Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Adeline
For the next week, I remain in the apartment.
Cyrus has been busy dealing with work and the rebuild, while Eli has been tense and barely said much, just always watching like he is waiting for something bad to happen.
His strange mood is making mine worse. Getting up from my place on the couch, I go to make a cup of tea when I hear the elevator.
Stepping out of the kitchen, I look down the hall to see Emery step out of the elevator.
Eli comes rushing out with a towel wrapped around his waist, stopping when he notices it is just his sister.
“Could have rung first,” Eli tells her.
“Not here to see you. I’ve come for Addie. Go get dressed. You are leaving this penthouse and coming shopping with me.”
I shake my head, not wanting to leave my bubble. But Emery leans on the counter.
“I will take you how you are. Either get dressed, or we leave with you in your pajamas,” she says, making me look down at the silk dress I am wearing.
“You’re not taking her without me,” Eli says.
“You hush. She is safe with me. Now go on, Addie, get dressed. I am not leaving without you,” she says, and I roll my eyes before placing the kettle back down and walking toward the bedroom. Eli follows after me, throwing on some pants before digging out a floral dress from the walk-in.
“Take my phone with you, and don’t leave her side. You ring me every half an hour,” Eli says.
I nod. “Can’t you tell her no? I don’t want to leave,” I tell him, and he sighs.
“No, she is right. You can’t stay cooped up in here, Addie. Just go for a few hours. I need to help Cyrus anyway,” he says, pulling on a shirt.
I put the dress on before finding my flats and placing them on my feet. Walking out, Emery is texting on her phone. She stands when she sees me, pocketing her phone.
“Calum going with you?” Eli asks her.
“Of course. She will be safe with me, Eli.”
“And the other issue?”
“He knows to stay away, Eli,” Emery says before looking at me.
I know who he means and know he is talking about his father. The one he still hasn’t say a word of, and I don’t have the guts to bring the topic up with him.
“Here, take this,” Eli says, handing me a wad of cash.
“What could I possibly need all this for?” I ask him, trying to hand some of it back to him.
“Keep it. If you don’t spend it, I will spend it for you,” Emery says, giving me a wink, and I chuckle, shaking my head at her.
Eli refuses to take it back, instead kissing my head before grabbing his shoes and walking to the elevator. Emery drags me with her to it, and I feel my heart rate rise that I am actually leaving the apartment. Eli wraps his arms around my shoulders, his lips below my ear.
“You will be fine. Emery will keep you safe, and Calum will be with her,” he tells me as the doors shut.
“How long will you be?”
“Ring me when you are on your way home, and I will come back,” he says, and I nod.
We part ways when we get to the bottom floor, and Emery leads me to her red Mercedes. Calum hops out, opening the door for me, and I climb in the back. Emery hops in the passenger side while Calum drives.
“Where to?”
“Wanna get lunch first? I am starving,” Emery asks, and I nod.
Calum drives us to a café. It is small and out of view from the main street, up a quiet little alley. It is called the Secret Café, hence its location away from the main drag.
Inside is vastly different from the white and blue exterior of the place; it is homely and dimly lit and has a fireplace and lamps and crystal vases on the tables. Calum picks out a table in the back of the café in the corner. He sits facing the café while Emery goes and orders lunch for us.
“You okay? You look nervous,” Calum asks me as I also look around the café.
“Yeah, I just don’t like leaving home,” I tell him.
“Eli said they have no leads on Sam, but we haven’t spotted him in the city either, so I wouldn’t worry too much. He is probably lying low and hiding from the councils.”
“So, Eli told you what happened?” I ask, and he nods.
“Yes, the entire pack knows. We are all on the lookout,” he says just as Emery returns with a lady following her with a tray of coffees and a tea. She hands me the tea, and I take it before having a sip.
“Will bring your lunch over soon, Alpha,” the lady says, and I look at her. She is in her thirties and had blonde hair tied in a bun. She is wearing a waitress uniform and an apron.
“Thank you, Melissa,” Emery says to her before looking at me.
“Café is pack-owned. With everything going on, best to stick with places I know you will be safe,” Emery explains.
Still, that just gives me the shivers, making me wonder if I am the only human in here.
“Relax, Addie. You’re safe here,” Emery says.
When lunch arrives, my stomach growls embarrassingly as I look down at the eggs benedict. I dig in and noticed Calum is always staring at Emery, making me wonder if they are actually a couple, but Emery seems pretty oblivious to his gaze while she eats her lunch.
“So, what’s up with you two?” I ask, and Calum clears his throat, nearly choking on his food. Emery just gives me a strange look.
“What do you mean?” she asks, confused, and I know I am right; she is oblivious to the fact that Calum likes her.
I shrug. “Nothing, just thought there might be something between you two,” I tell her, and she looks at Calum.
“He is my Beta,” she says, her brows furrowing. Though it is clear Calum doesn’t think of her as his Alpha, but something else.
I go to say something else when I feel Calum’s foot tap mine. I look at him, trying to hide my smile, while his face turns bright red.
“Come on, finish up. We should leave soon,” Emery says, sipping the rest of her tea.
Now, she is also watching Calum, eyeing him suspiciously. At the same time, Calum looks anywhere but at her. I finish eating my lunch before we leave, and Emery and I wander down the main street before stopping at a boutique store.
“Oh, how cute is that?” she says, tugging me inside. She walks over to a blue crocheted onesie.
“We don’t even know if it is a boy. It feels kind of pointless,” I tell her.
“Nonsense,” she says, grabbing it off the rack. She wanders around, passing me different things in an assortment of colors.
“You are aware I am, like what, two weeks pregnant? Still not in the clear for a miscarriage.”
She stops, looking at me. “Cyrus and Eli told you that your pregnancy won’t be like a normal human pregnancy, right?”
I look at her, and she rolls her eyes.
“Of course, they didn’t. Lycan babies grow to term within three months, Addie. There is also a chance that because you have two mates, it is born a hybrid, which progresses even faster,” she says, and I look down at my flat stomach.
“What?”
“Yep, give it a few more days, and everyone will be able to tell you’re pregnant. You will just wake up, and bam, you have a belly.” She chuckles.
“I don’t get how that works. Only one of them could have knocked me up,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “Doesn’t matter, will have both their DNA. Just a matter of which is stronger or if they even out. When they marked you, their DNA entered your bloodstream, marking you as theirs.”
Yep, that makes a whole lot of sense—not.
“What was up with your weird questions at the café?” she asks, looking out the shop windows where Calum is standing.
“He likes you. It’s obvious,” I tell her, and she holds up a baby beanie before dropping it in my arms.
“You think so?” she asks, and I can tell she’s never even noticed.
“Positive. He even kicked me under the table,” I chuckle.
She seems to think for a second.
“What about you? Do you like him?” I ask her.
She says nothing, just watching him again before looking at the shelves. “I never noticed. I always thought he wasn’t interested.”
“So, you are interested then?” I chuckle.
Emery seems to buy half the store. Just as we are leaving, I can see Calum arguing with an older gentleman.
“Fuck, why is he here?” Emery curses, grabbing the bags off the counter and heading for the door.
I look the man over. He has a startling resemblance to Eli; though, his face is weathered and has more lines on it. His hair is also a few shades lighter, and his lips thinner. He is wearing a suit jacket and jeans with a blue button-up shirt underneath.
“Well, I just wanted to meet my daughter-in-law,” he says, and I know the resemblance is too fitting. He looks at me when Calum steps in front of me.
“Maverick, Eli doesn’t want you near her,” Calum says, grabbing his arm.
“I mean her no harm. I just wanted to get to know her, maybe be a part of my future grandchild’s life when it is born,” he says, and I step back, my heart hammering in my chest as his gray eyes stare at me.
“Eli will lose his shit. How did you find us?” Emery demands, and her father puts his hands up.
“I followed you, been watching for a few hours,” he says, looking at Calum.
Great, just what I want to hear. That we are being watched, and no one has noticed.
“Okay, you saw her. Now, time to go,” Emery tells him when he holds his hand out to me. I look at it, and Calum grips his forearm.
“Look, I am trying to fix the past. I can’t do that if he doesn’t let me anywhere near his family,” he says.
“It’s fine, Calum,” I tell him, and Calum lets his arm go.
I take his hand and shake it. “Adeline.”
“Maverick, dear. I really didn’t mean to startle you. I am glad to finally meet you,” he says, squeezing my hand softly.
“Dad, that is enough. I need to get her home,” Emery says, and he looks at her.
“Fine, fine, I will go. It was nice meeting you, Adeline. Hopefully, I will see you again,” he says before walking off.
I stare after him, thinking his father is a little odd, yet he does seem genuine. Still, I am also horrified that I have met the man who has caused so much torment for Eli and Emery.
“I’m sorry, Addie. I honestly didn’t know. Come, I should get you home. Eli is going to kill me,” she says.
“You don’t have to tell him.”
“He will find out. His scent will be on you,” she says with a sigh.
Emery doesn’t say anything for the entire trip home, and I can see she is dreading telling Eli and his reaction.
When we pull up in the parking lot, I help her grab the bags out of the car when an idea hits me.
I don’t want Eli upset, and I also don’t want Emery being banned from being around me for her father’s actions.
I wrap my arms around Calum, and he holds up the bags in the air, looking down at me.
“Ah, Addie, you good? What are you doing?” he asks.
“Sorry,” I tell him, rubbing my hands inside his shirt and across his back.
Emery is staring at me before her eyes light up, realizing my idea. She comes over, sandwiching me between them and rubbing my arms with her hands.
“I am feeling a little used right now,” Calum says.
“Sorry, I just need your scent,” I tell him.
“I can see that, but is there a reason you want to smell of me?” He laughs.
“Fool, she is getting dad’s scent off her,” Emery tells him.
He nods, then freezes. “Wait, you’re not going to tell him?”
“And you’re not going to tell him either, Calum,” I tell him.
Emery nods, finally letting me go, and I step away from Calum.
“Besides, for keeping your mouth shut, you can take Emery out for dinner,” I tell him, and his face flushes.
He looks at her. “You don’t have to. I can keep my mouth shut.”
“No, dinner would be nice,” she says, her cheeks tinged red.
I should have been a matchmaker. They stare at each other, and I clear my throat. “Can we go up now, or do I need to watch you both make love eyes at each other?”
“Oh right, yes, we should head up,” Emery says, taking some bags from him.
* * *
Cyrus
What is taking them so long? Eli and I have been home for an hour, and she still isn’t back or answering her phone.
Eli has been pacing frantically in the living room for the past twenty minutes.
He is becoming anxious, and relief floods me when I hear the elevator ding.
She doesn’t even have time to step out before Eli wraps her in his arms. Calum and Emery step around him as he mauls Addie, having to squeeze past him.
Eli has always been anxious when it comes to Addie.
Still, ever since finding out she is pregnant, his anxiety has turned into an obsession, needing to know where she is constantly, everything she is doing.
He is doing my head in. I ended up coming home early because I couldn’t stand watching him stare at the phone.
She probably has around a hundred missed calls from him if she bothers to check it.
“God, you smell like you bathed in Calum’s scent,” Eli mutters before shaking his head and turning to look at Calum.
He shrugs. “You said not to let her away from my side.”
Eli nods, though Addie’s thoughts are all over the place. Like she is trying to avoid thinking of something, which makes me instantly suspicious. I know something is up when she glances over his shoulder at me before her eyes dart away when she realizes I am watching them.
Emery places the bags on the counter before turning to Calum. She, too, wouldn’t meet my gaze, so I know something is up. I just have to figure out why they are both on edge. Addie will break; she doesn’t have the years of practice Emery does at keeping her thoughts secure from me.
“Come on, Calum, we should let them be,” Emery says, grabbing his arm and tugging him toward the elevator.
“Did you have fun?” Eli asks Addie.
“Fun? No, your sister bought half the store, my feet are killing me, and this underwear is creeping up my ass,” she says, walking into the bedroom, trying to pull her wedgie out.
I shake my head at the sight before turning to Eli, who is staring after her.
“Calmer?”
“Much. I don’t like her leaving without us,” he says, and I nod in agreement.
“I haven’t noticed,” I tell him sarcastically, and he huffs at my comment.
“Did my sister seem off to you?” he asks, looking at me, and I shrug.
Yes, she did, but he has enough stress with his feud with his father for me to admit and add more to it.
Addie walks back out of the room with my sweatpants on and Eli’s top, and I know it will probably be a while before she agrees to leave the place again. Walking over to her, where she flops on the couch, I lean over it and kiss her cheek. She reaches up, touching my face with her hand.
“I know you’re hiding something,” I tell her, and she turns to look at me.
“I’ll figure it out,” I tell her, and she chewed her lip nervously.
“Hungry?” Eli asks, walking into the kitchen.
“No, I ate while I was out,” Addie tells him, looking over the back of the couch before looking back at me.
“Well, I am so you can eat again,” he tells her, rummaging through the pantry and grabbing ingredients out to make something.
Addie rolls her eyes but says nothing before reaching for the remote.