She hoped so too.

Once again their attention was on the fire as both of their minds raced into different directions.

She had heard about the blessings of the moon that Xavier was talking about. One of those blessings had been upon his own family member, his uncle Nicholas. Without a mate, it would have been so difficult for him to survive but he had actually shown great courage to survive for 10 years until he found the heir to the throne.

One of the other blessings of the moon had been a very feral Lycan receiving a mate. The book had told her about the various horrible acts that had been carried on by the shifter but with the help of a mate and the place that they were currently in the mind of the shifter has changed completely into a calm and peaceful beast. A complete change. The shifter no longer found the use of violence.

The couple had actually settled in the north and had been blessed with five children.

"Is there even hope for us?" She blurted out and that immediately attracted Xavier's attention to her.

"You don't think there is hope for us?" The visible hurt in his voice and on his face made her stammer before words.

"That is not what I meant," she whispered hurriedly, as guilt took over her with the expression of hurt on his face, "I just meant that with the given situation. Is it even something that we should try?"

Understanding dawned on him. "Are you talking about the time when I refused to reciprocate the efforts you were putting into the relationship?"

It felt bad for her to continue talking but she knew that if she had to move forward in life and actually work on it then she had to let him know what the problem was.

"I feel really bitter about this whole scenario and I have more than half of my mind literally pushing me to reject all of your advances because you did the same to me." She explained gently. "I know it makes sense that you want to try now and-and we should work on it but at the same time I wanted to try before and that was literally 3 months ago and you did not put any efforts that you could have." She huffed. "I have more of a feeling like, if you did not do it then, then why should I do it now."

He opened his mouth to reply with the double rank and he got a fit with the small sigh. Their food was here. "Hold on," he told her.

Opening the door he lets The person who placed the food on the dining table. Adeline watched as the person left while closing the door behind him and Xavier brought out the cutlery.

Adeline took the invitation to walk to the dining table. By the time she reached Xavier had already stacked upon most of the items.

"Here," he served her a plate. "Do you need anything more?"

Her eyes were most on the plate as she noticed the chicken stew with bread. She shook her head. This was going to be more than enough for her even though it now looked a little bland.

She tore a piece of bread and was about to debate in the store when she noticed Xavier's eyes on her. She looked at him to find him waiting for her to eat. "What?" She cannot help herself but ask.

"Do you not know?" He questioned back. " This must be something that your uncle must be doing on a daily basis."

Adeline shook her head, cluelessly.

He nodded. "Usually we are not together but when mates eat together the more dominant one of them makes sure that the other half eats first and also likes the food."

"Why?" She found that slightly weird and made a mental note to make sure that he noticed it the next time she was dying with her family.

Xavier poured her some warm water from a flask into a metal cup. "This has happened for a very long time. It is basically to make sure that the submissive one has their stomach full. The dominant shifter finds pride in assuring that the belly of his mate is full."

She nodded and dipped her bread in the stew. It did not sit well with her that he was waiting for her to eat first but instead of arguing Adaline quickly started eating so that he could get a chance as early as he could.

And god it was tasty! "It's so much tastier than it looks!" She praised and she ate another bite."This is really good!" She couldn't help appreciating it again.

Xavier chuckled. "This is actually a speciality of the north. The stews and everything related to chicken or meat is really good. Since we are flying back you could actually take some for your aunt and uncle if you."

She would, she nodded, she definitely would.

Dinner had been a silent affair with Xavier occasionally bringing more food to have played the necessary. At the end when she was full, he unveiled the cupcakes that he had kept in the oven to stay warm.

"Did they reheat it?" She wondered loudly as she touched the warm chewy goodness.

"No," he shook his head, "the batter is similar in every cupcake. It is just the topping that they add separately according to demand."

She bit into it and damn! She moaned loudly. They knew how to cook!

"Have another." He sar as he held out a bite of the muffin to her. Adeline, without thinking for herself, opened her mouth and chewed it. tongue lightly brushed over his finger.

He pulled his hand back and collected every item of the used cutlery except for the plate where the cupcakes were kept on.

Adaline gave close attention to whatever he was doing. Somehow, the thought of the future was not as tricky as it seemed but she still hope for a miracle by the moon, a hint infact, that this time they were going to work out.