Chapter 29

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The next few were some of the best days in Evy's life.

With Max back in Roma and at her side they behaved like any newly mated couple would. Spent too much time in bed and the rest of the time not far from each other. Max still had work to do, she quickly realized her mate was a busy man and that was one reason they had two different bedrooms, not because they would sleep separately but because it would afford her some privacy. That didn't stop them from christening both the beds again and again thoroughly.

She was slowly being inducted in to this life. She had someone from IT come over and hand over a phone, laptop and an ipad to her. All devices she used had specific encryption software on them for secure access. She was asked to give her phone number only to immediate family and for everyone else there was a separate number that went through a switchboard. She was also given a separate email ID that she could access directly and all her public e-mail ID's would either be shut down or routed through an intermediator who would screen communications. They would also be hiring an assistant for her who would manage her social calendar and also all her social media accounts. All this was overwhelming for her.

But the good news was for now she was kept under wraps. Except for immediate Roma family and senior staff no one else knew who she was. Since the Roma family was popular in both werewolf and human world and discreet announcement would be made regarding Maxwell's fiancée, a romantic story of a whirlwind romance when he was in America on a business trip. The PR team was working out an angle as there would be obvious interest on her once the story was made public.

Evy spoke to her mother everyday using her new gadgets she even did FaceTime and gave a virtual tour to her mom and Jeff who looked around wide eyed. Alex contacted her once her e-mail was setup and she was exchanging mails with him on regular basis.

She fell in to a pattern, get up share breakfast in bed with Max and then they went on an early morning run every day. For now they were contained to the palace grounds but Max told her that the Roma forests were beautiful and he would take her to them soon. They also had lunch together whenever Max could get away and dinners were family affair, they all gathered in the dining room for a family dinner and the best parts were their nights in bed together...exploring each other sometimes in a frenzy and other time lazily. Her bond had been humming in content at the attention her mate was lavishing on her.

She also started intense training sessions with Sebastian, three hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, he was working on her to build up stamina and some basic defensive steps, he was a tough taskmaster but an excellent teacher, he was also Roma's best fighter. She was making good progress under him. Also in the evenings after her practice she started sitting with Sebastian in the media room watching TV series. Sometimes Max joined them but most of the times he was busy until dinner.

Roma had taken Evy under her wing after that extremely awkward lunch with her, she slowly opened up to her future mother-in-law and was soon in awe of her like everyone else around her. She was a highly respected and deeply loved woman and she soon knew why. Roma would do anything to protect her people. She had big enough heart to bring in three orphans like Sebastian, Alex & Adrian and raise them as her own children.

***

"Left leg front" Sebastian barked "Back straight, now right leg"

"Left"

"Right"

"Left"

"Right"

Who ever thought living in a palace was glamorous didn't know shit! Evy though following instructions of the devil himself, she was thoroughly drenched in sweat her hair and gym clothes sticking to her. Thinking about clothes she need to go shopping, she was living off a suitcase and she need clothes. She had not brought it up till now because she was not sure how to bring it up.

A loud smack and she was on the floor.

"Ow" she said rubbing her bruised thigh.

"That's what you get for not paying attention" Sebastian reprimanded without any remorse for knocking her down.

"You are cruel" She muttered at him eyes narrowed.

"Sometimes, you have to be cruel to be kind" Sebastian quipped unmoved.

"What the hell does that mean" she said, putting her hand up for him to pull her up.

"What he means is" Max's voice floated down from the gym entrance and walking in "Being cruel to you here might just save your live out there, he hitched his thumb behind him, indicating the world outside.

"What are you doing here" Evy asked in shallow breaths, her irritation disappeared on seeing her oh so delicious mate.

"My calendar has mysteriously developed a free slot, wanted to check if my mate wanted to have lunch with me" He asked.

Evy looked at Sebastian who readily nodded "We are done anyway, see you in the evening and no excuses" he warned and turned around to pick up his towel

She stuck her tongue out at him spitefully and he calmly responded "Stop making faces" without even turning back.

She looked at Max wide eyed. How the hell did he know!?!

"He is Sebastian" Max quipped as if it was the answer for everything.

"Come on lets go" He pulled at her arm and scrunched his nose "you smell"

"Romantic aren't you" She rolled her eyes at him. She had been sweating like buckets what did he expect?

"Well" he sighed "someone has to do the dirty job"

"Which would be?"

"Why, to scrub it off you" He smiled with a teasing voice.

"I think I can do it myself, thanks for the offer though" she teased back.

"But where would be the fun in that?" he grinned wriggling his eyebrows as he led them to their rooms and in to the bathroom.

***

"Um...I need clothes" She said awkwardly.

"Hm?" He said confused. They had a long, relaxing and a kinky bath and were having lunch in his room.

"I am living off my suitcase Max...I need some new clothes" She said.

Max looked taken aback "Why did you not say something earlier"

"Um...not that I don't have clothes but I need a few more...I mean not many...but I do need" She rambled.

"Evy" Max sighed "That's not what I meant, I thought Annette has this taken care of"

"Who is Annette?" She asked confused.

"She procures all our wardrobe" He explained.

"Um..never met her" Evy told him.

"I see" he said in thought "I think I know why, she does not have necessary security clearance so I don't think she knows about you yet"

Evy had been debriefed about keeping her under wraps by Max, due to the interest it would generate in both werewolf and human world they wanted to keep the spotlight away from her.

"You know what" he said smiling "Let me take you shopping"

"Sure" She said smiling back, she had never been shopping with him. It sounded like a fun outing.

He picked up the cordless phone lying next to him and dialed a number.

As it was picked up he spoke in to it "We need to go shopping"

"Yes...in an hour or two?"

"Yes, she will be with me"

"Yes, make the necessary arrangements and confirm back when we can leave"

"We can leave in two hours" Max said hanging up the phone.

"ah...one more thing" she said sheepishly.

"What?"

"I don't have any money" she confessed almost guiltily "I mean, I do have money in my account but my card is not working here" She blurted out.

"How do you know your card is not working here?" He asked calmly.

"ah...I tried to purchase some music from iTunes...it says I can't use international card to make a purchase"

Max just sighed and sank in to his seat.

She misread him "its not that important Max" She said.

He looked at her...angrily...angrily? What did she do?

"Evy" he said with a neutral voice "You need to communicate with me" he sighed.

"You need to let me know this stuff Evy...Finance was supposed to issue a new bank card for you to use"

"I didn't know this" she defended.

"I know" He said patiently "I am not blaming you but, why did you keep quite all this while, you should have informed me earlier" He sighed "You need to tell me Evy...I can't help you unless you tell me"

"It's awkward" she confessed "I feel weird asking for money from you and I have some money in my bank back home but not sure if my card will work here."

"Evy" He said rubbing his temples in apparent frustration "I am your mate, if you cannot tell me, who can you?"

"Sorry?" she said hesitantly.

He pulled her in to his lap "No need to be and I am sorry as I thought it was taken care of. We have to set up an account for you and will issue a bank card for you Evy, like we do for every member of the family"

She nodded as he pulled her down for a gentle kiss.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Ah...tampons?" she asked hesitantly.

"WHAT?" he whispered horrified and his eyes involuntarily went to her crotch.

"NO..not now but...you know...eventually" She rambled on trying to pacify his horrified expression.

"nine" he said tightly.

"What?"

"Dial nine, for housekeeping they arrange for all toiletries...Soaps, shampoo, bathrobes, oils...you know all that stuff..."

She smiled and teased "And tampons?"

"Yeah...that too" he said uncomfortably

***

As Evy was getting ready for their trip out Max walked in to his office to call finance and give them a piece of his mind.

"Why is her account not yet open?" he barked in to the phone. He was surprised to know that they had not even opened an account in her name yet.

"Um..sir...there is a slight confusion" Finance responded awkwardly.

"And that would be?" He asked impatiently.

"We were not sure on what name should the account be opened on..."Finance responded back.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Max snapped frustrated.

"I mean...will it be Evelyn Parker....or....Evelyn Roma? We weren't sure...so we were waiting for some conformation...."Finance Rambled.

But Max zoned out....that was an excellent question that he wanted to solve and he looked through the open connecting door as he saw Evelyn getting ready in his room.

"I will get back to you" Max said and hung up. He continued to his bedroom through the open connecting door of his office. Deep in thought and did not notice that Evy was standing at the entrance of the connecting door.

" I am ready" she looked at his distracted face.

"Um...yeah, good" he responded still distracted.

She took a step towards him "Is everything ok?" she asked concerned.

"Yes, I remembered something I need to take care of" he told her.

"Ok" She responded "so...you will be taking care of it now or..I mean do we go out later?" she asked unsure.

He took a deep breath and got his thoughts in control "It can wait" he gave her a small smile "So lets go shopping" he said putting his hand out for her.

She walked over and smiled back at him and put her hand in his and he pulled her closer to steal a kiss and looped his hand in her arm "let's go" he said walking her out.

***

"So where are we going?" Evy asked Max, they were being driven in to the city in a nondescript car, so that attention would not fall on them.

"A store we usually pick up clothing from" He informed. They also owned it as well.

Max pointed out some places as he drove by and the car turned in to a building and drove in to a basement.

They got out and took the elevator up to the first floor walked through a narrow hallway and then through a fire exit door entered a large spacious store. Not the usual way to enter a store.

Evy noticed a couple of things. There was no one in the store except for Roma security men spread around and three staff members.

The three staff members rushed forward on seeing them. There was a man and two woman training behind him.

"Good afternoon sir, a pleasure to have you back!" he greeted Max with reverence.

Evy noticed something, all three of them were werewolves. Obviously in a werewolf nation she would encounter more wolf than human.

"We need some clothing for her" Max said pulling Evy to him who was standing a step behind him.

The man grinned at her "Would be my pleasure! Are you looking for anything specific?" he asked politely.

"Um...Can I look around?" she asked.

"Sure Ma'am, Sharon and Stacy here will help you with anything you need."

The two girls were throwing curious glances at her wondering who she was, but knew better than to ask. So silently they observed her taking everything in and trying to derive conclusion.

"What we can do is go around the store and pick up whatever you like and then you can try them on?" one of the girls suggested.

Evy nodded readily.

For the next couple of hours she selected clothes and then tried them on for Max and she had settled on four pairs but Max insisted she at least buy seven pairs, she also headed to the lingerie section and picked up each set on display and looked at Max and his eyes started to darken at every pair she flashed him. She picked up three sets she liked and then she was done.

The girls packed everything up and handed over the shopping bags to one of the guards and they simply walked out the way they came in.

As they were going back in the car Evy commented "There was nobody in the store."

"It was closed" Max explained.

"Closed?" she asked confused.

"They closed it down for a couple of hours for us" He elaborated.

"You mean...just for us they closed down the whole store?" She asked in surprise.

"Yes, I am extremely well recognized in Roma...so we would have attracted lot of attention and even you....by evening we would have made it to the tabloids." He explained.

"Your dirty little secret would have been out huh?" Evy grinned with a twinkle in her eye.

"I don't know about secret...but the dirty part sounds interesting" He grinned back at her wriggling his eyebrows.

"Get your mind out of the gutter" she giggled.

"Baby, trust me the last place my mind wants to be is in the gutter" He whispered in her ear leaning in.

"Max" she admonished looking at the driver "Behave."

The car quickly drove back safely depositing it's occupants back in the palace.

***

"You know this is called the queen's garden" Max offered.

There were walking in the courtyard garden that Evy fell in love with when she first arrived.

"I know, Jonathan was kind enough to explain it to me." Evy stated "I love this place, one of my favorite place in the palace" she confessed.

"My parents too" Max reminiscenced "They used to spend most evenings here, however busy they were they ensured they got some time in the day to spend with each other and it was mostly here" He said in a tone filled with sorrow "When...when he died, she couldn't bear it to come here alone...this place reminded her of him...since his death my mother never comes here" he said sadly.

"I am so sorry to hear that Max" she squeezed his hand in empathy.

"This garden was built by my great grandfather for his mate...a token of his love" He added.

"It is a beautiful place" she agreed. They had walked to the end of the garden which overlooked the city below, there was a gentle breeze and was a beautiful starry night. She sighed in contentment.

"This was a favorite spot for every queen who came after my great grandmother and I believe you are not an exception"

"One day, you will be the queen of this place too" he told her.

"One day" she said, still not comfortable with the Idea.

"Yes. One day" Max repeated and then took her hand in to his.

"But...I need you to be something first" he told her looking in to her eyes with an intense expression.

"What?" She whispered confused.

He pulled out a box from his pocket and opened it and her eyes grew wide and her heart started beating erratically.

"Evy, will you be my wife?" He asked.

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