

Adrian’s Pov

“Holly, sweetheart” I smiled as I tried to get her attention as she finished placing the finishing touches on the lemon and cream cake she had just spent the last hour making. I had a feeling it had taken longer than usual due to Jakes apologies for startling her every time he caught sight of the bandage on her arm, not to mention his continuous questions on what she was doing and how she was doing it. It was incredibly amusing.

The finished cake though I had to admit looked and smelled amazing, it being made up of two layers with a creamy filling before Holly had taken her time with covering the whole surface and sides of the cake with a lemony buttercream.

In addition to that she had decorated it with deep swirls and she had even gone as far as to make delicate hand-made yellow roses which she positioned on the cake making it look as if it had been made by a chief who had years of experience. I had to admit I was more than a little proud of her.

Glancing at the clock I took note that it was in fact quite late, Holly as well as myself still in our sleepwear while everyone else had gone to get ready. Due to us meeting Jakes mate for the first time first impressions always counted, and the fact Annie was a human meant that it was up Jake to decide when to break it to her about the whole wolf thing. I could order him to of course, but I would only do so if I thought there was no other choice. I had no need to do so though, so he could take as long as he needed and wanted before spilling the beans to the red-head.

The fact she was a human didn’t bother any of the pack, I mean why should it when he had found his own happily ever after? It didn’t change the fact that when she had a child with Jake it would inherit the gene since it would, the pack generally didn’t care either way that both of its parents wouldn’t be werewolves and only one would.

Shaking my head I tried to get Holly’s attention again, this time getting it instantly as she placed the last yellow rose in the centre of the cake before grinning in triumph. “Yes, Adrian?”

“Come on sweetheart, we need to get dressed” I told her as I got out of my seat, holding my hand out which she instantly took hold of.

“Ok. You may want to put that in the fridge, Jake” she told him with a smile as I wrapped my arms around her waist, hearing her giggle as I nipped at her neck.  

“Alright, thanks Holly” Jake grinned as he did just that, growling at anyone who came within an inch of him as they laughed at his careful actions. I had to admit it would be a shame if he ended up dropping the cake, especially when Holly had gone to the effort to make it for him.

With that I swept Holly’s giggling form into my arms before heading upstairs, simply loving the feel of her wrapped around me as I lead her towards my bedroom before reluctantly placing her on her feet while making sure to hold her waist so she didn’t lose her balance.

“Thanks” she beamed widely.

“You’re welcome” I winked before heading to my closet, grabbing out a red button down shirt and a pair of black jeans.

I was brought of out my musings when I took note of Holly standing there awkwardly, her hands clasped in front of her as she bit her lip in a gesture which I knew meant she was nervous. “You alright?”

“Urm…what am I meant to wear?” she asked me curiously, making me smile in relief that it was a problem I could so simply solve.

Due to us sharing a closet, my idea, I glanced at her clothes while making a note that she needed more of them. I wanted to spoil her, but she seemed to be really uncomfortable when it came to accepting gifts so I decided to simply buy her some without her knowing. I knew her sizes after all; hell I wanted to know everything about her.

“What about this?” I asked her as I held up a red dress which matched the colour of my shirt.

The dress I had to admit made her look adorable, especially since it flared out heavily at the waist making her look incredibly cute. The bottom of the dress had a black border around it and the waist was also decorated with delicate black flowers which wrapped the whole way round. It suited her personality perfectly.

“Ok” she said softly, reaching forward to grab it before still standing in front of me.

With a grin on my lips I grabbed a black cardigan for her before gesturing to where her undergarments were, knowing that if I picked them out as well I would have trouble not jumping her right there and then. I may have excellent control, but there was only so much I could take before I snapped.

With that Holly grabbed her clothes before slipping into the bathroom, the shower turning on a few moments later giving me the chance to quickly shrug on my clothes before grabbing my phone and slipping it into my pocket. It reminded me that I needed to get Holly one; I didn’t like the idea of not being able to contact her.

With that on the forefront of my mind I heard a knock at the door, already knowing it was Lilly and Jenny who were most likely here to help get Holly ready.

“You look nice, the both of you” I told them honestly when I opened my bedroom door, seeing Lily in a soft blue dress while Jenny was in a red pants suit which I had to admit she pulled off amazingly. Still, they paled in comparison when it came to my own mate.

“Thank you, Adrian” they both said in unison, leaning around me as they tried to see where Holly was.

“She’s in the bathroom” I told them, seeing them nod before they looked slightly nervous. “What?”

“Are you sure she won’t mind, I mean  I don’t want to offend her by making her think there’s something wrong with the way she looks” Lily whispered, and for the first time I found myself panicking concerning this night. Shit, I hadn’t even thought about that.

Truthfully I saw nothing wrong with the way she looked, she was the most beautiful thing in the world to me and yet here I was trying to change that. I was just thankful Lily had pointed it out, maybe it would be best to wait until my mate asked to do such girly things.

With that both Lily and Jenny left with bright smiles and I turned around only for my breath to catch in my throat when I caught sight of my nervous mate, right there and then I realised that she didn’t need make-up or her hair done up in a special way to have my heart thumping and my wolf purring in both delight and want.

She was perfect.

She had tied her hair into two low ponytails which brushed against the swell of her breasts slightly, only adding to how cute she looked. Because she was, she was absolutely adorable.

“You look beautiful” I told her sincerely, licking my lips as I took in her appearance making her blush.

“Thank you”

Smiling she quickly hurried over to me, smiling wide as she seemed to bounce on my feet with her excitement. I couldn’t help but soak it up, loving the feel of her emotions which only made me look forward to after we had mated as I would be able to feel them so much stronger.

“Come one” I told her, throwing an arm around her shoulders after I checked her bandages. At least she wasn’t bleeding anymore I thought, trying to calm my wolf from the sight of his injured mate.

Heading downstairs we were greeted with the rest of the pack sloughing around the house, Jake not being present making it clear that he had gone to pick up his mate from her home.

Walking into the kitchen we were instantly greeted by Lily and Jenny who rushed to compliment Holly on her dress much to the shock on my mate who was looking more than a little startled. She continued to surprise me how innocent she was, especially since she came from such an abusive pack.

“Drink, Adrian? Holly?” Paul asked, causing me to shrug.

“Sure, Holly?” I asked, looking down at my mate who nodded eagerly.

It wasn’t long until everyone was slouched in the kitchen, me being thankful that it was actually big enough to contain us all. Roughly an hour had passed when I picked up the sound of Jakes truck pulling onto the gravel at the front of the house, his excitement practically rolling off him in waves.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Jake?” I heard Annie ask Jack, clearly nervous. I mean who wouldn’t be, she was walking into a mansion like house which was home to not only vast amount of females but nearly each and every male looked as if they stepped out of a model catalogue. Yea, gotta’ love those wolf genes.

“They’ll love you, Annie. There like family, you’ll get on like a house of fire” he encouraged her, all of us hearing the door open as he gestured for her to step inside.

Her heartbeat filled the room heavily as it thumped rapidly, Holly squirming in my lap as she made a sound of nervousness before saying she needed to use the bathroom. I reluctantly let her go before getting up to follow her, not having realised until now that she may not be confident with meeting new people.

Why hadn’t I thought of that until now? What was wrong with me?

As I went after my mate, bypassing both Jake and Annie who looked startled to see me hurrying by I made a mental note to apologise when I saw them next, however right now I knew my mate needed me and she would always be my first priority.

I found her huddled in the corner of my room, her form shaking and I was instantly on my knees as I wrapped my arms around her. Neither of us saying anything as I held her tight, soothing her with my presence alone as I purred for my mate.

When her answering purr hit my ears I couldn’t help but pull back to grin down at her widely, seeing her staring at me with adoration and I couldn’t resist pulling her into a kiss as I pressed myself further against her.

We stared there silently, me having pulled her almost instantly in my lap as I rubbed her arms soothingly and breathed in her scent.

“Want to talk about it?” I asked her, nuzzling her neck when I felt her tense slightly.

“I’m sorry”

“You need to stop apologising, Holly. I know you’ve had a tough upbringing, I should have known this may be hard for you-“ I started but she cut me off, shaking her head as she gazed into my eyes with her own golden amber ones.

“It’s not that” she told me, making me raise a brow in question.

“What’s wrong then?”

“Urm…I just had a flashback I guess” she mumbled as if she would be able to get away without me hearing it. Fair to say, she didn’t.

“About what?” I asked curiously, knowing the best way to get her to open up to me was not to push her. She seemed to close up even more if I pushed which of course was the last thing I wanted for us.

“Do you really want to hear about this now?” she asked softly, obviously hinting to Annie being introduced to the pack downstairs. So far from what I could gather she was both extremely shy in addition to being nervous, but so far I didn’t scent any fear coming off her which was a plus.

“Yes” I told her, knowing that if she didn’t get it off her chest now and confide in me she probably never would. I didn’t want to push her, but I wanted, no needed to know.

“I was just thinking about my old pack, how different you are to them” she sighed. Clearly thinking about her past hurt her, but I knew it would be better for the both of us in the long run if she got out these memories now better than later.

Not to mention my wolf was practically climbing my inner walls with need, wanting to know as much about her as possible.

“What were they like?” I asked her gently, pulling her so her back was against my chest as I leaned my chin on the top of her head. I couldn’t help but sigh in relief, god she felt so good to me.

“What, my old pack?”

“Yea” I told her, pressing my lips against her temple as she seemed to take a few moments to compose herself.

“Can you ask me questions? I mean I don’t know where to start…” she trailed off nervously, playing with her hands on her lap as I gave her a small nod before thinking it over. Hell, I wanted to know everything about her, but where should I start?

“What pack was it?” I asked, wanting the lot of them slaughtered for treating my mate with such disrespect.

At this she smiled teasingly, it shocking me slightly to see such a sensual expression on her usually innocent face. “I’m not telling”

“Why?” I growled out, not wanting to know why she didn’t want to see them dead after everything they had subjected her to.

As if she read my thoughts she smiled softly, caressing my cheek in an intimate gesture that had me grinning. “Karma, they’ll get what they deserve” she smiled. “Anything else you want to know?”

“Of course” I told her, “how about your parents?” I asked, seeing her frown but she seemed to be fin speaking about it, even if she was speaking in monotone.

“They weren’t nice people; I mean they were all about status and for whatever reason I just didn’t seem to make the cut. They adored my brother and his friends, I suppose they both got along with the rest of the pack members as well but they always held the fact they had birthed the alpha over everyone’s head, making them constantly aware that they were higher up the pecking order. 

“Since I was a child they had always been violent, nothing changed there. I mean I ran away with the intention to die and I doubt they even noticed, other than the fact I was there personal slave-“

“Wait, what?” I interrupted her, what did she mean by saying ‘personal slave’?

“Huh?”

“You said slave?” I hinted at her, seeing her purse her lips slightly before shrugging.

“I did everything for them. I cooked, cleaned, decorated, sowed, chopped wood. Basically all they did was go to school, mess around and drive fast cars” she shrugged, as if it meant nothing. “Hell, I barely ever left the house other than to shift once and a while when I felt uncomfortable” she stated.

I knew what she meant, a shifter like us needed to phase at least once ever-so-often or we felt as if we were going to climb out of our skin. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, not at all.

“Didn’t you go to school?” I asked her curiously, seeing her face fall as she looked away from me as she still spoke in monotone.

“No, I want allowed. I managed to teach myself how to read and write but that’s about it” she muttered self-consciously, clearly worried about what I would think about her lack of education.

“Would you like to go?” I asked her, seeing her eyes brighten up at the opportunity. I still couldn’t get over how easy she was to please, how even the smallest things made her look at me as if I had just given her the sun. I would be lying if I said I didn’t get any pleasure from it though.

“What, to school?” she asked causing me to nod. “I guess I never really thought about it, never having the chance and all. A book would be nice though” she smiled, hope in her eyes that I knew I would never get tired of seeing.

“That can be arranged” I promised, rubbing my hand up and down her bare thigh as I thought about another question to ask her while she seemed to be opening up, all the while trying to keep a firm reign of control over my wolf who was seething with anger at how the most precious thing in my world had been treated since she was a pup. “How about friends?”

“Didn’t have any. I was the social outcast of the pack, the freak, the runt, so no one wanted to hang out with me” she shrugged causing me to grit my teeth. I really wanted to know what the name of her old pack was, just so I could make them regret ever laying a single hand on my mate.

“What about the adults of the pack, the elders? Surely they intervened” I asked her. Elders were highly respected and looked out for the best interest of the pack along with the alpha, they should have said something.

“They ignored it, I mean they liked my brother being the Alpha even though he was running the pack into the ground” she spoke, muttering the last bit but I managed to catch it in time. I wonder…

“What do you mean, he was running the pack into the ground?” I asked curiously, having a suspicion that due to her having the alpha gene as well as may have genetically been passed some traits.

“He couldn’t handle the packs finances; it was all fast cars and expensive clothes even though it was unnecessary. He had a taste for expensive food and when I wasn’t ordered to cook for them they tended to go out a lot, partying and generally acting like children with no responsibility.

“Urm…it got worse when he dumped all of the packs jobs and chores on me, what with them not being as independent as you would expect a young wolf to be, as well as the fact my brother was all about greed and power. Thankfully he never tried to attack another pack for their territory; he didn’t make them train so the fight would have ended in bloodshed almost instantly”

She finished with such a triumph look that I couldn’t help but grin widely. If there had been any doubt in my mind that she wasn’t the perfect female alpha then it would have gone in that instant, because she was perfect. Not only was she kind and pure at heart, even with all that she had been through, but she was tactical as well as having so much love and care to give out to the pack that they all instantly loved her. She was selfless, and she was mine.

“You are so special, Holly” I muttered as I leaned my head back against the wall. “You are so, so special”