Unknown P.O.V.

"It's time..."

- - -

Adam's P.O.V.

My attempts to placate Evelyn were futile.

After I told her that her mother had died, she went weak in the knees and I carried her from the kitchen up to our bedroom.

She laid on our bed, holding a tear-stained pillow tightly to her chest.

No matter how hard I tried to soothe her, Evelyn couldn't stop crying long enough to take deep breaths and calm herself.

To say I was confused by this is an accurate depiction of how I felt.

As far as I knew, her mother was absent from her life. She was a substance abuser and completely and utterly helpless at the hands of Evelyn's father.

She didn't take care for Evelyn and never told her goodbye when I brought her to the castle just three months earlier.

I couldn't understand why Evelyn cried for the woman who didn't love her, for the woman that was never there.

My confusion, however, did not negate the fact that Evelyn did feel the pain of her death. This was the reason I tried to calm her, to tell her it would all be alright.

After an hour or so of my failed attempts to do so, I left her alone to mourn and cry as much as she needed to.

I couldn't help but be angry as I made the trip back down to my office.

It had been such a good week. We'd only been married a short time and she was happy.

Why now did her father have to make a reappearance? Why did her mother have to die?

I knew this meant that there would be a period of time, at least for a short while, that our lives wouldn't be as happy. It was because of this that I hesitated in even telling her when I received the news.

Jace was waiting for me in my office when I got there.

"How is she?"

I took a deep breath.

"As well as can be expected."

Jace nodded understandingly.

"He'll be here in a few minutes."

This statement stopped me from sitting down and I glanced at my watch.

"Let's go then."

I grabbed the dress coat from behind my chair and put it on over my button-up as Jace stood up.

I walked around him, leading him out of my office.

"Tell them I want him brought to the lower level of the garage," I commanded.

Jace said nothing as I heard him pull his phone from his slacks and make the call.

I went into the sitting room adjacent from the office wing and walked over to the bookshelf.

The latch was hidden behind my copy of The Art of War and I pulled it with so much force it almost came out of the wall.

I heard the gears clicking into place behind the shelf and soon the hidden door opened.

I grabbed it, swinging it open so Jace and I could walk through it.

The passage was narrow and dark except for what was illuminated by the dying fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling every twenty feet.

When my father was Alpha, he used this passage to escort women in and out of his offices without my mother's knowledge.

It was a long walk, but it was the quickest way to get to the south entrance of the castle where Evelyn's father would be brought.

After walking down a few flights of rickety stairs, we had arrived at the door leading out into the dungeon.

I opened it, my senses were immediately met with the harsh smell of decay, blood, and sweat. My eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly, seeing the occupied cells.

Only people who committed crimes against the Alpha and Beta Superior were housed here for life. They were considered especially heinous, therefore resulting in them being housed separately from other criminals.

Everyone who was there had been there for some time.

I took note of the man who had attempted to assassinate my father curled up in the corner of his cell, sitting on molded hay. He was much thinner then than he had been when first locked away.

I stopped my stroll when I arrived at the last cell.

His blue eyes, full of hatred, immediately took notice of me and I smirked.

"Comfortable?"

"Extremely," he replied sarcastically.

Diedrick has been down here since I had returned from Utah. After the beating he had received, I was surprised at just how quickly he had healed. But, then again, he was a pure blood, the only one in the dungeon.

It made it all the more sweet to me to know how demeaning and indignifying it must have felt for him.

"You're about to meet a man who now shares your knowledge of what happens when they lay hands on my mate," I said, pointing to the empty cell across from Diedrick where I planned on putting Evelyn's father.

He smiled.

"Has she asked about me yet?"

I felt my temper flare up.

"No," I lied.

He stood up and walked over to place his hands on the cell bars in front of my face.

"Tell her she knows where to find me if she wants to know what it's like to be with a real man," he said.

Quick like a flash of light, my hand reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him towards me.

Of course the bars were in the way and this only meant he faceplanted into them due to the force.

I let go and he dropped to the ground.

"I'm afraid that disqualifies you then, doesn't it?"

I smirked one last time before turning to walk away.

"You let him get under your skin too easily," Jace commented once we were out of earshot.

I rolled my eyes.

"Don't pretend like you haven't entertained the thought of killing Tyler for dancing with Liu at the Centennial," I said.

He said nothing else as we made our way out into the underground garage.

Waiting there for us were three large vehicles and two men standing outside each of them.

"Where is he?" I asked.

The two men guarding the car in the middle turned and one of them opened the car door.

The other reached inside and yanked his body out, causing him to fall forward from the car onto the concrete.

It was a sweet sight to see.

Evelyn's father was thin and frail. His cheeks had sunken in and he had heavy, dark bags under his eyes.

His dark hair was matted to his head and he was coated with dirt and grime.

Jace said they found him hiding out in the woods, trying to cross the border back into his pack.

"Where is my daughter?" He asked me.

Although his body was weak, his will was not. The strong tone with which he spoke disrespected me and I felt my blood begin to boil.

"She's upstairs in my bed," I answered. "She didn't care to see you."

I saw his jaw tick and I smiled.

"I'm only here because I know the immense pleasure it will give me to see you locked away to die," I continued.

"I need to speak with her," he said, trying to stand up.

The guard behind sent a strong kick into his back, forcing him back down on the ground groaning in pain.

"Over my dead body," I said, crossing my arms.

The last thing I needed was for my wife to be even further traumatized by her father's presence.

"It's important," he pleaded.

I narrowed my eyes.

It was taking every ounce of self control in my body not to kill him then and there. I looked forward to the moment his blood was on my hands.

"I've heard enough," I announced. "Take him inside and place him in his cell. I'll be back this evening to take care of it."

With that being said, I turned and walked away and Jace followed.

"He seemed serious," Jace commented.

"The only thing serious about him was how demented he was if he thought I would let him anywhere near her," I growled.

"When are you coming back?" He asked me.

I looked down at my watch. It was almost time for dinner, and I needed to make sure Evelyn ate something seeing as she hadn't eaten lunch.

"Around seven," I answered.

"Want me to come with you?" He asked.

I chuckled darkly.

"I can handle him myself."

- - -

Evelyn's P.O.V.

I woke up when I heard the bedroom door open.

My eyes were swollen from crying and I had a knot in the back of my throat and a pit in my stomach that wouldn't go away

I felt Adam's presence behind me as he reached over and brushed my hair from my face

"Feeling up to eating something?" He asked softly.

I shook my head.

"Want to take a bath?"

I shook my head again.

I felt the mattress dip down as Adam sat behind me. His arm reached over me and leaned forward to look at me.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, sighing.

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes again. I was surprised I had any left to cry.

"Can you just hold me?" I asked, managing to speak quickly before I choked back a sob.

Adam stood up and I heard him taking off his jacket and belt.

He then climbed onto the bed and laid down beside me.

Wrapping his arms around me, he lifted me up and laid me on top of him, against his chest.

I tried to listen to his heartbeat, hoping it would calm me down, but I instead ended up crying even harder.

"Shh," Adam said, running his hands through my hair. "It'll be okay."

I struggled to catch my breath in between sobs as he continued to try and comfort me.

"She's not going to be there," I cried.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I gulped.

"She wasn't there for my wedding and now she'll never meet you and I'm going to have kids and she won't ever see them."

I cried harder as I spoke the worries that had filled my head all day.

"I just wanted her to turn out okay," I confessed. "I kept hoping that one day she would get better and finally be a mom. I didn't want her to die like that."

Adam took a deep breath and rubbed my back reassuringly.

"I'm sorry," he said.

I continued to cry for a few minutes before I managed to take a few deep breaths.

Adam's arms loosened around me as I sat up and wiped my eyes.

I immediately felt guilty as I noticed his tear-stained dress shirt.

"I'm sorry," I said.

He smiled faintly.

"It's just a shirt."

I hiccuped a few times, still catching my breath and wiping away tears.

"I'll run you a bath," he said sitting up. "You need to relax for a little bit."

I climbed off of him as he got off the bed and went into the bathroom.

I heard him turn the water on and heard it begin to to fill the tub.

He came back out of the bathroom and picked me up.

Carrying me into the bathroom and sitting me on the side of the tub, he pulled my shirt over my head and began to undress me.

I couldn't help but blush as he stood me up and tugged off my panties.

He picked me up and sat me down inside the bath, the water sloshing around as it continued to fill up the tub.

I pulled my hair up into a bun and sighed, feeling how nice the hot water felt against my achy body.

Adam turned to leave and I stopped him.

"Please don't go," I pleaded. "I don't want to be left alone."

I saw him smile faintly before turning around and walking back to me.

He began to undress and I slid forward in the bath as he got in behind me. I laid back against his chest once he was settled and his arms went around my waist to rest on my stomach.

We sat in silence like that for a long time, until the water went cold.

I leaned forward and pulled the stopper out and the water began to drain away.

"You need to eat something," Adam said. "Do you want me to call someone and have something brought up?"

I nodded, even though I couldn't tell if I was getting hungry or if the pit in my stomach was just growing deeper.

Adam got out of the tub and grabbed a towel, handing me one as well, before drying off and heading back out into the bedroom.

I heard his voice as he called for dinner and I stood up to dry off.

Once I exited the bathroom, I saw him getting out a clean t-shirt and panties for me.

"Thank you," I said, taking them from him and beginning to change.

After I had done so, a knock sounded at the door and Adam went to retrieve the food.

"I have to go," he said after he had finished eating.

I had barely managed to eat anything before Adam had finished and stood up.

My eyebrows furrowed.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go do something," he said, putting on a t-shirt and sweat pants. "I'll be back."

He never answered my question and I stared at him quizzically as he left the room.

A few hours had gone by before he returned.

The lights were off in the room and I had almost fallen asleep when the bedroom door opened and he walked through it.

I heard him walk through the room and go into the bathroom to shower.

Adam came out a few minutes later and got into the bed.

"Are you awake?" he asked gently after getting under the covers.

I took a deep breath.

"Yes."

He reached out and pulled me into his chest, holding me tight.

"Try to get some sleep, love."

We were silent for a few minutes before I spoke again.

"I want to see him..."

I felt his body stiffen against mine.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he protested.

"I know," I admitted. "But he's the only family I have left."

"That's not true," Adam said, kissing my forehead. "You have me."

- - -