Chapter 11

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"Hey, long time no see" Amy greeted sitting next to Evelyn.

Evelyn had come to her favorite spot by the river, to calm her nerves for the impending dinner at her house with her parents and Max. Worst of all, her mother did not know yet, the identity of her mate. With everything happening she did not have the time to go about it and her mother had given her the space to get acquainted with her mate without additional pressure of parental intervention. Jeff had officially put an end to that yesterday, when he caught her and Max on their porch kissing.

He had invited...no...rather demanded Max to show up for Dinner tonight, in a few hours as a matter of fact. Her nerves frayed at the impending dinner...aka... disaster waiting to happen, she sought out some refuge. A refuge which was clearly over.

"Hey, I know, been a while" Evelyn responded. Between school, training & Max, she rarely had time to do anything else. Amy was one of her friends, one of very few she had and Amy and Evelyn had been working in the hotel when Max claimed her and after that with her shifting, training and mate business she did not have the time for socializing.

"How is it going?" Amy asked sitting down on the bench next to her.

"Good" Evelyn nodded.

"Nice to hear that" Amy responded.

A moment of silence stretched between them.

"Heard your mate is back?" Amy asked in confirmation already knowing the answer but trying to break the silence.

"Yes" Evelyn said and added "Yes, he is."

"How is that going with you? The whole mate business?" Amy asked curious. She knew how Evelyn felt about the whole mate thing. Fate it seems wasn't without a sense of irony.

"Good. I...I have no clue what I am doing" Evelyn confessed. She was going with the flow, sometimes she was lost. Did she like Max? She sure did. Was she attracted to him? Of course she was! Who wouldn't be? But, how much of these feelings were influenced by the mate bond. She had no idea! And there was one more thing, the most important thing, his last name was Roma. She shuddered involuntarily, she kept burying that thought every time it surfaced, taking Max's advice to take one day at a time. But she was not ready for the expectations that came with that name, she probably never would and it scared the daylights out of her.

"Of all the people in the world, you had to go find yourself a mate" Amy said with ironic smile. Amy harbored a dream of finding a mate, so did many girls in the pack and the only girl around who was not really interested ends up with one.

"I sometimes don't believe it myself" Evelyn whispered.

"Do you know you are the envy of every girl in the pack right now?" Amy asked Evelyn.

"I am?" Evelyn wondered out loud.

"How can you not be? You found a mate...romantic stuff, while you might not see it that way, most of us do and judging by it you landed yourself a pretty influential one." Amy voiced.

"Influential?" Evy asked, her heart beat spiking. They couldn't know, could they? It was supposed to be a secret.

"People are not blind Evelyn" Amy gently admonished "You hang out with that Alex and his brother is your personal trainer and there is a matter of your guards."

"Alex is my friend! And Adrian is helping me out in training and there are no guards!" Evelyn defended.

"Look to your left, there" Amy pointed to two Roma wolves sitting out there, far from them but in line of sight.

"Do you think they are here on a romantic date?" Amy asked her voice laced with sarcasm.

"I..." Evelyn opened her mouth but apparently Amy was on a roll.

"And you have people picking you up and dropping you at home. Cab service is it?"

Evelyn continued to keep her mouth shut.

"And apparently there is a rumor going around that a pretty important wolf is staying in the hotel. Occupying the same floor Roma was staying." Amy was one of the few people in the pack who knew that Roma actually came to USA. That too because Amy and Evy had accidentally stumbled on her while placing food in her room. They had been sworn in to secrecy later by Nick.

"Also you say Adrian is helping you out?" Amy asked in disbelief "Do you even know who he is?"

"What do you mean?" Evelyn asked confused, finding her voice.

"Evy, Adrian is the fourth most influential wolf in Roma and behind him is his brother Alex! They are literally part of the royal family. The only people more influential are Roma herself, her son and Sebastian and you say Adrian is taking time out to train you? Why is such an influential wolf taking out time to train a nobody? One starts to wonder who your mate is." Amy voiced out.

"I...We...it's not what you..." Evelyn fumbled, still trying to process what Amy told. Amy was not a fool, she already suspected something pretty close to the truth.

"Listen Evy" Amy cut her out gently "I consider you my friend, you don't have to tell me who your mate is! Not unless you want to...but know this, there are lot of rumors going through the pack and I though you should know that.

"I..."Evelyn paused "Thank you Amy! I appreciate that" She thanked her genuinely. Evelyn like a stupid was living in her own little bubble...a bubble that apparently would explode anytime.

"You are welcome Evy" Amy responded and asked grinning mischievously "So is he hot?"

"Amy!" Evelyn exclaimed scandalously.

"What? I don't have a love life, let me live through yours" Amy said playfully "so on a scale of 1 to 10..."

"I am not having this conversation" Evelyn declared firmly.

"1 to 10" Amy said.

"No"

"1 to 10"

"Nope"

"1 to 10"

Evelyn paused and blurted out "10! All right!"

"You bitch! You landed a perfect 10!" Amy hooted in laughter as Evelyn blushed.

"Ok next question...." Amy began.

Evelyn groaned out loud....knowing Amy would never give up now.

***

She checked herself in the mirror, checked again...and then one more time.

When did she become such a girl? She had never paid this much attention to her looks before!

But, you want to look good for our mate, don't you? A voice inside her whispered.

She wore a dress, a casual one but she thought it was pretty and she even accessorized!

She gave a nervous look at herself in the mirror, turning sideways...did this dress make her ass look...?

That's it! She interrupted her own thought. She was drawing the line...this was getting ridiculous! She stepped out of the room and headed downstairs.

Her mother was fluttering in the open kitchen and Jeff was occupying one seat on the dining table, operating the TV remote from there.

Looking at her Jeff narrowed his eyes.

"What?" Evelyn blurted out, she was already feeling self-conscious and she didn't need Jeff to pile up on it.

"Isn't is a little too short?" Jeff voiced. Looking at where the hem of her dress.

"It's perfectly find dear!" Her mother interjected "You look great by the way dear!" she told her daughter.

"It isn't, is it?" Evelyn asked, pulling at the hem of her dress.

"It's perfect dear! Jeff is just...being Jeff" Her mother responded narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend.

Jeff simply harrumphed and got back to his TV.

"Can I help mom?" Evelyn offered

"Sure dear, can you set the table?" Her mother responded and Evelyn moved to remove the cutlery off the shelf.

As she moved close to Jeff while setting the table, he took a whiff at her and narrowed his eyes again. She rolled her eyes in response. What?! Can't she even put a little perfume?

Any further thought was cut down by the doorbell ringing and everyone froze.

"Go" Her mother finally urged, untying her apron and unconsciously setting her hair. The only one who acted unaffected was Jeff.

Her feet moved on their own accord and before she knew it she opened the door and took a deep breath.

He looked...delicious! Her eyes took him in greedily.

Perfect 10!

Her mind drooled and an image of her wolf wagging her tail furiously appeared in her head...

"You look" both of them started at once and stopped as he smiled and she giggled...

"You look beautiful" Max said.

"Not bad yourself" She responded eyeing him up again.

"This dress is my favorite attire of yours till date" he declared eyeing her back and admiring her legs, shamelessly.

"Eyes up" She said with a smile.

His eyes lazily traveled back up to her face.

"Not as beautiful as you but something for you" He said pulling out a bouquet of roses.

"Oh! They are beautiful" she gushed, giving them a customary sniff. But she saw he had one more bouquet in his hand.

She raised her eyebrow in questions while he just smiled devilishly.

"Aren't you going to invite me in? Or shall I kiss you here senselessly as I am so tempted to do so?" he asked.

She jumped back at that....no! There was going to be no kissing! Absolutely not! Especially with Jeff in the kitchen...may be later? She got a mental image of her wolf making puppy faces. Bad, bad wolf!

"Come in" she finally offered, moving aside.

He stepped in as she quickly closed the door and headed back in to the house as he trailed behind her.

"Mom, Jeff" This is Max she introduced as she walked in.

"Max" Jeff greeted darkly getting up from the chair and giving him a firm hand shake.

"Max!" Evelyn's mother greeted him happily "Finally! It's good to meet you!" she gave him a quick hug and he returned it awkwardly.

"Same here ma'am and uh...these are for you" he offered her the second set of roses.

"Oh! My!" She put her hand on her heart, clearly touched "You wonderful, wonderful boy! How nice of you!" She grabbed the roses and whiffed at them and cooed "they are so beautiful! Let me get a vase" she disappeared to grab a vase at the same time throwing a dirty look at Jeff which said when was the last time you did this?

Jeff stirred uncomfortably in his chair.

"Let me help you mom!" Evelyn scurried behind her mother with her own set of roses in her hand. Flashing Maxwell a brilliant smile that conveyed her feelings to his gesture towards her mother.

The woman disappeared, leaving the men alone and the testosterone that floated around...one could cut it with a knife as both men sized each other up.

"Max" Jeff said darkly.

"Jeff" Max greeted equally seriously.

"What are your intentions towards my Evy?" he couldn't help adding the 'my' part.

Maxwell raised an eyebrow but responded calmly "She is my mate, what do you think my intentions are?" he asked.

Jeff grunted. The boy had a point, clearly he didn't think through. Jeff was trying to intimidate him but it was not working. After all this 'boy' was the prince of Roma...

"Well, I don't want her to be forced in to doing something she isn't ready for" Jeff voiced.

"I wouldn't do that" Maxwell responded.

"Really, so the mark on her neck...was her idea?" Jeff glared.

Maxwell's Jaw tightened and his eyes darkened, that was a low blow and Jeff knew it.

"No" Max bit out "But the mark on mine is." He might have marked her without her consent but she marked him and finished their bond out of her own free will. With a nudge from him to her wolf but Jeff need not know that.

As the woman came in to the room they sensed the tension in the air.

"Everything ok?" Cathy asked, glaring at Jeff.

He gave her a sweet smile his demeanor changing completely "Everything is fine dear, Max and I were getting acquainted" he declared.

"Yes ma'am" Max agreed to Jeff's declaration as he saw concern in his mate's eyes and knew how important this was for her.

"Well then" Cathy's smile widened "Let's eat" she said heading them towards the table.

As they settled down on the table she passed the salad bowl around as everyone helped themselves. Cathy bit on a piece of lettuce and chewed and asked breaking the silence.

"So Max, what do you do?"

Stunned silence followed that question.

Maxwell looked at Evelyn, who was looking at Jeff, who in turn was looking anywhere but the dining table.

The night just got interesting.

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